Adriana's Corner

Chapter 16

"Nina, I'm not going to argue with you over the phone. I'll argue with you the day I can be there to apologize straight after. We'll get nowhere yelling at each other over a minor lack of sleep."

"Minor!" I scoff but this gets ignored.

"All I was saying is that I wish you had called. If you had called, you wouldn't have had to spend all day cursing at gardening tools and crying when you trip over."

"Joe told you?" I ask in as harsh a tone as I can manage.

"Yes. He was worried and wished me luck at trying to get any sense out of you." I try not to laugh at this but do anyway. "I think he underestimates how much I know you." He says.

"I think I do sometimes." I mumble back with a sigh. "I can hear people arriving Miles, what do I do?"

"Greet them. Look, you may not be able to control what your parents did or didn't do or what did or didn't happen with your sister but this café thing you can control. You know this stuff. You're good at this. Yeah? You were excited about this. Don't lose that."

"Mmm" I shrug, sitting back up again and rub my face.

"Go be a boss. This is for Adriana remember. It's why you bought it."

I let out a sigh and stand up.

"Okay..." I stand in front of the mirror and tidy my hair, "I feel I need to pay you after these motivational speeches."

"The Scotch was enough. I'm just telling you things you already know. "

"Mm, I still feel bad for dragging you through it all."

"Don't be. Ready?" he asks.

"Uha." I nod, straightening myself up.

"Not in your pajama's?. . .buttons done up straight?"

I frown and head to the door, shaking my head.

"I'm so spitting in Joe's coffee again." I mumble as the chatter gets louder.

"Again?" Miles laughs. I smile and open the hallway door.

The dining room table is full and already everyone has their drinks and a cake has mysteriously appeared. Unfortunately it's not The Carrot Cake. Lauren is here with Alyssa and Joe. Taffy is sitting up straight looking very efficient and the mop-headed youth is here...I forget his name and he's sitting next to the unnamed brunette I met yesterday. Eli is sitting in the lounge flicking through a gardening book with interest so I get straight into it.

"Okay, I'm putting you on speaker now..." I say into the phone and push the button as I take my seat in between Taffy and Joe. "Hi everyone, sorry about the delay. Anything been talked about yet?"

"No, we were waiting for you and your . . .phone friend." Taffy says.

"Phone friend...okay. Everyone this is Miles Ermington Hamilton." I gesture to the phone. "He's worked in bars and cafe's all over the place and I thought he might be of use to us."

"Hi Miles!" Lauren and Alyssa call out happily.

"Uh, hi." he replies.

"It's weird talking to a phone." Lauren says, shaking her head.

"Not necessarily. It's kind of like Charlie's Angels." Alyssa says back.

"But Miles has an English accent so it doesn't work and he doesn't sound like an old man."

"Suppose." Alyssa frowns.

"Maybe if we knew what he looked like."

"Well I have some photos of him..." I start.