Every time you make a move

Leap of faith

The Café, South Kensington

Monica looked at the newspaper clipping placed in the catering job section in her hand, the description above the telephone number, as she sat at the window seat of the cafe she was directed to and supposedly where she was too be working in the future. 

"Supervisor required, must be efficient and observant. Experience not necessary but preferred. Ask for T. Cohen for more details about applying:"

It was an indefinite description, but it was worth trying it for at the time. Nearly five years without a job, anything would do by now to get her out of a silent household.

The Café (literally, that's what it was called. When she told Freddie, he gave an eye roll at the pretence), like many places in London, was a little more upmarket in contrast to Christina's wholesome and warm reception. It had brick walls, leather seats with a barista bar at the back, and a metal spiral staircase leading to an upstairs space.

A waitress offered her a menu the moment she'd seated herself down, but she declined.

It didn't help that Freddie's rendition of moon river had been stuck in her head all morning. Despite how beautiful it sounded she was constantly worrying about how her children were getting on.

"Uh, excuse me, are you Monica Brannigan?" A smooth and familiar American accent that she'd heard over the phone earlier in the week interrupted over the post-lunch time bustle around her.

She turned around to find a tall man with slicked back greyed hair, wide-apart, hooded brown eyes and a five o clock shadow, a perfectly fitted camel coat much like the one she was already wearing, and a striking pair of square black frames sitting on his large, hooked nose.

"Yes, I am" She smiled awkwardly as she stood up.

"I'm Theodore Cohen, the director," he held out his hand with a smile. "But, you can call me Theo if you prefer. Shall we get started?"

She nodded and shook his hand in response, "Theo, got it."

...she wanted to kick herself at how informal that sounded.

"He's a Director? Okay. So this cafe must be part of a company or brand then. A bit more commercial than I thought..." she thought as she followed him up the winding staircase.

"Please come and take a seat. I already ordered a coffee pot to share, I hope you don't mind." he gestured towards a quieter booth at the end of the space, and indeed it was much less congested.

She nodded, fidgeting with her hands as her stomach churned horribly.

"So, What accent is that? Scottish?" He asked as she slipped into the seat, pouring her a cup, "Do you take sugar?"

"Yes please... and no, it's Belfast," she folded a napkin onto her lap, and he nodded silently in interest. "What about yours?"

"Pittsburgh born and raised, but now my wife and I live here," he lowered himself. "What about you, how has your day been?"

"Well, it's been hectic," she replied, and thought that she ought to shoehorn in the fact that she was a mother as soon as she could to see if that'd affect the probability of her getting this job. "My two children started their first day of school this morning, and now there's this, so yeah."

"Two of them? At the same time?" He cocked a brow.

"Yes, I have a son and daughter... they're twins." She played with her collar anxiously.

"Twins eh? Oh yes, I remember the first days of school and how much more silent the house was," he chatted away, to her surprise. "My wife wouldn't stop her crying, even at our eldest son's Bar Mitzvah."