The Waitress

by Melissa Nathan

  “You…”

  She shook her head. “Nothing serious. Just flirting. The odd gift. He told me you weren’t good enough for me.”

  “He’s never even met me!”

  “I told him all about you.”

  “Oh thanks.”

  They sat in silence for a while. Then another wave of sorrow swept over Geraldine. She slumped forward over her knees, watched by an increasingly miserable Dan. When it finished, she blew her nose and sat back again.

  “You know what I don’t understand?” she whispered. “How women are supposed to want to get married but at the same time not be aware of it, so we have to pretend we’re idiots and just wait and wait and wait until it just miraculously ‘happens.’” She started shaking her head. “It’s not meant to be this hard,” she whispered, starting to cry again.

  “I know,” soothed Dan.

  When Jon came into the café kitchen holding a bottle of wine and three glasses “just in case,” Katie and Sukie knew the party had really started. He joined them on the floor and told them he had some news, and Sukie said that actually, so had she. Katie said that she had enough for a 24-hour rolling news channel, and Sukie made her tell Jon all of it before they got started on theirs. By the end of her recital the three of them were fairly speechless.

  “There’s absolutely no way I can top that,” said Jon. “My news is pants now.”

  “Yeah,” said Sukie. “So’s mine.” She topped up her own wine and Jon’s but when she got to Katie, Katie put her hand over her glass. Sukie gave her a look, but Katie shook her head firmly. She wanted to be clear-headed. Drink made her mind fuggy. And she didn’t want to feel fuggy any more.

  Geraldine waited until her eyes had dried, took a final gulp of whisky and then, with Dan watching, phoned her boss, Bryan. Dan only left when he knew Bryan was on his way over.

  “So what’s he like this Bryan bloke?” he asked at the door.

  “Rich, hopelessly in love with me and desperate to have babies,” Geraldine said with a smile.

  He gave her a questioning look. “Are you going to marry him?”

  She gave a little laugh. “Well I’ve got all the underwear, haven’t I? And it’s terribly romantic isn’t it? He’s been waiting for me for years.”

  He blew her a kiss and she air-punched it back at him. He said goodbye and wished her luck, then shut the door and got the hell out of there. Two minutes later, he climbed into the car, his body trembling. He couldn’t remember feeling like this since adolescence. He would be with Katie in a matter of minutes.

  Back in the kitchen, Sukie and Katie screamed in delight. A publisher had liked Jon’s first book and his idea of lager sagas. They were talking to Richard Miller about a possible deal.

  Then, as the laughter died down, Katie found her eyes focusing just behind Sukie’s and Jon’s heads, on the photos of Sandy’s engagement party now pinned to the fridge door. There were four pictures in all—one of her and Dan staring intently at each other, one of Dan’s mate wearing a lurid green shirt and snogging his girlfriend’s best friend, one of her and Hugh talking and one of a very drunk Jon hugging Katie, being watched by Sukie. And it was then that a lot of things slotted into place, like the last piece fitting into a vast jigsaw puzzle. All the other pieces had been assembled years ago; all the times Sukie had popped round to the flat unexpectedly, her asking Jon to help her with her letter-writing, the eagerness with which she had helped prepare Jon for his interviews, the hilarity instead of jealousy at Nik getting off with Patsy. And here was the final image, suddenly clear and complete in front of her. Sukie was in love with Jon.

  In the photo, Sukie’s face was more radiant than Sandy had looked on her wedding day, with all her make-up and daisies. It looked like there was a torch, just out of range of the camera, shining on Sukie’s face. She looked like the Madonna. And all because she was looking up at Jon.

  “What’s up?” asked Sukie, arm lazily round Jon’s neck.

  “Nothing!” Katie said as breezily as she could. “Nothing!”

  “Why are you looking at us like that?” asked Jon, his arm round Sukie’s waist.

  “No reason! Anyway Sukie,” Katie said, pouring more wine in her glass, “it’s time for your news now.”

  Dan put the key in the ignition, started the engine and then realized he couldn’t drive. He’d probably drunk about a pint of whisky. He pulled the key out, slammed the car door shut and started running.

