by C. J. Birch
Hayley groaned, but Hannah just laughed and poked her flaming cheek. She’d always been able to embarrass her.
“How many kids are you having, anyway?” Hayley prodded her sister’s enormous belly, all the while keeping one eye on Lauren. She checked the clock. Lauren was fifteen minutes early for her shift. What exactly did that mean?
Hannah nudged Hayley. “Hello? Where am I staying? Your text didn’t give your address.”
Hayley froze. She hadn’t even thought of that. Hannah would have to stay with them. The last thing she wanted to do right now was ask Lauren for a favour. But no way would she let her pregnant sister, who she hadn’t seen in months, stay in a hotel. Not that either of them could afford it anyway.
“Um…” Hayley steered her sister back to her stool where a hot mug of lemon tea waited for her. “Have a seat, drink your tea, and let me confirm something.”
Hannah allowed herself to be corralled but eyed Hayley with suspicion all the same. Hayley didn’t think she’d be getting out of this without some sort of lecture. She’d left out vital information, and her sister, who took that sort of thing very seriously, was about to find out how hard a time she’d been having. Hayley was prepared to defend her choice to stay in the city, but she’d rather not have to.
Hayley caught up with Lauren in the basement storage room. Her hair was up in a ponytail, as usual, but today Hayley noticed the way the strays curled under, brushing her neck. Lauren reached up and brushed them away, then returned her attention to her clipboard. The act felt intimate, and Hayley rapped her hand on the doorjamb, not wanting to intrude further.
“Hey,” Hayley said from the doorway. “How do you feel about guests?”
Lauren pulled her attention from her inventory list. “In general? Or is there a specific guest we’re talking about?” She pointed up. “I’m assuming the pregnant lady belongs to you?”
“My sister.” Hayley shrugged. What could she do? Family sometimes sucked. “She sprung this visit on me.”
“Does she know—”
“No. And I don’t want her to.” Hayley stepped into the storage room and lowered her voice, even though no one upstairs could possibly hear them. “I’m not asking you to lie or anything, but can we not mention how long I’ve been living above the diner?”
“Okaaay. And how long is she staying?”
“Just until Sunday, if that. She has to be back at work Monday. She’ll sleep in my bed.”
Lauren took a step closer. “And where will you sleep?” And with that one sentence it was as if a furnace was heating the room.
Hayley swallowed. It had been an innocent enough question, but her mind went so many places at that moment. And without meaning to, almost like her eyes had betrayed her thoughts, they dipped to Lauren’s lips. How easy would it be to reach out and wrap her hand around the back of Lauren’s neck? To pull her close and end the distance? Her lips would be soft like the other night, and she wanted to know what Lauren’s lip gloss tasted like. She was seriously contemplating it when she heard her name. She physically shook her head and scrambled backward out of the storage room.
Hannah was standing at the top of the stairs. “Hayley?”
Hayley took a deep breath and tried to clear her head still stuck in a haze of lust.
* * *
The second Hayley and her sister left the diner, Lauren couldn’t think of anything else. Would Hayley tell her what had happened between them? Should Lauren care? After talking to Pete, Lauren was sure she knew what she was going to do. But now, with Hayley being so awkward about the whole thing, she was having second thoughts.
These thoughts followed her throughout the day. They hammered at her as the diner filled up, first with the lunch rush, which bled into the dinner rush. They were heavy thoughts that weighed her down. The day became longer than usual, her shift harder because of it. Everything seemed to be going wrong.
So when Luna showed up ten minutes late for her shift, Lauren wasn’t even mad, only relieved that something had finally worked out. Those ten minutes had her worried that Luna wouldn’t show up at all. The relief lasted forty-five minutes before Luna sliced her hand open with a broken plate and had to leave to get stitches.
That’s when things took a downward spiral. Ezra and Theo were working the kitchen, and Lauren was the only server working the floor. And they couldn’t do anything to keep up.
