Two Worlds Apart

II

Lena waves bye to me when her shift ends, telling me she'll text me when her and Pepper get home. It started to rain sometime this afternoon and hasn't stopped since, so I'm relieved that it's Lena getting her from nursery in her car and not having to walk her home in the cold. I go to stand behind the counter, leaning my elbows on top, I wait for Charlotte to come in for her shift to help with the tea time rush. She's fairly new and still in high school, she comes in some evenings and weekends.
Before she arrives I seen the familiar, white, Peugeot 208 pull into the car park. Hazel steps out, pulling her handbag up her right arm, she walks towards the front door of the café. As she walks in and spots me behind the counter, a huge smile covers her face.

"Good evening dear" she beams, tucking a stray strand of her chestnut hair back behind her ear. " how's business been so far today?" She asks.

"Busy as always, full of the same breakfast and lunchtime regulars" I smile back.

"Did you get some tips?" She asks.

I nod my head, "yeah got a couple"

"That's what we like" she cheers, walking to pick up a folder from under the counter. "I'm doing a bit of paperwork in the office, just give me a knock if you need anything" she tells me before turning to head in the back.

"Oh and Wren" she pauses, turning back to look me. "How's my Peps?"

"She's doing great thank you Hazel" I beam at her.

She heads into the back around the same time Charlotte comes bursting through the door, almost pulling the bell off the wall from the speed she enters the café. Her hair is sticking out everywhere as she attempts to pull it into a neater bun.

"Omg, I'm so sorry I'm late" she gasps.

I giggle at her whilst looking around the room at all the empty spaces. "It's fine the rush hasn't started yet, go grab a apron because people will arrive any minute" I tell her.

I was right, as soon as Charlotte made her way back a sea of people turn up for the tea time rush. We quickly get to work tending to peoples wants and needs.
I head over to table 2 in the corner of the room by the window, I recognise the teenage girl sat with the menu in front of her. She's the girl I seen this morning at the bus stop, she still has her school uniform on and she now holds a sheepish look on her face. I look across the table from her, I see a boy older than her but a little younger than myself sat opposite her on his phone.

"Welcome to The Little Acorn Café, my name is Wren. What can I get you today?" I say in my normal cheery voice.

"Hurry up and pick what you want, I want to get out of this dump" the boy doesn't look up from his phone saying this.

I glance at him, disgust clear on my face but he doesn't even acknowledge me. The teenage girl looks at me with a apologetic look. She scans back over the menu quickly before answering me.

"Could I just get a strawberry milkshake please" she says barely louder than a whisper.

I nod, "can I get you anything else?" I direct my question to her trying to block him out of the conversation.

"Where are your toilets?" He rudely interrupts.

"To the right side of the counter, down the corridor and your second door on the left" I don't even look at him when I answer his question and off he goes in the direction I just told him.

"That's everything thank you" she tells me and I smile down at her sadly before walking back to the counter and passing the slip to Charlotte.

"Do me a favour Charl, keep a eye on that table" I say discreetly pointing over to the teenage girl. "I know his type and I want to make sure she's ok. I'm heading on my break"

I head into the back clicking on the kettle to make myself a cup of tea, I untie my apron and sit down in the staff room. I pull out my phone and check the message from Lena, she sent me a picture of her and Pepper with big cheesy smiles on their faces, she lets me know that she had a great day in nursery and she's being well behaved for her. I text her back thanking her again for having Pepper and put my phone back down. Only a couple more hours to go and my shift is over, as much as I love working here I can't wait to go home and relax.
I drink my tea and take a bite out of my sandwich, enjoying the break after being so busy. It's nice to finally be off my feet. I finish up on my break and put my apron back on, I check my phone again and see Lena had text that Pepper has finished all her tea and is getting ready for a bath. I quickly text her back and head back out to the front, its finally calmed down and it should be a lot quieter until close now.

As I reach the front of the café I freeze on the spot, there he is. Sat on the high stool right on the front counter, Charlotte chatting away to him like he's any other customer. But he's not, he's not just any other customer. She pours him a coffee and walks away.
I smooth out my apron and pull myself together. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘞𝘳𝘦𝘯. I try to just walk passed him and act like he's not there, but as soon as I take a single step his head shoots up and he spots me. A smug but charming grin spreads on his face, I am a mixture of disgusted and allured by him but I make sure to only show disgust.

"Hey Wren, long time no see"

"Yeah there's a reason for that" I spit back, still trying to ignore his presents as much as possible.

I grab my pad and pen and go to greet the man who just sat down, I walk passed him and he grabs hold of my wrist tightly.

"Where's my daughter?" Anger clear in his voice from my total disregard of him.

"Keep your hands off me!" I yank my wrist back off him, pulling it into my chest. "And she's 𝘔𝘠 daughter," I walk away and take the order from the man.

"Touch her again and not only will you be barred from here for life, but I'll also call the police." Hazel says sternly.

He glares at me and finishes the end of his coffee, before standing up and throwing money onto the counter. Before heading out the exit, he turns back once he reaches the door and looks in my direction again.

"This isn't over Wren, you can't keep her from me forever."

And before I even process what he's said, he's gone. I finally release the breath I didn't know I was holding once he's out of sight. I groan in frustration and head back behind the counter handing the slip to Charlotte.

"I didn't know Joel was back in town" Hazel says to me.

"I didn't either, until I come in this morning and Lena said he come in last night looking for me" I sigh placing my head in my hands.

"He's never going to get anywhere near Pepper honey, I promise" Hazel says holding her arms out to give me a reassuring hug.

My shift ends and Hazel offers to drop me off at home, saving me from having to get the bus on my own in the dark. She also likes to know that I'm home safely, specially now she knows Joel's hanging around. He doesn't know where I live, but I'm sure if he really wanted to he could find out. I thank Hazel and get out of her car making my way inside my house, I lock the door and head upstairs and run myself a bath. I just want to shut off from the world, have a nice soak in the bath and enjoy not having to set any alarms for in the morning. I try to switch off once I'm lay in the bath but seeing Joel again today has set me on edge, memory's both good and bad keep flashing through my mind. I can sense that this time he's not going to back down without a fight.