The Castle of Gold [Bk 2]

ch.3 Castle

I was setting tables at our restaurant. Yes, it’s ours- me and Danny’s- now. We re-re-vamped Carlo’s pervy feel to the place and even renamed it: The Castle of Gold. Dad always wanted me, Danny and mom to live in a castle with knights and gold. That was why he got himself mixed up with nasty creeps like Carlo.

And what’s more, now that I had my knight, we might as well have a castle.

But maybe I don’t have my knight anymore. Maybe Harry is really angry at me and it’s going to take more than a quiet, innocent “Bambi” glance to get us back together.

Harry was in the kitchen, baking desserts to Niall’s heart’s content. Niall helped me and Danny re-arrange the menus to include mom’s classics and dad’s favorites. But even with all the changes, changes that I’m sure mom and dad would be proud of, I still wish they could be here to see it themselves.

I shook away a fantasy where my dad was in his suit of titanium armor and my mom had her wings and they were holding me and Danny’s hands, hugging us, kissing us, telling us that they were coming back.

But they weren’t and the more I thought and dreamt about it, the more obsessed I became. I was at a relative peace with their deaths, but that didn’t mean I wished they could be here now. They deserved to be here. But just because someone deserves something doesn’t mean they will get it.

I turned my attention back to Harry, whose chef’s hat was a skew over his mop of curls. I pushed at the swinging door and walked into the kitchen. Harry didn’t dare move a millimeter from frosting his famous chocolate cupcakes.

I washed my hands by the sink that was close to him and watched him working for a moment. He worked both here and at the children’s hospital (they started to actually pay him instead of use him as a volunteer).

Holding the bar of soap in my hands, I squeezed slightly too hard and it slipped out of my hands.

Harry looked up quickly, slightly frightened by the sudden noise.

When he saw that it was me, he sighed loudly

“Angie, the whole glaring thing isn’t working out” he told me. He put his spatula down and took a step closer to me.

I moved a step back.

“I don’t care” I retorted and turned back to the restaurant tables.

I felt a hand- Harry’s hand- take mine.

I pulled away.

“Angie, come on, you can’t be mad at me forever” he told me in his deep rasp.

“Watch me” I told him coldly and turned away.

He laughed, amused by my “angry” words.

“Ok” he grinned and I could almost smell him winking.

I started bussing tables, tables that weren’t even dirty. There weren’t that many customers since it was 3 in the afternoon on a Monday, so I didn’t even get to busy myself and ignore Harry when he glanced up at me every so often.

I don’t know how, but I ended up carrying a huge load of dishes. I think I had accumulated every single cup, plate and fork in the whole place.

I could feel whatever muscles were in my arms- shaking with the weight of the dishes. Quickly, I made my way to the kitchen, praying I would get to the sink before I made the biggest fool of myself.

Harry must have heard my wobbly entrance because I saw the dimples cut into his cheeks. God, those dimples drove me crazy- both types of crazy.  

Slowly, carefully, I walked to the sink.