Cranes In The Sky ♔ o. diaz

3. the sous chef

IN THE END, Dinah chose to go to the funeral. She had to take the day off for it, but she considered how much it would mean to her mom.

She would probably regret it and wasn't even sure what she would say if someone asked who she was and how she knew Michael, but if it gave her mom closure, she was sure as hell gonna do it.

They drove up to L.A. for the day and even for California, it was abnormally hot for October. She was glad to be wearing a knee length skirt, but Diane kept shifting in the drivers seat, because she was wearing a long skirt and panty hose.

The funeral was more of a silent wake, held in their huge house, with Joyce's family and their friends in attendance.

Joyce greeted them and told them he had been cremated and there was going to be a private boat ride where his ashes would be deposited into the ocean.

She finally met her younger, half-sister, Melanie. She was a pretty girl no doubt, with her green eyes and  sweet smile.

But, underneath it all she was one of the sweetest people anyone could ever meet, which made it even harder for Dinah to hold anything against her.

This girl grew up with immense privilege and had everything that Dinah didn't. Plus, she was seven years younger. It sucked, but she couldn't even be mad.

She wasn't to blame for the fact that her dad sucked, but it stung deep inside of her to know that her dad was capable of taking care of his daughter, but when it came to her, just didn't.

She got a lot of sideways glances and swore that people were whispering about her, but she brushed it off as her being paranoid and anxious about the situation.

Dinah and Diane silently watched as people formed a circle and went around the room and said a few things about Michael. Her mother joined too, and she had no other choice but to cling to her side.

People said things like, "He was a sweet spirit," and, "He was a nice guy, he really took care of business."

She stopped listening around the fifth, "Good guy," comment. It was all boring as hell.

"We met when we were sixteen," she heard her mother say, and suddenly her ears were interested again, "We were just two kids who lived in the rough parts of San Diego. I lived next door to his third foster family, the Johnsons. They were two people who could never have kids, but they loved 'em to death."

Dinah heard low murmurs from a few people and she rolled her eyes were these people really that used to only hearing stories based around people from the burbs?

"We um...lost touch and all these years I spent wondering what could've been, but in the end all we had were phone calls and notes and letters and emails that I've been rereading a lot over the past few days."

Dinah saw a tear slip down her mother's cheek and her voice became thick with tears, "We took a lot of pictures in our time together and as I looked at them, I realized something, Michael had a beautiful smile. And he gave that beautiful smile to our daughter," Diane grabbed her hand tight.

She let go when she noticed the looks of people around the room, "I'm so sorry," she turned and stormed out the door.

Dinah would've followed her, if she wasn't frozen to her spot in the circle as people looked at her, shocked, confused, concerned. The moment was tense and she wanted nothing more than to run, make herself invisible.

Out of grace, Joyce announces the refreshments being served in the dining room and wishes everyone a good night.

Dinah thought it would be best if she let her mom have a moment alone, wherever she was, so she had to endure the looks and whispers.

She was standing alone outside on the gated patio, again, when she heard a deep voice behind her, "Sorry about your dad, I didn't even known he had another daughter."

She turns to fasten the owner of the voice and is stunned to see that the man is tall and broad shouldered. The lines of his face create a perfect nose and deep, beautiful eyes and those lips...oh god those lips.

"Uh...he wasn't really a dad to me. He left us for Joyce when I was three and stopped coming around when I was seven so..."

"Really," Dinah nodded at the handsome stranger's question, "Michael didn't seem like the type."

They never do.

"Well I don't mean to say that he wasn't an asshole for leaving, but I know he had a little bit of a heart, especially after he gave me a job at his restaurant looking like this."

Like what?! A god?! Because that is what you look like!

She knew her face sort of gave away what she was thinking, because he pointed to a tear drop tattoo underneath his left eye.

Oh.

"So what do you do at the restaurant?"

"I'm the Sous Chef."

So he's tall, fine and he can cook?!

"That's...amazing actually."

"Yeah. He saw something in me that no one else did. He gave me an opportunity and since then I've been able to do so much that I wouldn't have been able to without this job."

They stand there leaned against the railing, talking and getting to know each other. In that time she learns his name is Oscar, he's 28 and he's worked at the restaurant for three years since he got out of prison. She's close to asking him for his number, just before Melanie comes out of the house, telling them it's time for the deposition of the ashes.

She smirks at them as they both make faces, showing it's obvious that neither of them want to leave.

"We can sit next to each other on the boat," he says, "I mean, if you want to."

There's something about the way he says it that already knows the answer because of the confident grin he has on his gorgeous face, but he needs the conformation so it'll remain.

"Of course we're gonna sit next to each other."