by Ginny Clyde
When I reached the tea shop, I saw a few people standing outside the glass doors. From what I could hear from their conversation, they were waiting for tables to clear. Entering the restaurant, I saw that it was more crowded than usual.
“Good thing you got here early today,” said Dorothy, rushing towards me. “It’s stretching us all today. Get changed quickly.”
I nodded and went to the locker room to change into my waitress uniform. After dressing, I pulled my hair into a high ponytail, preparing to work hard. The coughing had subsided, making me feel hopeful I was going to be all right after all.
The shift was strenuous. There was a lot of walking to and fro and heavy trays to carry. On a regular day, it didn’t feel as exhausting, but that day I was pushing my limits. At one time, I decided to hide in the kitchen, hoping to catch my breath. My cough was back as well, making me wheeze now.
“You okay, kiddo?” asked Judith from her place at the stove top.
“Yeah. Just the fumes, I guess,” I said, lying through my teeth.
“Tea fumes, huh?” She turned to look at me, her mouth shaping into a frown. “You’re looking so pale and sweaty. Are you sure you are feeling all right?”
“Yeah,” I said, laughing nervously and avoiding looking directly at her.
“Then, clear the exit door. Already three bags of garbage have lined up in the last hour.”
“Sure, thing,” I said, all the while cringing internally. My hands didn’t seem to have any strength left in them.
There was a narrow passage that led from the kitchen to a door labeled with a big green ‘EXIT’ sign on it. Three bulging bags stood beside it. Swallowing the sob that threatened to escape, I walked forward and began pulling it across the floor.
The door opened into a back alley with several garbage bins lining the street. Kitchen fumes came through the exhaust holes set high on the walls of the shop. The back of another restaurant faced us. The air smelled foul in there.
Suddenly, my knees wobbled. Letting go of the bin bag, I slumped onto the dirty wall next to the door. My head gave a particularly painful throb. Tears ran down my face from being helpless and in pain. I closed my eyes.
“Olivia,” said a familiar voice. It was Ryan Hargrove’s. A chuckle escaped my lips. I was hallucinating now. But in my fevered state, the thought of his handsome face and sapphire blue eyes made my anguish diminish slightly.
Hands came to hold my shoulders.
“Olivia,” the voice said in a louder, more desperate tone. My body was shaken, but my arms felt heavy and limp at the same time.
“Come on, Olivia! Open your eyes!” the voice pleaded, shaking me harder.
A moan escaped me. All I wanted was to stay that way and rest a little. But my mind or whoever it was would not stop shaking me. I opened my eyes.
Ryan Hargrove’s face swam into my vision. His eyes seemed to glimmer in the darkness of the alley. I realized we were on the ground and he was holding me up in his arms. Our closeness brought more heat to my cheeks. However, the coolness of his body was soothing. I leaned in against his chest, damning all propriety taught to me.
“Why do you have to be so stubborn?” he asked. “Why be so strong all the time?”
“There’s no one to depend on,” I whispered back.
His eyes widened. He brought me closer against him, hugging me tightly to his body. “It’s not true, Olivia,” he spoke in my ear. “I will always be there for you.”
“Where were you yesterday?” I said, hitting him on the arm.
“I’m sorry I took you seriously,” he said in a pained voice. “I promise it won’t happen again.” I hit him again. My vision went black for a second, making my head slump on his shoulder.
“Olivia? Olivia?” I heard his voice calling me from the dark void, but I felt too depleted to open my eyes, content to rest my head against his shoulder.
I felt my body being picked up from the ground. Judith’s cry rang out next. “Who-who are you? What have you done to her?”
“Don’t panic,” said Ryan Hargrove in his deep, commanding voice. “I am a friend. I found her passed out over there.”
“Oh no,” said Judith, her voice a lot closer to me now. “She can’t be here in the kitchen. Take her to the locker room. Up ahead and down the corridor. Do not carry her into the dining area. It will freak out the customers. I will go call the Boss Lady.”
