Illicit affairs | William Afton

Chapter Four: The Card

Fredbears Family Diner
"Where fantasy and fun come to life"
Owned and run by Afton & Emily LLC.
48902 Main St, Hurricane 89907, UT
435-729-9490

Esther looked over the card in her hands as she sat on her bed, pondering the black text sprawled across the middle of the thin lightly textured piece of card stock William gave her. It was bent at the corners and looked like it had been rotting in his wallet for some time. Was this what Esther thought it was? She couldn't be sure. A job, any job, would be a good start, even if she was mopping bathrooms all day. But William? Being her boss? Maybe he wasn't offering a job, maybe he just wanted to rub his success in her face. Either way, the last thing she wanted after that dinner was for William to have more authority over her. Judging from his house he must make a lot of money, surely, she would be paid well, if this even was a job offer, Esther thought.

The hassle of being around William weighed heavy on her mind as she got ready for bed. Of course just as Esther lifted up her sheets to get into her new bed, she heard a soft knock at her bedroom door. Sighing, Esther left her quilt wrinkled on the bed as she twisted the squeaky silver handle of the large wooden door. Esther was now greeted by Miriam standing in the hallway in her frilly pink nightgown and matching hair curlers, seething anger and cold cream glistening across her features, clearly not attempting to hide her rage.

"What do you need Miriam? I was just about to go to bed-"

"What did William say to you in the kitchen after dinner? What did he give to you?"

Esther knew that Miriam would be possessive of her husband. But why would she ever think so low of her own sister? Good, Esther angrily thought, Miriam can be as jealous as she wants. Not wanting to worry Miriam even more and have to explain herself, she decided not to mention the card, or the odd glance William gave her as he quickly disappeared into the hallway.

"... I- I don't know what you're talking about Miriam. All he said was goodnight."

"Goodnight? Sure."

"Well I could start barraging you with questions about why you never wrote to me the winter after you moved."

"You know full well I was busy-"

"Busy!? Busy doing what Miriam? Busy prancing around in your nice department store clothes and your brand new car acting like your own sister isn't worth your time?"

"Esther I don't think that's fair."

"Well life's not fair Miriam. I guess you've never had to learn that."

With that Esther shut her door before she realized what she'd said. She then stumbled over and collapsed onto the bed, hoping and prying for a good nights sleep. Much to her dismay, Esther found her sisters guest bed harder than titanium steel. She felt cold enough she wouldn't be surprised if she were lying on a sheet of it. From the flight, to her sisters marriage, to the awful spring mattress, Esther had a pretty abysmal day.

Little did she know it would only get worse from here. As she drifted off into the cold comfort of a very uncomfortable sleep, Esther found herself thinking about William more and more, what an odd man. An odd man with an adoring wife and an apathetic attitude towards everyone and everything except his successful business. Esther renewed her resolve to learn more about William. Perhaps that business partner of his would know something that would help put the pieces together in the puzzle of this mysterious man's life.

February 25th, 1970

Esther woke at dawn. Not having gotten much sleep. The time change from London to Utah not being favorable. The bed didn't do many favors for her jet lagged body, and she hadn't realized until now how exhausted she was. She was running on fumes yesterday, and Esther had a feeling that between dealing with Miriam's temper and the visit to William's restaurant, she was in for a very long, tiring day.

As she got dressed she looked at the card sitting flat on her new bedside table, everything was new to Esther now, from the carpet she stood on this very moment to the ceiling she starred at all night. She couldn't afford to bring any of her old furniture from London over to the states; not that those old pieces would have even made the trip, which means seemingly everything she touched in this house was Williams. She was surrounded by him, the walls of his house, the mirror she gazed into, the plates she ate off of, they were all his. A shiver was sent down Esther's spine at the thought of William and Miriam practically owning her. Esther quickly shook the thought away and focused on the card. William never gave her a time, only a place, so she assumed she could arrive on her own time.

Pulling on her coat Esther quickly and quietly snuck out of the house before Miriam could wake, apparently, she had a habit of sleeping in rather late. William had left hours ago, it was around eleven o'clock by the time Esther made her way to the door, spending most of her morning reading about Hurricane and studying a map of the city's roads in books she had found in the airport gift shop during her wait for Miriam.

Before stepping out, Esther remembered Miriam making a passing comment about using her car if needed during dinner. Grabbing the ring of keys in the bowl by the door and a folio of documents including her credentials and her visa Esther quickly made her way out and towards the gorgeous black car she admired much more than she originally led on. She smiled to herself as she unlocked the car.

After a short drive and a lot of wrong turns Esther finally found herself at ground zero. The gigantic sign in front of the building had the same text plastered on the card Will gave her.

________________________
Welcome to
Fred Bears Family Dinner
________________________

The text on the building was much more exciting and lively than the plain, boring, black text of the business card. It was a bit eerie, the difference. Still Esther put on an air of professionalism and pride; not wanting William to win another one of their minuscule battles, and stepped through the glass door of the establishment to be set with the visage of a middle aged man. He had a plump face, offset by a pair of pebble thick aviator eyeglasses and adorned with a bright smile and a small group of hyper children encircling him.

Esther had no idea who he was, but she knew he must have worked there, the shiny yellow vest and slightly larger than usual purple bow tie would be out of place anywhere else. Esther approached the man as he was wrapping up a talk with some other employees, now turning his attention to her.

"Welcome to Fredbears, how may I help you?"