By eight the place was still crammed, which wasn’t unusual for a Saturday, but this was Friday, and they rarely had this many people. That’s when they discovered there’d been a Halloween concert in the park across the street. Booze must have been involved, or perhaps people had snuck their own in travel mugs, because the evening crowd had brought the concert with them.
An hour before the diner closed, Lauren was taking an order from the kitchen, a bowl of cream-of-broccoli soup and burger to the last booth, when one of the concert-goers waltzed—and that was really the only way to put it—into the diner and twirled into Lauren, upending the soup all down the front of her uniform.
The man in the blue London Fog coat turned around in horror. “Oh shit, my bad,” he said, and with a sympathetic expression, he twirled back out of the diner. Lauren stood there, her arms outstretched, drenched in the thick, light-green sludge, ready to cry. It felt like minutes, but it was probably only a few seconds before Theo came out of the kitchen and bent down to help clean up the mess on the floor.
Lauren grabbed a cloth from the back and wiped the soup off her uniform as best she could, but she didn’t have time to go up and change. They still had too many orders to take and get out before they tried to shove everyone out of the diner so she could close.
* * *
“So, are we going to talk about your new apartment?” Hannah checked her watch. “I think three hours is my personal best.” She was propped up on the couch, a pillow from Hayley’s bed squeezed between her knees, watching her sister make her gunk, a recipe their nana used to cook for them. It looked gross, and whenever Hayley listed the ingredients it also sounded disgusting, but it was the best kind of comfort food.
Hannah had demanded Hayley make it the moment they entered her apartment. She’d been craving it for a week now, and she could never get the biscuits right. Not the way their nana or even Hayley made them, where they fell apart in buttery, flaky goodness.
Like the rest of her nana’s recipes, Hayley suspected this one came off the box of some 1950s product. Hayley removed the pot of hard-boiled eggs from the stove and ran them under cold water. “What about my new apartment?”
“Last time I checked in, you had three roommates, and none of them were named Lauren. And you mentioned you were living in Kensington Market, not Queen Street West.”
Hayley searched through the drawers for the can opener. It was in the second drawer, hidden under a hodge-podge of cooking utensils.
Hayley didn’t know what to tell Hannah. She hated lying to her, but she didn’t want to worry her. She hadn’t said anything in the first place because Hannah would’ve raced in to rescue her, and she wanted to show everyone, including herself, that she didn’t need that. She paused in mid-thought, the can opener suspended over the unopened can of salmon. Had Lauren rescued her? She would pay half of Lauren’s rent, because no way was she taking charity.
“Hello?” Hannah waved from the couch. “Are you and Lauren…together?”
“No.” Hayley shook her head, perhaps a little too vigorously. “No, no. She only offered me a place that was cheaper and closer to work.”
Hannah heaved off the couch, using the coffee table to pull herself forward. “Hmm. I’m getting a certain vibe here.”
Hayley turned her back to her sister as she stalked into the kitchen. “No vibe here.” She broke the salmon into chunks, dropping them into a pot, and added milk, stirring rapidly.
“Uh-huh.” Hannah leaned her hip against the counter and watched as Hayley peeled the eggs, throwing the shells into the compost bin. “You’re such a bad li
ar.”
Hayley cut the hard-boiled eggs into quarters and dropped them in the pot. She’d be able to hold her sister off for only so long. Hannah would badger her until she gave in and told. It had always been like that, even when they were kids. She’d never been able to keep a secret from her sister for long.
The first time she’d ever kissed a girl, Hayley had managed to hold on to that moment for two whole days before breaking down and telling Hannah everything. She’d been fourteen and terrified her parents would find out, terrified of what it meant about her, terrified by how much she’d liked it. But Hannah had been kind and understanding and encouraged her to go talk to Mom about it because she’d feel better if she did. And she had. She found something cathartic about giving away her secrets.
“Okay. We kissed. The other night.” Hayley pulled a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer and dumped a bunch in a glass container.
“She kissed you? Or you kissed her?”
Hayley stood for a moment thinking about the way she’d melted into Lauren, how Lauren had opened to her, her hand slipping up her thigh to the edge of Hayley’s dress.
