Survive You

Chapter 27.

They entered the restaurant at 8:29 as Donnie was at the door ready to lock down. There were a few curious looks as they entered, but no one said anything, although Beth was sure that, like her, more than one diner had realised Jordan still wore the same clothes he'd worn the previous night.

Breakfast was a buffet of assorted hot and cold foods to delight any palette or dietary requirement. Beth had been over the moon to see Paul Wahlberg himself stood at the hot plate. While she had got on with all the Wahlbergs after her unofficial adoption by Alma, aside from Donnie, Paul had always been her favourite of the siblings. Paul stepped out and wrapped Beth in a warm embrace. She felt herself welling up again as she realised how much she'd missed the closeness that they had all once had.

When Paul went back to the hot plate after spending a few minutes catching up, Beth reached for a bowl of fresh fruit, her usual breakfast choice. Fruit had become her go to breakfast as she tended to have a small appetite, and fruit could be kept until later when she fancied it. To this end she usually ended up eating several small "meals" of a piece of fruit or raw vegetables a day, with a small main meal in the evening. Today however as she reached for a bowl of mixed red berries, the smell of buttermilk pancakes wafted up from the griddle plate. What the hell, she thought, I'm on vacation, and she went and got a couple of pancakes fresh from the griddle. Working her way down the table she also picked up a sausage pattie, some bacon, butter and maple syrup and a glass of grapefruit juice.

She made her way to the rest of the group who had all sat in one area of the restaurant, and found a seat next to Lucy at a table for two, with Nat and Jemma, Sookie and Tasha sat at the four seater table next to them to their left. Beth settled into her seat and began work on perfecting her breakfast, buttering each of the pancakes, before spreading a layer of maple syrup on each then adding the sausage pattie and bacon to one pancake before topping with the second pancake, forming a sort of breakfast sandwich.

She raised the sandwich to her mouth, pleasure flooding her in anticipation of that first delicious bite, when she became aware that she was being watched. She looked up into Lucy and Nats shocked faces.
"Hungry mom?" Nat asked incredulously, and Beth looked down at the sandwich. About to answer she was cut off by a soft teasing voice to her right.
"I can't believe she still eats that shit." A familiar voice drawled. Jonathan. Beth turned to face him. The nervous, uncertain look on his face had her smiling her reassurance at him. Yes he'd hurt her, but she better understood the events that had led to it now, and she forgave him. She grinned, noting his breakfast of granola with almond milk and fruit. Her gentle smile became a grin as she replied "Damned vegans. At least the slaughter house death these piggies faced was swift and humane compared to the slow, agonising starvation death they face with you lot eating all of their food!"
Her response earned her a bark of laughter from the handsome man sat to Jon's right. Harley, Jon's fiancé.

At Beth's teasing Jon's smile relaxed and he leaned towards Beth, who put her sandwich down and leaned in to meet his embrace. He hugged her tightly, and whispered "I missed you Mouse. Forgive me?" He leaned back to look into her eyes, and she met his gaze, answering "I already did." Jon's hug grew firmer and he shuddered in relief. Beth released him, sitting back into her seat as she continued "just don't diss my food choices again." With a relaxed laugh Jon settled back into his own seat, as his brother approached and took the seat across from him, diagonal to Beth, next to Lucy.

Beth looked over, catching his smile as he looked at her breakfast sandwich. Back in the day the intense routines that they undertook nightly, along with the rehearsals, and general gym work they all undertook meant that they could all eat pretty much anything they wanted within reason, and Beth had embraced American breakfasts with gusto. She'd loved some of the weird and wonderful breakfast menus as they'd travelled from city to city on the buses. The sandwich before her had been served in a little roadside diner in a small somewhere outside Dallas, and she'd loved it. After that she had ordered it often as they toured. Was it those memories making Jordan smile, or something else.