A la Carte

Chapter 16

Charlotte sighed and rubbed her aching feet through her stockings. She had been on her feet the whole day and now that the last customer had left it was time to clean up and close the doors. She reluctantly put her shoes back on and made her way through the, still busy, kitchen and out to the front. Perry was busy sorting the register out with Amanda; now that she was pregnant she had sufficiently less to do, but still maintained that she wanted to work until she could take her maternity leave. She did however take up a few shifts as hostess when Amanda couldn't and helped at the bar during a few evenings. Her hours were shorter, but still sufficient enough to take home a decent salary. Matt had begun to look for something more permanent and that had a higher salary, but so far he had been unlucky. Charlotte supported them in any way she knew how, often putting a few more dollars in Matt's or Perry's tip boxes, they never noticed she did, but she was content to help out in that way, after all she was saving a lot more money now that she didn't have to pay rent for a year.
Charlotte wiped the tables down, folded the table cloths and stacked to chairs on the tables. Matt had begun sweeping the dining area and the barman, Jesse, was wiping down the bar and drying the whiskey glasses.

"Here you go." Amanda said and handed Charlotte an envelope with her name printed neatly on. It was her salary slip.

"Thank you." Charlotte said and quickly finished the last table.

"So how's it going with you and lover boy?" Perry teased, as she and Matt walked her to the subway.

"He's in Los Angeles currently, but it's going well." Charlotte said.

"So do you think he is the one?" Perry asked, with a slight giggle.

"Perry, I just started dating him!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"So? When I first saw Matt I knew I had to have him." Perry said, Matt gave a loud snort.

"It doesn't work that way for me, okay?" Charlotte said.

"If you say so, sometimes you just know." Perry said.

"We'll see," Charlotte said and then waved goodbye as they reached the subway entrance. What Perry had said, slightly bothered Charlotte on her way to the penthouse. She liked Derek, he was charming, smart, not to mention good looking and he took into account how she felt, well most of the time. But with everything that had happened, with Dimitri's confession and Derek's past, it was like she didn't know what she was doing.

Betty was watching TV when Charlotte walked in, it was late, or rather it was very early in the morning, and thankfully she only had to be at the bookshop in the evening for the end of the month Book-of-the-Month evening. She was only needed to keep an eye on everything and help Susan to set up before.

"Hey!" Charlotte said.

"Oh, hey, you're home late?" Betty pointed out.

"That's usually what happens when I have the dinner shift." Charlotte deadpanned.

"Oh yeah, I guess." Betty said, her concentration on the TV program.

"So you and Tyler?"

"What about Tyler?"

"Are you two speaking?"

"Not really."

"Come one Betty, you have to at least send him a text or something?"

"What about him? Why do I always have to be the one that has to make the first move even when I'm not the one who fucked up in the first place?" Betty retorted harshly.

"Did you tell him this?" Charlotte asked.

"No, I didn't because I had the audacity to ask whether or not we were in a relationship and then he freaked out and started ignoring me." Betty explained.

"Well, then..." Charlotte was at a loss for words.

"Yeah, now you understand what I have to deal with."

"I'm sorry Betty; I hope that you two work things out, you guys are good for one another." Charlotte said with a sigh.

"Yeah, I thought so to, but apparently we aren't." Betty said with a sigh, turned the TV off and went to her room. Charlotte watched her friend go, desperately trying to cover up some of the tears as she had hurried off to her room, she hated not being able to help her friend. She sighed and decided that sleep would be a good idea, perhaps when she woke up, something would have changed.

The bookstore was quiet; the silence was comforting as Charlotte stepped into it.

"Susan, I'm here!" She called.

"I'm at the back!" A muffled voice yelled back.

Charlotte picked her way across the bookshop and entered the back room from the little kitchenette where Susan was unpacking the stacked folded chairs amongst boxes of books.

"You came just in time!" Susan said and handed her two chairs. Charlotte laughed and quickly took them to the front. They worked in silence, unpacking the chairs, then unfolding them and packing them around the lectern that Susan had unearthed as well. A long table was laid out with coffee and tea and another smaller table was placed at the front with the Book-of-the-Month proudly displayed on it. A professor from the university was coming to deliver a speech on the book, which had coincidently been a part of her thesis. Charlotte was excited to hear her interpretation of the characters, as they were some of her favourite fictional characters that she had grown to love when she had read the book.

"Charlotte, I'd like to introduce you to Prof Joan Atkins." Susan said, Charlotte smiled and shook the hand of a middle-aged woman, who was dressed smartly and held a copy of the book in one hand.

"A pleasure to meet you." She said.

Prof Joan Atkins had a lovely speaking voice; her speech was enlightening and contained humour as well as a serious undertone when focusing on purely academic elements of the novel.

"I think this evening was a huge success." Susan said to Charlotte as they packed away. A great many people had pitched up to hear the Professor speak about the novel.

"Yes it was, some of the things that the Professor said or pointed out, I had never even thought of or noticed when I read the book."

"Oh yes, she's a very smart lady, I tell you."

"You don't need to Susan, I found that out tonight." Charlotte said, laughing.

Susan dropped her off at the penthouse and when Charlotte walked in, there was no sign of Betty. She sighed and started preparing some supper. The doorbell rang and when she opened it she gave a sigh when she saw who it was.

"Dimitri, what can I do for you?" She asked, he held up a glass jug.

"I've run out of milk and it's late and I need a cup of tea?" He asked, hopefully.

"Why don't you just go and buy some now?" Charlotte asked.

"It's so much effort, and I'm already in my pyjamas." He pointed out. She hadn't even noticed that he was in his boxer shorts and a thin white t-shirt only, she blushed.

"Come in." She sighed.

She took the jug from him and filled it up with some milk, before handing it back to him.

"Thanks neighbour." He said with a smile and gave her a peck on the cheek before disappearing out of the front door, letting close with a resounding click. Charlotte touched the spot on her cheek.

"Why Dimitri?" She asked out loud, "Why do you do this to me?"