“So I’m guessing it was a mutual thing?”
Hayley scrubbed her hands in the air. “It doesn’t matter. She’s my boss and roommate. She’s forbidden fruit.”
“Then why’d you kiss her?”
“Ugh. I don’t know. It makes everything more complicated.” The oven timer beeped. Hayley grabbed the oven mitts off the counter and pulled out a tray of freshly baked biscuits. The smell of flaky buttered pastry exploded into the kitchen.
Hannah reached for one, but Hayley shooed her away. “You’ll spoil your dinner.”
Hannah spread her hands over her belly. “No amount of food will satiate this little monster. I eat like I’m training for a food-eating competition.”
“That explains why you’re as big as a house.”
Hannah picked up one of the discarded oven mitts and swatted Hayley with it. “Hey. Don’t be cruel.”
“You know I’m kidding. You look amazing and glowy.”
“And starving. Let me have just one.”
Hayley tossed the peas into the microwave. “It’s almost ready. Can’t you wait five minutes? Go set the table.” When Hannah didn’t move, Hayley picked up a biscuit and waved it at her. “You can have this if you set the table for me.”
“If I’d known I’d be forced to work for my room, I might have chosen a better place to stay.”
The front door creaked open, and there stood Lauren, her uniform covered in some sort of creamy liquid that had since dried into a stiff mess. It was also smeared into her hair, coating it in chunky globs.
Chapter Nineteen
“Holy shit.” Hayley took a step forward when she saw Lauren. “Is that the clam chowder?”
“Cream of broccoli.” Lauren looked close to tears. “Luna cut herself and had to leave.” She held her hands out in front of her, inspecting the mess down her front. “I had to work the last hour of my shift like this.” She pulled the fabric away from her chest.
Hayley came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. “Why didn’t you come up and change?”
“It was packed tonight, and I was the only server. I couldn’t leave.”
“You should’ve called. I would’ve covered for you while you changed.”
Lauren stood frozen. She hadn’t even thought of calling Hayley, even if her sister hadn’t been visiting.
Hannah spoke up. “Why don’t you join us? Hayley made enough for a small army.”
Lauren hesitated. She didn’t want to impose or insert herself in a family reunion. But it smelled heavenly, and she hadn’t eaten since before her shift.
Hayley pushed her toward her room. “Go shower and definitely change. It’ll be ready by the time you’re done.”
When Lauren had disappeared into her room, Hayley turned to Hannah. “Do not embarrass me,” she whispered. “Or you and your unborn child will be sleeping on the street.” She pulled three plates down from the cupboard and motioned for Hannah to continue setting the table.
“Could you be any more obvious?” Off Hayley’s shrug, she added, “Your eyes were glued to her breasts.”
“They were not.” But they had been. “I was looking at the spilled soup.”
“Oh, please. Besides, why shouldn’t you? She’s cute.”
“Shut up.”
While the sound of the shower filtered into the kitchen, Hayley cracked the biscuits in half and laid four on each plate, ladling gunk onto the steaming centres. Hannah finished setting the table, and by the time they had the table full of food, Lauren had emerged from the shower, towelling off her hair.
“It smells amazing. What is it?”
“Don’t ask.” Hannah handed her a glass of red wine before she even reached the table.
Lauren sat and stared at the mess filling her plate. A light-grey chunky sauce covered it. The only colour was the stray pea dotting the slop.
“It’s best to try it first. You’ll like it. I promise.”
Both Hannah and Hayley cut into a biscuit and scooped as much of the sauce as their forks would hold. Hannah ate with an urgency only pregnant women and dieters could muster.
“The biscuits are amazing. You’re getting better than Nana at them.”
Hayley smiled but didn’t say anything. She watched Lauren push the gunk around her plate before spearing a piece of hard-boiled egg and tasting it. Her eyes went wide, and she looked over at Hayley.
“Wow.”
“Not what you were expecting?”