“Thank you.”
It was a while before I heard anything. However, I remained locked in Ryan’s embrace.
Footsteps came towards us.
“What happened to her?” It was Bramble, but I had never heard her voice sounding so strict. She was being the Boss Lady now.
“She is running a very high fever and needs to be taken to the hospital,” said Ryan. I made the exertion to force my eyes open at that.
“No,” I said. It came out more as a pitiful moan. “Take me home, please.” Sarah would freak out if someone called her to tell I was in the hospital. It was better she saw me first. “Please…home.”
“It’s not a bad idea. Her mother can decide what to do after that,” said Bramble.
“Fine. I will take her home, then,” said Ryan.
“Wait! Do you even know where she lives?” asked Jeanne.
“Of course, I know.”
“What about her family? Do they know you?” asked Bramble.
Ryan hesitated. “Not really.”
“I am coming with you. I have met her mother and it will be easier to explain what happened to Olivia. If they see you holding her like that, they will call the cops first and ask questions later.”
I felt Ryan moving away from me. In my hazed mind, I tried to hold on as hard as I could, but I felt his cool fingers prying mine away. “I will be back, Olivia. I am getting the car to the back exit.”
Laying me on a bench, he went off. My eyes remained closed. My fever would not let me open my eyes without suffering more painful throbs of headache.
“He’s really into her, isn’t he?” asked Jeanne after a while.
“Sure is,” replied Bramble. “Wonder if she feels the same for him.”
“She’d have to be blind not to!” gushed Jeanne. “If I was younger, I wouldn’t think twice about stealing him.”
“Jeanne!” admonished Bramble. “The girl is sick and passed out. Don’t talk like that.”
“Sorry…but just saying.”
“Don’t let the boy hear you.”
I felt my body being picked up. The familiar smell of lemon and pine was such a comfort.
“We’ll be home soon, Olivia,” whispered Ryan.
I must have passed out for real next. I remembered nothing of the car ride. When my senses came back, I heard Sarah’s panic filled voice in the background while James’s voice was deep and threatening.
“Have you hurt my sister?”
“Of course, not! I just brought her home like she asked,” said Ryan.
“What happened to her? Why won’t she walk?”
“We believe she’s passed from the high fever she’s been running,” said Bramble.
“F-fever?” stammered Sarah.
“It was the rain,” said James. “She came in soaking wet last night.”
“It’s all my fault. I should have been there,” said Ryan. His voice had so much angst that it made my heart ache.
“How about we take her to her room and call a doctor or something?” said Bramble.
“Yes. It is upstairs. This way,” said Sarah.
The last thing I remembered after this was my head being lifted onto a pillow. My body felt relaxed in the warm bed and I let my senses drop away and fell into the welcoming darkness.
Chapter 13
In the end, it turned out to be fever and a mild case of flu. Since Sarah called Jonathan Brown the very same evening, he was able to explain my absence from school for the rest of the week. Bramble gave me the next two days off as well. Coupled with two days of weekends, I had ample time to recov
er and rest.
Even though I felt ill and weak, Sarah was always there to help. Back at the Academy, falling sick was a lonely business. We were made to spend the time in the nurse’s wing until we were cleared by the school doctor to resume living in the dormitories and attending classes.
With Sarah to look after me, it was a different experience. Her presence was a constant balm to me. She made sure I took my medicines on time. Sarah fed me a delicious hot broth every day. She claimed it was invented by her mother and that it had the power to drive away all illness. In the beginning, it had sounded like exaggeration, but on the third day of eating the spicy soup, I felt my sinuses clear and my throat was no longer scratchy.
James continued going to school. He came to sit with me in the evenings after dinner, but our mother didn’t allow him to spend too much time in my room. She was afraid he would catch the virus and then she would have both her children to worry about. However, he took the first opportunity to apologize to me.
