The waiter comes by to refill her glass and take our orders. We get our usual salads, but I always add a side of fries. She’ll complain how there’s too much salt or croutons in my Caesar salad and that I shouldn’t eat fried carbs.
“Don’t you think it’s time to move on from talking about Dad?” I tread carefully with my words. The last thing I need is for Mom to hit me with venom. “You guys are separated, almost divorced, and all you do is talk about him. Aren’t you tired of it?”
I could say much worse, but she knows how to hit harder.
“I’ll stop talking about him when you do.” She takes another swig of her wine, and when she places it back down, it hits the fork, almost knocking the alcohol out of her glass.
Just how much has she had to drink?
I eye the glass. “How long have you been here before I showed up?”
She looks at her manicured nails, and her eyebrows lift with disinterest. “An hour, why?”
If I can calculate correctly by how she’s acting and what she’s saying, I’d say she’s about four glasses deep.
“Just wondering… Maybe you should have some water after that glass.”
An annoying scoff comes from her mouth along with an eye roll that looks too much like mine. “You sound just like your father.”
And with that, I shut my mouth for the remainder of our time together and tune out everything she says.
After the mentally exhausting lunch, I stop by the bakery to see what Ellie’s up to. I personally need to start mapping out the design of the place now that the kitchen equipment is settled. Maybe I can convince my best friend to test out her shiny new toys by baking me a cake.
I could use an entire cake for myself.
The ceiling lights are turned on, and I don’t see Ellie through the window. August is in there, on his phone, pacing back and forth while he runs his hand through his unkempt hair.
When I open the door, I spot Ellie behind the new and improved register counter with a beautiful glass display next to it, ready to be filled withsweets.
August shoves his hand over his eyes, skewing his glasses on his face. “But we’ve discussed having the launch in three months. This is a huge opportunity for us, and we can’t keep pushing the date back.”
I know this look and that desperate tone in his voice. Those are the first two signs before he starts to feel overwhelmed and out of control. I’ve done plenty of research when it comes to ADHD mixed with anxiety.
After growing closer to August and learning more about him, I wanted to dive deeper to see if I could help combat a lot of his struggles. Another sign that he’s about to tip over the edge is when he bites his nails.
Ellie continues to do whatever it is she’s doing with a notebook at the counter. I walk up to August, grab his wrist, and pull his finger out of his mouth. I mouth the wordstopand he places that hand on his hip.
“Okay, then I’ll check back in next week for an updated status on the product. Yeah. Bye.” He raises his hands and says, “I’m going to lose my mind.”
“What’s happening?” I ask.
“Oh, you know,” Ellie says. “Business stuff.”
August turns to his sister. “Yeah, get ready to have a headache every day when you’re running this place.”
She looks up from her notebook at him, then closes it and turns up her nose. “I need to go in the back to look at some things.”
August sighs and sits on the floor against the wall. “I wasn’t trying to be a dick.”
I sit beside him, sprawling out my legs on the shiny wooden floor. “I know. You’re just stressed. What’s going on?”
He doesn’t look at me but keeps his focus on the wall across the room. “Dad and I are working on this big project—well,I’mworking on this big project now. We’re gonna expand the store and add new items we think would do well. I’m not sure why we didn’t think of it sooner. It didn’t cross our minds until last year.”
I raise my eyebrows in curiosity. “What is it?”
His eyes glow in excitement like a kid on Christmas. “I introduced the idea of adding skating gear, not just surfing gear. Rowan gave me the idea one day when he said he wished we’d carry skateboards because he’s tired of having to drive the next town over to buy new ones.”
“August.” I sit up in excitement. “That’s a great idea. I mean, technically Rowan came up with the idea, but sure, you can take the credit.”