  As he ran, he mused how long he had been waiting for Geraldine and him to crumble. Why hadn’t he had balls enough to get out when he’d had the chance? Pathetic. One disastrous date and he’d gone back into that hell without looking back, mistaking the pain he felt after the date with Katie for pain at being single. But he now recognized it for what it was. After only one evening in Katie’s company at Sandy’s engagement party, he had felt more of a connection—on every level—than he’d ever felt with Geraldine. And that was why, after their date had gone so wrong, he’d been plunged so swiftly into a state of despair. He hardly knew her, yet already he’d felt the loss of her. He hadn’t been distraught because he was without a girlfriend, he’d been distraught because he was without Katie. The reason he hadn’t been able to recognize the difference was because he didn’t know it could happen that quickly. He’d waited so many years to fall in love with Geraldine that he thought falling in love took a long time.

  Now that he knew it could take a matter of moments, it was more than annoying to have to stop on his way to Katie, but stop he did, because he already had a stitch.

  Jon and Katie could not let go of Sukie. This was the stuff of fantasy. She had won the lead—after all those auditions. After all the pain. After all the humiliation. Finally, Katie let go of them both and jumped up to sit on the counter, while Sukie and Jon stayed hugging. Katie pretended to look at something else. Then she glanced back. Sukie closed her eyes and, smiling, leaned her head against Jon’s shoulder. He kissed the top of her head. Patsy and Nik joined them in the kitchen.

  “Oh here you all are!” cried Patsy. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

  Nik put his arm round Patsy. “We’ve got some news.”

  “Wait,” grinned Sukie. “We must get Matt in here too.” She didn’t move.

  “Ooh,” said Patsy. “Yes we must.” She didn’t move.

  “I’ll go,” said Nik and went to get Matt. Patsy gave them all a grin. “Isn’t he lovely?” she asked and they all nodded. Nik came back with a rather disheveled-looking Matt and Eva. Eva put her hand on Matt’s bottom and he put his arm round her.

  “Right then,” said Katie. “All present and correct. What’s your news then, as if we didn’t know.”

  Patsy and Nik looked lovingly at each other and then Patsy gave them a shy grin. “We’re going out with each other. Hope you don’t feel upset that we’ve kept it a secret.”

  Sukie pretended she was laughing in delighted surprise.

  “You’re right,” Katie grinned. “We’d never have guessed.”

  “We’re so pleased for you,” said Sukie. “Let the celebrations begin!”

  Dan made his way down Asherman’s Hill, but could only achieve the pace of an extremely fit ninety-year-old. There’d be no point in turning up drenched in sweat, would there? Not for what he wanted to tell Katie, anyway. He slowed down, leaned over his shoes and gasped. Then he stood up, squared his shoulders and started walking at a leisurely pace to the party.

  The kitchen was suddenly silent. Paul stood staring at his staff and they stared back. He was wearing dark narrow trousers and his party shirt, a lurid green number. A nervous laugh escaped.

  “Well, say something,” he grinned. “It hasn’t been that long since I last saw you!”

  The kitchen staff all gave him a warm welcome, except for Sukie, who knew he wasn’t going to be their boss for much longer, and Katie who was sure she’d seen that lurid green shirt somewhere else. As Paul started greeting all of his staff like some long-lost h
ero, she turned to the photos of Sandy’s engagement she’d been gazing at. Yes, Dan’s mate snogging his girlfriend’s best friend was definitely wearing a lurid green party shirt. She looked back at Paul. Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean it was him. It was probably just a popular Gap shirt or something.

  Meanwhile Patsy ran to Paul and gave him a hug, congratulated him on his engagement and ran out into the café, where his fiancée was busy partying. Nik followed her and Matt and Eva decided to get back to the party too.

  Katie screwed up her eyes and scrutinized Paul’s features before turning back to the photo. Yes, although the image was not quite as clear as it could be, Sandy having been drunk when she took it, and most of Paul’s face being hidden by the face of someone else, there was a distinct mule-like quality about what could be seen of his features. In short, it was him.

  Paul was now left with Sukie, Jon and Katie. He stepped forward and extended his hand to Jon. They shook hands and introduced themselves to each other. Katie stared back at the photo and then at Paul, just to check. Oh yes, it was him all right. She tuned into the conversation and heard Paul saying that he was finally making an honest woman of his girlfriend.