“Not at all. What’s it called?” She took a bigger bite, this time with some of the biscuit.
“Gunk,” Hannah and Hayley said together.
“It’s a family recipe.”
“It’s really amazing.” Lauren took a large sip of wine, then another. The gunk didn’t really go with red wine, but after the day she’d had, she needed it. It was hard to believe how much her emotions had flip-flopped in one day. First had been that awkward exchange with Hayley. She’d spent the last half of the morning psyching herself up for a conversation with her that never happened and then the absolute hell of a day.
At least Hayley seemed to be back to her normal self, although that probably had more to do with her sister being there than anything. Hayley hadn’t even mentioned she had a sister, but then, they really hadn’t gotten into personal details yet. It always took her longer to get to know a roommate than someone she was dating. She felt on guard with a new one because so much was at stake. If you didn’t like who you were dating, you could just break up, but if you didn’t like your roommate, they were harder to get rid of.
With Hayley it had been different. She hadn’t felt as hesitant to hide behind that barrier of politeness—maybe because they worked together, or maybe it was Hayley.
She watched Hannah scrape her fork through the gunk, getting the last bits of it off her plate and into her mouth. She didn’t look a thing like Hayley. She had light-brown hair swept back into a ponytail. Her eyes were brown, almost the colour of dark chocolate, and where Hayley was pale, Hannah had more of an olive complexion.
Their personalities didn’t align either, but she’d known so many siblings who were nothing alike, so this didn’t surprise her. Immediately she could tell Hannah was the older of the two. When she spoke to Hayley, her voice had a teasing quality, something that seemed to have been cultivated over the years. But Hayley didn’t seem to mind.
“So where do you live?” Lauren asked Hannah.
“In Casper Falls. My husband and I moved back after we finished school.”
“And are now going to subject my future niece or nephew to the hell that is small-town life.” Hayley pointed her fork at Hannah, an affectionate smile on her lips.
“You’re not a fan?” Lauren pushed her clean plate away and rested her elbows on the table.
“Of Casper Falls? No one’s a fan. It has one stop light, which becomes a four-way st
op after nine.”
“It’s not that bad. There’s never any traffic, you can always find parking, the housing is affordable, and everyone’s really friendly.” Hannah grabbed both Lauren and Hayley’s plates and stacked them on top of hers.
“There’s nothing to do, no jobs unless you like administration or restaurant work, they play the same one movie for an entire month, and nobody can mind their own damn business.”
Hannah waved away Lauren’s offer to help and cleared the dishes off the table. “If you can’t tell, my sister’s a bit bitter about being the only lesbian in town.”
Hayley went three different shades of red, each one darker than the last. “I wasn’t the only lesbian. And I’m not bitter. I just think people should find more important things to do than talk about other people’s business.”
“You remember about the one-movie-a-month thing, right?” Hannah turned to Lauren. “You heard her say that, right?”
Lauren was enjoying the dynamic between the two sisters. She’d never seen Hayley so relaxed. Not that she was uptight, but there was always an edge to her, some part of her that stayed below the surface hidden. This Hayley seemed more open and approachable.
“Are you sure you don’t want any help? I didn’t even help cook.” Lauren grabbed the bottle of wine off the counter and offered to refill Hayley’s glass, but she shook her head.
“You worked all day, and Hannah didn’t do anything. She may be pregnant, but as she’s pointed out a million times, she’s not an invalid.”
Lauren refilled her wine glass. “When are you due?”
Hannah stacked the dishes next to the sink and began filling it with soapy water. “Not until January.”
“January’s better than December,” said Hayley. “You don’t want it born around Christmas. Those birthdays are the worst.”
“Oh.” Lauren stood up so fast she almost knocked her chair over. “I just remembered. I have dessert.” She went to the fridge and pulled down a small opaque container and set it on the kitchen table. “I made these this morning.” She lifted the lid to reveal three circles of chocolates decorated like Halloween characters. The inner circle was filled with white mummies, the middle circle was little green Frankensteins, and the outer circle was witches with black, pointy hats.