I feel like a petrol tank has just exploded in my stomach.
“Thank you for keeping our father company.”
“Our?” she asks, looking between us.
“We haven’t been introduced yet,” Nick says, extending his hand.
Jesus, Nick. You’ll never change.
“I’m Nick, I haven’t been back in town for long so I’ve never had the chance to come into this café before – but now that I know about it, I’ll be coming back a lot more.”
“Well, nice to meet you then, Nick. I’m Chris, and this is my little café.”
Chris.
There goes another petrol tank. This time the explosion is deafening.
“I’ve known your parents for ages, and your brother, Ian, and Riley, and…”
“So it was just me you were missing.”
“It appears so, unless you have another brother hidden away somewhere.”
“No, that’s it. Oh, and this is our little Ryan.”
Fucking bastard.
“We already know each other,” she says flatly. “Go sit down with your parents, I’ll bring your order over.”
“Thanks, Chris.”
“What would your mother like? Do you think she’d like a bowl of soup, or something else?”
“She loves potato soup.”
“Perfect, that’s our soup of the day. I’ll bring her one right away,” she smiles again and walks away.
“Very nice. Not a bad…”
“Fuck off, Nick!” I leave him there and storm outside the café to calm down. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m sure as hell that I won’t like it.
Nick catches up with me a few seconds later.
“What’s wrong with you? What’ve I done now?”
“Nothing, Nick. You never do a fucking thing.”
“I was just talking to Chris, she seems nice. She helped out Dad…” he stops, suddenly. “Oh.”
“Oh, what?” I attack him right away.
“You could’ve told me.”
“Told you what?” I’m panicking now.
“That you like her…”
“Don’t bullshit me. Have you seen her?”