“I’m sorry about being an idiot, Oli,” he said when Sarah left us alone for a while. “I shouldn’t have been angry with Mother. And I shouldn’t have thrown all that rage at you.”
Even though he looked older than me, I could see the boyishness in his face. It was the same tearful look he would have when he was being bullied or was in pain.
“It’s fine,” I said, smiling a little. “You can talk to me, you know?”
“Yeah. But you’ve been handling everything so well, Oli. I feel like a whiny baby when I complain,” he mumbled in a low voice.
“You are a baby!” I teased. I got a pillow in my face for that.
Grinning broadly, I punched him in the shoulder.
“What about that guy, though?” he asked. “Who is he?”
“Ryan Hargrove.” A smile came to my lips as I said the name.
“Is he in your class?”
I nodded. “Some of them.”
“I don’t really like him,” he said, narrowing his eyes at me.
I rolled my eyes. “He’s been there to help me before too. He’s not a bad guy…just a little strange at times. Like you.” Another pillow landed on me.
“What do you think you’re doing to your sister?” came Sarah’s exasperated voice from the door. “Go to your own room now, James. Let her rest.”
While she shooed my brother from the room, I fell to thinking about Ryan Hargrove. He never came to see me. When James left the room, I pressed Sarah to tell me what happened that evening when he brought me home.
“He brought you in the house and then went up the stairs to put you in bed. He hung around until Jonathan brought the doctor. After the doctor wrote the prescription, the boy ran out to buy them. Thank heavens! He was such a help!”
“That’s it? He left after that?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said, frowning. “I suppose it would have been polite to talk to him, but I was losing my mind. You gave me such a scare, Olivia.”
“I’m sorry, Mother. Even I wasn’t sure about being sick until I was about to pass out.”
“Kids,” muttered Sarah under her breath and left me to my thoughts.
By Saturday, I was feeling well enough to take a walk in the woods behind the house. A part of me hoped to come across Ryan Hargrove jogging on the path. To my disappointment, he never came.
I wanted to see him badly and yet, I had no idea what to even say after all these days. Every time I thought of him, a warm feeling swelled in my chest. Whenever I recalled the intimate moments of being in his arms, my heart would start pulsing. Heat rose to my cheeks and neck. For this reason, I made sure no one was around when I thought of Ryan Hargrove.
In the evening, Sarah finally revealed where she wanted to take me and James last weekend. We were lounging in the living room after dinner. James was listening to music while I read a novel on my phone.
“We are going to the cemetery tomorrow morning,” Sarah announced.
James and I looked up at her and then exchanged glances.
“What for?” asked James.
“To pay our respects and pray for your grandparents. We owe them so much. I should have taken you guys sooner, but somehow I was afraid.”
“How far is the cemetery from here?” I asked.
“About a mile from here. If you don’t feel up for it, we can go another time,” said Sarah.
I shook my head. “I feel great, Mother. The weather would soon get colder, so it’s best we make use of these last days of summer.”
Sarah smiled and straightened up on her chair. “We’ll leave after breakfast, then.”
James groaned but didn’t complain.
The Knightswood cemetery was older than I’d thought. Some of the tombstones were dated to be from the earlier twentieth century. Large, leafy trees lined the edges of the field. Their leaves were starting to turn golden, but they still clung to the woody branches. Old, weather-stained statues of sad angels dotted the graves. There were a few families around that day, but everyone was focused on the tombs of their own relatives.
Sarah led me and Jonathan down a row of graves until we reached the far eastern corner of the field. While some of the tombs looked neat, others were overgrown with grass or vines. I was able to spot my grandparents’ resting place because of their names carved on the tombstones.
We spent some time digging up the weeds around my grandparents’ graves and cleaning away the fallen leaves and debris. Sarah said a prayer, while James and I kept our heads bowed. She cried and sobbed, making my own heart ache.
Father was buried in Edinburgh. Tears welled in my eyes at the thought how far away we’d gone from him. James’s hand grasped mine tightly. He was crying too and I knew he was thinking the same thing as me.
