Violetta (Violet) Jackson has big dreams. None of which happen to include sitting in detention for a week straight for a lab disaster that wasn't even her fault. That's all thanks to Will Hawthorne, his friends (one of whom she unfortunately used to...
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La Promenade was busier than usual due to the approach of spring break, but even with the extra customers, I spotted Jackie as soon as she stepped into the cafe.
She settled herself into the same booth as before, the one on the American diner side on the right, all the way at the front. She had not been here since I had first spoken to her, and I was beginning to worry that I had ensured her staying in Oak Point for nothing. So when she did come in, it suddenly felt like I could breathe a little better; a weight partially lifted off my chest.
I ran around a bit, fulfilling orders of cafe lattes and croissant sandwiches for the customers that were clearly tourists (one of them with a 100 Best Things To Do in Oregon guide) before I managed to get over to Jackie. But when I come over and she looked up at me, smiling the same warm smile that she wore last time, it felt as if no time had passed at all.
"Hi, Violet," she greeted me. She nodded at the customers behind me. "Looks like you're quite a bit busier than last time."
"Yeah," I admitted. "Spring break is in the air."
She nodded. "Well, since it's the season and you seem to be making them by the ton, why don't I get that croque monsieur."
I grinned. "You got it. Be right back."
Jackie wasn't wrong. That was without a doubt our most popular order today, because when I went in the back to give the order to Liel, who oversees most of the food preparation, he was already in the middle of half a dozen croque monsieurs, along with various croissant sandwiches. I waited for him to finish them all, including Jackie's, before heading back out and delivering them to the tables, one by one until I ended up at Jackie's booth last.
"Thanks," she said as I set the sandwich down at her table along with some ice water, my fingertips leaving clear, oval-shaped spots on the condensation around the glass. Jackie took the glass and brought it to her lips, taking a gulp of water before setting it back down at looking up at me. "I found out something interesting the other day."
"And what's that?" I asked her.
There was a twinkle in her eye as she spoke. "Apparently my son is not the only one with a hankering for trouble at school."
I stared at her for a moment, frozen to the spot. "Will told you." It came out sounding more like a statement than a question, mostly because there was no question about it. Jackie cracked a smile.
"We'll talk more about it when you're not so busy," she said with a wink.
It took another two hours, toward the end of my shift, before La Promenade cleared out enough to get a chance to talk with Jackie again. James, the manager, and I took care of customers, fulfilling orders of cappuccinos and croque monsieurs and pain au chocolat, until one by one, they vacated the cafe, and at around 6 o'clock the only people left were Poppy (a college girl with a maroon beret who was another regular, sipping an iced latte and working on some homework) and one of the tourists sitting at the coffee bar, who was so engrossed in his 10 Best Things To Do in Oregon guide that he didn't even glance my way when I set his order of expresso down next to him.
