Adriana's Corner

Chapter 21

"I'm sorry. I promised you I wouldn't make you argue...that's my fault."

I hear him sigh. He must hate himself right now and now I hate myself for pushing his buttons.

"No, sorry. You're okay though?" he asks gently. I smile and release the tension in my shoulders.

"Yes. I've been up all night...as well..."

"Mmm, I bet you were actually getting something accomplished though."

"Yep." I smile, pulling out another biscuit.

"What was it then?"

"Right, well, I was compiling a list of how to make the shop better and how to redesign it. Which reminds me, Joe has been doing this table for the café with Adriana's Corner carved into it. I can't wait to see it finished, though I did burst out crying when I saw it but that's a whole other story..."

"Wait...what? You burst into tears?"

"A little." I mutter, guiltily. There's a pause and I roll my eyes. "Stop worrying about me. It was inevitable...wow...that is a hard word to say on six cups of coffee, anyway..."

"Six cups Nina?"

"You seem to be repeating me a lot this morning. Do we need to have this conversation when you're a little less worried about me?"

He laughs loudly at this and sighs.

"I so miss this Nina. My life was so boring before I met you."

"Thank you... I think."

He laughs again and clears his throat.

"So...you were telling me about this table."

"Ah yes," I chirp, sitting down and pulling up my legs, "It's specifically for her corner in the café where she always sat, so that got me thinking about the rest of the shop. The kitchen and the back are pretty badly damaged so we basically get to re-design it. Yet to know where to go with it but Tulla and Ella, the owners of that restaurant we went to, to find a chef? Remember? They gave us...not only the best muffins I have ever tasted, no offence to your café...but they also gave us the number of this builder/restorer type person."

"Nice."

"Yeah. So I'll see what he says about the place. I probably should have waited till after he saw it but I just can't wait to see it all get under way."

"Let me know if you need a painter."

I raise a curious eyebrow.

"You paint?" I ask surprised, biting into another biscuit.

"Yes. I did for quite a while...qualified and everything."

"Really? Since when? You don't tell me a lot about yourself do you?"

He laughs a little though it doesn't sound as genuine as the others.

"These things don't generally get bought up. Um...remember I told you about the old girlfriend of mine..."

"The one who got you involved in bad stuff?"

"Yeah. She pulled me out of what I was doing with my dad and got me a job with her Uncle as a painter. That was before the bad stuff."

"How bad?" I ask wearily. I don't know what kind of ground I'm treading on here and I don't want to upset him.

"Uhhh...pretty bad." he replies after a while.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I say, just in case.

"No it's fine. It just all came with the scene I was in. She told me I could sing and threw me up on the stage and once that was up and going, all the other things that come with music and bars and gigs soon followed..."