It was a while before Sarah was ready to move. James and I moved away to give her some more space. I walked over to a brick wall that rose further ahead. There was a carved archway through it and a stone staircase led down to another vast field of graves. I was about to turn away when a tall figure in a black coat caught my attention.
The more I looked, the more certain I became. It was Ryan Hargrove, standing all by himself near a tombstone.
“I am ready to go. Come, Olivia,” called Sarah’s voice.
“I want to stay a bit longer,” I said.
Both Sarah and James looked surprised. “Why?” Sarah asked.
“It’s just so peaceful here. How about you guys walk ahead of me and I’ll catch up in a bit?”
“Are you sure you’ll be okay on your own?” asked Sarah, looking anxious.
“Of course, Mother. There are plenty of people around. There’s nothing to worry.”
“All right then, but don’t stay too long. I will be worrying. Should I leave James behind?”
“No!” I coughed to hide my hastiness. “I just want some time on my own. To think.”
Sarah looked torn, but in the end, she agreed. I watched them walk away until they were no longer in view. Then, I turned around and made my way to the archway. Ryan Hargrove was still there. My heart soared with the prospect of meeting him.
A heavy breeze buffeted my skirt as I climbed the crumbling stone stairs and threatened to blow away my straw hat. Tilting my head to the sky, I smiled. Being from Scotland, I was used to high winds and this was actually enjoyable with the sun shining down on me.
I walked through the edge of the field. Patches of light and darkness fell on me through the canopy of trees that lined the path. Ryan had not turned towards me yet, even when the leaves crunched underneath my shoes. Curiosity bubbled within in me. What could he be so engrossed in? He was just standing beside a grave with his head bowed.
A twig snapped under my foot. In the silence of the cemetery, it sounded loud. Ryan Hargrove turned towards me. To my astonishment, his eyes were brimming tears and his face was wet. He blinked several times, causing more tears to leak out of his brilliant blue eyes. An ache shot through my heart to see him in so much pain.
Why was Ryan hur
ting so much? Before I could take a step towards me, he turned away. When he looked back at me, his face looked wiped, but streaks of moisture still remained on his skin.
“You?” he uttered.
For the first time since I met him, he’d been astonished to see me. A small surge of cheekiness shot through me at that.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, looking around as he expected more people to be there.
“I came to visit my grandparents,” I said. “But why were you…” I didn’t complete the question. Instead, I decided to let him tell me what was going on. The grave near which he stood was an insignificant one. There was just a name on it. ‘Rosalie Denver’. No mention of who she had been or when she’d been born or died. It was fuelling my curiosity even more.
“How are you feeling now?” he asked.
“Great. The rest over the weekend has charged me up,” I said. “About that…thank you. Also, I am sorry for everything I said the other day. I shouldn’t have been that rude to you.”
He waved his hand as if erasing the air between us. “Water under the bridge. I was so mad at you, but it seemed silly when I saw you coughing that day. And your skin was so hot. I knew you wouldn’t listen to me and go to the tea shop for your shift. I was right.”
“I had to,” I mumbled.
“No, you didn’t have to,” he said, his blue eyes narrowing at me. “You should have gone home and called Miss Woods or something.” He came closer to me. Looking down at me, he raised his hand. Alarmed, I was about to step back when his hand came to rest on my arm. Still, I couldn’t help flinching. “Don’t be so stubborn all the time. People worry, you know?”
I looked at his face. He was smiling and his eyes were the deep blue of a loch in summer. “Sorry,” I mumbled, feeling warmth pooling in my cheeks. “What were you doing in the back alley?”
“I was checking the restaurant to see if there was a different way in.”
I laughed. “So, you were loitering in that smelly alley looking to get in? Why?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t want you to see me coming in through the front gates. It doesn’t matter now. If I didn’t see you collapsing by the exit gate, who knows how long you would have remained there without anyone even noticing.”