  “After how long?” she asked.

  He affected a sheepish grin. “Far too long I’m afraid,” he said. “We’ve been together for five years.”

  Katie felt a rush of adrenaline course into her blood stream. And then when Dan suddenly appeared in the doorway she felt quite a bit more adrenaline flood into her blood stream while some more started an orderly queue behind it.

  Dan looked at Katie, breathing hard.

  “I’ve done it,” he said. “I’m not with Geraldine any more.”

  “What?” cried Paul. “You’ve finished with Geraldine?”

  Dan ignored him and suddenly turned to Sukie. “By the way on that subject,” he said. “I meant to say well done, that time when you pretended to know that Geraldine was engaged.”

  Sukie frowned. “When?”

  “You know,” insisted Dan. “That time when she was showing you her ring and you pretended to know even though I hadn’t told anyone.”

  “I wasn’t pretending,” said Sukie acidly. “I knew you were engaged.”

  “What? How?”

  “Katie told me,” Sukie almost gloated. “Didn’t you know? She found out at Sandy’s wedding.”

  He turned to Katie in shock. “How? When?”

  Katie gave him a measured look. “I thought we discussed this. Geraldine texted you to say she’d found the perfect wedding dress and I accidentally picked up the message.”

  “Wh-when?”

  “Just after I’d bared my soul and you’d kissed me.”

  There was a gasp and a murmur, but Dan didn’t hear.

  “Waswaswas that why you suddenly went cold on me?”

  “Of course,” said Katie. “Not a great aphrodisiac.”

  “And ran off?” he rushed. “And pretended it was nothing the next morning?”

  Katie bristled. “Yes.”

  “But I thought Sukie told you after Geraldine had shown her her ring,” insisted Dan.

  “No,” replied Katie curtly. “I told Sukie the evening I got back.”

  “Oh no!” cried Sukie suddenly, letting go of Jon for the first time. “She did it to you again!”

  “Did what?” asked Dan. “Who?”

  Sukie started jigging, gabbling at Dan. “Geraldine! When you were on your date with Katie, Geraldine phoned the flat—I was there—and Jon told her Katie was out on a date. He told her Katie was with you ’cos he’s a bloke and doesn’t get the rules, and so she called Katie on her mobile, and freaked her out about you. Said stuff about you being damaging in a relationship, how you’d patronize her and take her for granted and how you had a foul temper, how she’d have to go to see football every week, blah blah blah. Geraldine knew exactly what buttons to press with Katie and she bloody hammered them with a mallet. Katie had a panic attack. It’s a miracle she made it home. When she came into work the next morning she was a wreck.”

  He turned to Katie, a grim expression on his face. “Is this true?”

  “Well, yes,” she said quietly, “but I still acted like a child.”

  Dan walked up to Katie. “Can we just start again?”

  “Are you saying you finished with Geraldine?” repeated Paul.

  Oh God, how was Katie going to tell Dan she didn’t have the money any more?

  “I haven’t got the money any more,” she blurted out. There. That was how she’d tell him.

  “Wha-wha-how?” he asked.

  “What money?” asked Paul.

  “My aunt just died,” she said, and to her great surprise suddenly started to cry. “So most of it will get eaten up in inheritance tax and stuff.” She sniffed. “So you finished with Geraldine for nothing.”

  “Wha—” rushed Dan.

  “Hold on!” shouted Paul. “Everyone hold on.” Everyone held on. He turned to Dan. “First of all: are you telling me you’ve finished with Geraldine, even after she went to all that trouble to try and get your job back?”

  Dan visibly balked. “Just stay out of this Paul.” He turned back to Katie. “Me finishing with Geraldine had nothing to do with the money. I’m in love with—”

  “That is the most shitty thing I have ever heard—” Paul told him. “Geraldine put herself on the line for you. She begged for you.”

  Dan looked at Katie. “Can we go somewhere private?”

  But Katie wasn’t looking at Dan. She was looking at Paul. And it wasn’t a happy look. She crossed her arms. “Talking of doing shitty things,” she started slowly, “you’ve been doing your fair share recently, haven’t you, Paul?”

