by Unknown
He stared straight into her eyes. They held each other’s gaze for a long time. There was more to their friendship and they both felt it. Right then, they knew it. This was not just a simple friendship or a platonic relationship; this was more and it was in that moment that they realized it.
Perhaps not for the first time, maybe they had not allowed themselves to feel this way. They had always obstructed their feelings with a lot of ‘rational’ explanations. But this moment had broken it all. It stripped away their excuses and they were forced to see what everyone around them were seeing.
But the moment was interrupted with Kim’s cell phone rang — the annoying ring that she had assigned so that she could distinctly hear it ring no matter how noisy her café got. Kim fumbled to get to her phone; it was Judith on the other end, her voice was urgent and a little panicky.
“Where are you? It’s almost two and you are not home. I couldn’t get through to Jake either. You had got me so worried? Where are you and why are you not home yet?” Judith bombarded Kim with questions.
“Maa, I am with Jake and we were going over a few details for a large order. I lost track of time. I’ll be home in half hour.” Kim disconnected the call. “Well, we completely lost track of time.”
She avoided Jake’s eyes as she began locking up the place. He didn’t say a word either and waited for her to be done. “I’ll follow your car till you get home.” He held the door open for Kim as she walked out and locked it behind them.
That night, the drive home was a long one. Somehow the silence between them was too loud for either of them to concentrate on anything. Kim kept looking at Jake’s car in the rear view mirror. Jake is just a friend, she told herself but why did it sound like a lie?
The next morning, Kim went about preparing for the event. She was not going to let self- doubt get to her. The preparations were made, extra help was hired. The event coordinators were sent the day before to set up the place for the event. The morning of the event was exceptionally busy; there was no time for anything extra, the regular guests were to be managed along with the huge inflow that was expected due to the book launch event.
At the last minute, of the extra help that Kim had hired, two dropped out due to some personal emergency. The panic bits that were floating around Kim since the day prior, kicked in now, and she was beginning to close down. The kitchen went into total shutdown mode just two hours before the event was to start and Kim refused to come out and meet even the event organizers.
Her permanent help called up Judith and Jake and informed that Kim was just not talking or doing anything, and things were falling apart, they needed to come in as soon as they could. Judith was there first, but Kim just refused to talk to her. So after a few minutes and several tries with Kim, Judith turned her attention to the guests and took charge of the kitchen to make sure the orders were taken care of. Kim’s permanent help had stepped up and was managing the counter and taking in the orders but since the temp was not well-versed with the kitchen, the orders took an abnormal amount of time to get to the table.
Though the guests who had been visiting since long didn’t mind the extra time, the bigger problem would begin two hours hence when the event would start. The number of orders were going to drastically increase, things would have to be out and about in under a minute to keep up the pace. The number of hours Kim had spent preparing would all go waste if she did not pull herself together and soon. Just then Jake walked in.
He had to wrap up his studio, and that took him a little while, but the minute he walked into the kitchen and Kim saw him, she broke down.
“Judith, I am not sure what has gotten into her,” Jake told her mother, “but she is just frozen. This is the first emotion she has shown.” Judith nodded and continued taking in the orders from the new customers.
Jake walked up to her and pulled her out from the back door of the café.
“Kim?” he looked at her tear-stained face and hugged her. She was still not completely composed and soon began to cry and to pull herself away from Jake, but he didn’t let her go. It took Kim about ten minutes to calm down, and Jake hugged her again, stroking the small of her back. Once her crying reduced to sobs, and the sobs quieted down too, she lifted her face to look at Jake.
She thought she would see disappointment in his eyes but no! He was calm and he looked at her with excitement as if he had not seen her break down.
“Are we ready?” he asked her.
Kim nodded her head and looked down as if she was expecting him to say something that she was not ready to hear. He kissed her forehead and, putting his palm in hers, started walking back to the café. Kim was a little surprised and a little confused. Jake opened the door for Kim to let her walk in first. As she passed in front of him, he whispered, “You are good to go. Now do what you have been hired to do — the thing you are good at doing.”
He had the broadest smile on his face. Kim felt a little relieved that he was not seeing her as a failure or a disappointment. He wasn’t shunning her or stepping in to do it for her.
All he did was to help her cope, without making her feel less about herself. Kim got back inside and headed to meet the event coordinator and started putting things back in motion. They were half an hour away from starting the event and Kim had caught up with everything. The place was back in order as if things had never derailed.
The event was a big success. A reading by various local authors of their books, local media covering it all, and all of this over some fresh coffee and snacks and the brilliant setting of Kim’s café. This was the beginning of many more. A local news channel was present to cover the event. They wanted to interview Kim. She kept looking at Jake, who was behind the camera, as she was questioned about her place.
She saw him beaming with pride. He was hugging Judith with one hand, and Sam stood next to him with Rob on the other side. This is the man I want to be with for the rest of my life, she thought. In that moment it was all clear to Kim.
CHAPTER 27
“Kim, is everything all right?” Cheryl nudged her and gave her a quizzical look.
“Yeah!” Kim’s hand touched the stray tear that had escaped her eyes. “Yeah, it couldn’t have been better.”
“So, why the waterworks?”
“I just can’t believe how things have turned out after all these years? Nothing close to what I could have ever imagined.”
“Life is like that. There would be no fun if we knew what was to happen.”
“You have become wise beyond your years,” Kim teased.
“And here is the final plate of your Afghan kebabs,” Jake entered the room, sliding the door closed. “Did I miss something?” he gestured towards a water-eyed Kim.
“Not really, I think it’s just about to start.”
“Nothing like that.” She took the platter from Jake’s hands and placed it on the table and picked two pints of Corona, handing one to Jake. “Just a little grateful to have all my friends and my family here.”
Jake wrapped her in a side hug and kissed her forehead. He looked at Kim, her eyes searching for that security that she often looked for and always found in Jake. “What’s behind is behind. See how far you have come and how far you want to go, love.” Jake hugged her tighter.
“Yes,” she breathed in and let the worry out. Only Jake saw that. He saw through her even when she had walls all around her. “For some of us it takes a little longer to accept ourselves with all our imperfections.”
END
Acknowledgement
Thank you everyone for the encouragement, motivation and advice (even though you had no clue what I was doing).
Special thanks to my Papa for reminding me that I could write and Mummy for keeping me at it, Nishit, my beloved husband who never let me give up.
My little brother Tushar without whom I am tech-impaired and none of this would have been possible.