Luca Chessman has been longing for love his entire life. The only problem is-he can't seem to find a guy that likes him the same way.
With his family cafe, Chessman's, struggling to keep afloat and no help from the bank, he's slowly accepting the d...
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Later in the week I know something is off with my mother. She's been working extra hours, coming home extremely tired and I hate seeing her like this. As I put together a meal for dinner, she walks through the door past seven o'clock.
Usually she's back by five. This isn't her normal behaviour.
We say hello and I place the plates onto the table. She can't meet her eyes, she pushes the food around with her fork. I shake my head and exhale a quiet sigh.
"Mum, what's going on?" I say as I lean on my elbows.
Her eyes find mine and she flashes me the fakest smile ever. "Nothing."
"I know something is wrong," I state. "You're coming home later, you're not talking about the business. Please tell me, I want to know."
I watch as she presses a hand to her forehead, eyes fluttering shut. My teeth bite down on my bottom lip in anticipation. She doesn't speak for what feels like an hour but when she opens her mouth, she only shuts it again and starts eating her food.
"Is this about Chessman's?" I say desperately.
"Luca, please," she sighs heavily.
My jaw clenches because I feel helpless. "Tell me, mum. If it's about the business then I deserve to know, I'm a part of it too. I'm not a kid anymore. I want you to tell me these things, please."
Her blue eyes wobbly find mine and she drops her fork again. "Alright, fine," she huffs and leans back in her chair dramatically. "The mortgage on the building might be sorted for a few more months but we still need profits to keep us afloat."
I pinch my brows together. "But the cafe is going so much better than before?"
"It's not enough, Luca," she presses the heel of her palm between her eyes as if she has a headache. "The lenders are becoming sceptical with our payments, getting suspicious that we won't be able to pay. They're asking us to pay for the entire thing or else they'll take us to court and pull all the money."
My mouth falls and my heart slams into my stomach. "They can't do that, can they?"
She shrugs and lowers her eyes once more. "I don't know, Luca. I know nothing about all these laws and what our rights are. But all I know is that we don't have enough to pay it all off in a lump sum. They don't trust us to pay the remainder, I have no idea what we're going to do."
A tear rolls down her cheek and I stand up from my chair to walk towards her. I wrap my arms around her shoulders and pull her into my side. "Why didn't you tell me?" I whisper.
She covers her face with her hands. "Because I didn't want you to worry, I wanted to try and think through my options first."
"We're in this together, mum," I press my forehead to her temple. "This is our business and you can't protect me from this stuff. I don't want you to keep things like this from me."