  “Katie,” interrupted Dan. “There’s no need.”

  “Oh I think there is,” she said calmly. “I have a rather important question to ask Paul.”

  Paul glanced at Dan. “I see Geraldine isn’t the only woman you need to beg on your behalf.”

  “Piss off Paul,” said Dan.

  “Oh I’m not going to beg,” said Katie lightly. “I don’t need to. The question I was going to ask was: how would your fiancée feel about seeing this photo?” She went to the fridge door and pulled off the photo of Paul snogging his fiancée’s best friend. She held it out in front of her, for him to get a good look at it. Indeed, everyone looked at it. Sukie and Jon gasped. Dan started grinning. Paul went white.

  “Will she recognize her best friend,” asked Katie, “do you think?”

  “Give me that—” Paul snatched at it, but Katie was too quick for him. She held it behind her back. Sukie took it from her hand, safely out of Paul’s reach. “You seem to find it really hard to do the right thing by people, don’t you Paul?” asked Katie sweetly.

  “Give me that photo now,” Paul told Sukie.

  “You leave her out of it,” said Jon, putting his arm round Sukie.

  “Give it to me now,” repeated Paul. “Or—”

  “Or what will you do?” asked Katie, reaching behind Jon’s back and taking the photo from Sukie. She held it over the gas hob. “Burn it? It won’t matter. This is only one copy. It’s on Sandy’s computer and on Jon’s computer. Oh, by the way, Jon’s my flatmate.”

  Paul swallowed.

  “So,” said Katie. “You’re going to go straight out there and tell your lovely fiancée that seeing us all has made you realize how fond you are of the business, and how you just can’t let down so many people.”

  “I can’t,” moaned Paul.

  Katie showed him the picture again and gave him a big smile. “Oh I think you can,” she said.

  He stared at them all and they stared back at him. He was about to speak when the door opened and in walked his fiancée, eyes bright with happiness.

  “Hello everyone!” she said. “I’m so glad we’ve finally met. I do hope you weren’t too upset about Paul having to pull out.”

  “Actually, honey,” said Paul. She turned to him with a tru
sting face. “I’ve got something to tell you.”

  Katie, Dan, Sukie and Jon were touched by Paul’s fiancée’s response. She had smiled at them all graciously, a bit like the Duchess of Kent meeting a courageous child, and said it was wonderful news and they really hadn’t needed the house with the pool; she loved the pool at her gym anyway. If Katie had had a flat cap, she’d have doffed it to her. The couple then did them the honor of staying in the kitchen while Dan opened a bottle of bubbly and Katie genuinely believed that, by the end of his glass, Paul was almost as delighted to have so many people beholden to him as his delightful fiancée was. Dan kept giving Katie lingering looks, and seemed to be trying to move round Paul to her side, but it was a small kitchen and he couldn’t manage it without physically moving Paul out of the way. So she made do with the lingering looks. Then, after they had all clinked their glasses to Crichton Brown’s and downed their drinks in one, Paul took Dan’s arm to lead him outside to the party. The fiancée followed, after giving them all one last sweep of a smile. Dan stretched round to Katie, missed and got Sukie, who had no choice but to join them. She stretched back for Jon, but was out of the door before she got a chance to say anything.

  Jon looked at the door for a while. Then he looked at Katie, and did a valiant attempt at pretending he really wanted to be in the kitchen with her, rather than in the party with Sukie. “So, Dan’s the man, eh?” he asked.

  She smiled at him. “So, an interested publisher, eh?”

  Jon gave a small smile, hands in pocket. “Yeah.” He looked at the door where Sukie had just been. Katie handed him the photos. “Have you ever looked at these properly?” she asked. He shook his head. “I just printed them out and gave them to you,” he said.

  “Well,” said Katie, pointing at Sukie’s face. “Have a good look, and see if you can read what you see as well as you write what you see.”

  When Katie came out into the party, it was a bit of a surprise. She knew everyone there and felt fond of them all, commuters, journalists, even Maxine. Maxine and Hugh had been busy getting attached at the hip and Katie joined Sukie in watching them with a mixture of disgust and fascination.