THE CAMELLIA TAVERN

CHAPTER 28: LUNCH WITH A STRANGER

Saturday, July 4th

Corrine is still asleep at almost eleven in the morning. I see on her cell that she has three missed calls from Gramps and I'm sure he's trying to figure out where she is and if she's actually still planning on coming into town. We're supposed to have a late lunch at his house today.

Warrick goes down the street to pick up coffee for us. When he gets back, Corrine is just starting to wake up. I sip on my coffee and wait for her to come to her senses fully. She sits up on the couch and looks around at the unfamiliar surroundings. No doubt she's wondering where she's woken up and I doubt it's the first time.

"Mornin'," Warrick says to her and she turns around to see him standing there trying to hand a coffee over to her. She takes it from him.

"Thanks," she says rather sheepishly.

"Guess I overindulged a bit last night," she says as if it isn't a regular occurrence.

"We're supposed to be at Gramps' at one," I say coldly.

She nods. She doesn't ask who Warrick is or where she is, so I assume maybe she does remember some of last night. Or maybe she's just too embarrassed to ask.

"May I use your shower?" she asks Warrick but before he can answer, I cut in.

"You can use the shower at my house. We'll stop by there before going to Gramps.'"

She nods quietly like a scolded child. I'd almost feel sorry for her if it wasn't for the fact that she could've severely disappointed Gramps if she didn't show up at his house today. I know I'm used to the disappointment that comes from her absentee motherism, but I won't let Gramps fall victim to the disappointment any more than necessary, if I can help it.

I stand up and motion for Warrick to follow me into the kitchen where we can have some privacy.

"Thank you for last night," I tell him and I hope he knows just how much I mean it.

"No problem," he says, like taking care of your girlfriend's drunk mother is all in a day's work for him. As if he doesn't already have enough on his plate. And, yes, I called myself his girlfriend especially since he introduced himself as my boyfriend last night.

He kisses me and if Corrine wasn't in the living room, I would let him continue kissing me until it was time to go into work tonight. Alas, Corrine is in the living room and I need to make sure she gets showered before showing up at Gramps' reeking of last night's booze.

This is not how I wanted this weekend to go. My plan was to work my ass off each night this weekend, have an awkward lunch with Corrine at Gramps' for an hour or two and spend some time with Warrick. Instead, I ended up babysitting Corrine for a night, and now I have to make sure she's presentable before heading to Gramps' for lunch.

Warrick drops us off at my place. I texted Merritt and Jacinda on the ride here to let them know that I was coming with Corrine, so they weren't both in shock when I walked in the door with her, but I still feel so uncomfortable bringing her here. She's never been to my house before and I honestly didn't foresee her ever coming here.

We walk inside and I watch her as she scans the room.

"The bathroom is down that hall to the right," I tell her, but realize she doesn't even have a bag with her, so she probably doesn't have a change of clothes. She's smaller than I am but I guess I'll have to loan her some of my clothes. Just great.

"I'll bring you a change of clothes," I say before heading to my room and digging through my jeans and t-shirts to give her something to wear. I give her one of my Camellia Tavern t-shirts from when I was eighteen because I was skinnier back then, so I figure it'll fit her better.