A few hours later Ella stumbled out of the bedroom in a haze, she looked in the bathroom mirror to see her lips were plump and a deepened red. She slipped in and out of the shower in record time not wanting to wake Tom.
"You still fancy Italian?"
She was jolted by Tom stood behind her shirtless. She couldn't help but stare at his toned abdomen.
"You mean you're not going to run out of here as fast as possible?"
"Does it look that way?"
A slow smile stretched across his face to reassure her and he pressed Ella against the shower, his hands were either side of her head and he kissed her tenderly, she could feel the warmth of his body against hers, she was in a mist of lust. He felt her body relax into his and with that he whipped the towel that was wrapped around her and ran into the living room,
"This is the only thing I'm running for."
She burst out into a fit of chuckles and proceeded to chase him around her apartment, Frankie zig-zagging between the pair.
They arrived at 'Bellisimo' shortly before 8pm and Tom made a sly comment to Ella that they could've had round two. They were seated at a quiet table in the back and Ella admired the ambiance as Tom flicked through the menu. It was a large yet intimate restaurant, set back from the buzz of the Miami strip. A huge crystal chandelier hung from ceiling and the sparkles reflected onto the majestic mirrors draped across ruby walls. Deep oak wood floors filled the room and each table was lit with an individual tea light. Ella tried to decide what to order but she was distracted by Tom's dim lit face concentrating on the menu with such intensity it only made her more attracted to him. His green eyes glistened as he overlooked each page and as he subconsciously tousled his jet black hair between his fingers Ella sat back to admire her view.
Tanned, powerful, smart and suave – she'd struck gold with this one, apart from the wife.
After much consideration Tom had decided what to eat and ordered for both he and Ella. They made light conversation whilst they waited for dinner and Ella digged deeper into his work. He had his own construction company which he had already told her about and they mainly did renovation work but he also was setting up a new delivery service. He was struggling to get it off the ground as it was originally his wife's idea but she had become disinterested and now he was left picking up the mess considering it was his money that was invested. Ella knew she would regret asking but she couldn't stop the words coming out:
"So what's the deal with your wife?"
"Well obviously we've separated hence why I'm here with you, I want a divorce but she's refusing to sign the papers unless I agree to give her half of everything I have."
It all made sense in Ella's mind – Lorraine's message seemed fixated on his money and if he was moving it about it was only so she couldn't get her grubby paws on it. Plus, Tom had never lied to her, he had no need to and she had no need not to trust him. Her overthinking was interrupted by the delicious smell of their meals being placed on the table. Tom nodded at the waiter to fill up the wine glasses and they tucked in impatiently having worked up an appetite from earlier in the day.
"What are you doing for work Ella?"
This was the question she was dreading being asked. She didn't want to lie to Tom but in the same way she needed to protect him, she didn't want to hurt him or ruin their newly blossoming romance. She knew she couldn't spout off the same bullshit she did to everyone else though, she had more respect than that for him.
"To be completely honest I'm kind of between jobs, I haven't really had anything fixed contract since I've been here, it's hard to find something that suits you know?"
Tom nodded in agreement and quickly changed topic back to his new business venture, he was explaining to Ella how all the licensing checks worked and how he'd had early unannounced visits from the police which set him back a few months, he openly admitted it was his only fault for not displaying the license in the correct place and having one employee selling alcohol on the cheap but nonetheless it was still an inconvenience. He wanted to be as big as Hermes and he was hoping that working in conjunction with his construction business meant he would. At the minute he was transporting anything and everything so he was helping tenants move and collecting large kitchen appliances to take the scrap yard but in the long run he wanted to just deliver for large retail chains.
He was so work-orientated that his focus was commendable, Ella was truly in awe of this brilliant business man sat in front of her. She once had the same dreams of owning a business but the closest she ever got was the website and that wasn't entirely legal so she could hardly brag about it. In fact the whole scenario actually made her feel incredibly ashamed, there was this hard working, law abiding man who was doing everything he could to make his business work despite set back after set back and she just went out to catch men cheating. It was around that moment she decided she would close down the website.
The fact of the matter was she wouldn't have met Tom if it wasn't for the website and she had always believed men were always the ones at fault and it was the woman who deserved better but now she was wondering how many bitter women she had helped get a better percentage in a divorce court or full custody of their kids when the man was just struggling to keep his head above water. It was a tough decision but she knew it was the right one. Although now she had to decide what to do for work – it was going to be strange going back to shift work and having a manager and she wasn't too sure quite how she was going to cope but she was going to try.
Ella finished dinner with a new outlook on life and that outlook was going to begin with pudding. Tom insisted he was too full up but Ella had been here before and knowing how good their sundaes were she asked for two spoons anyway. They were presented with a mountain of ice cream which must have been at least a foot high drizzled in chocolate sauce, splattered with honeycomb and marshmallows and finished off with a few glazed cherries. Ella raised her eyebrow at Tom when it arrived and glanced back and forwards between him and the spoon, it must have taken no longer than 30 seconds for him to cave.
"How much do I owe?" Ella asked noticing the cheque placed in front of Tom.
"Are you kidding? You told me you were practically unemployed plus it's my treat."
"Unemployed doesn't mean broke." Ella pulled out three dollars from her purse and wafted them in front of her face.
They both erupted into laughter.
After a miniature argument over the bill they came to the conclusion Ella would get the next one. Tom wrapped his blazer over Ella's shoulders and complimented her on the new blue dress for the seventeenth time; she brushed it off as usual. As they left the restaurant they were greeted by a dark blue Mercedes parked at the road side, the driver stepped out of the car in full black tie and jogged round to open the door for Tom and Ella.
"Thanks Dolton."
Once in the car Ella whispered to Tom; "Dolton?"
"My driver, I know you're blonde Lucky but I mean-"
Ella slapped him on the arm in jest.
"I meant, like, what, why do you have a driver? I thought business was bad?"
"Oh the construction side of things is never quiet." Tom smiled.
He pulled Ella onto his lap and didn't let go of her the whole ride home, when he managed to peel himself from her lips his hands were running through her long flowing hair or over her slim figure. He let out a long sigh as the cars brakes were applied outside of her apartment.
"Are you coming up?" She asked.
"Not tonight, I've got a few bits to catch up on, I'll call you."
He didn't resist a subtle ass-grab as she got out of the car, she tried to look angry but just ended up smiling. He blew her a kiss as she unlocked the door to the apartment. Once inside she slipped off her shoes and poured herself a large glass of white wine. The phone was flashing with two unread messages; the first was from Adam asking her how her date had been and to see if she was willing to bring her new beau for his birthday meal Monday night, the second message was from her dad she only listened the first two words 'Precious Ella...' before deleting it. She had such a good evening that she wasn't willing to let her dad get to her at the minute; she had completely blanked the whole encounter with June and was just focusing on the good. Still in a good mind set she loaded up her laptop whilst listening to Jimmy Fallon in the background, posted a quick message to say the website was being shut down and removed her log in and URL details. That was it.
No more negative impact in her life.
She woke the next morning still lay on the sofa in her blue dress next to an empty wine bottle with Frankie tucked at her side. She rubbed her eyes and smiled with recollection of last night. Whilst the bath ran she text Adam with an update of the night as promised and double checked her phone for any message from Tom – nothing. She scrolled through a few online ads for jobs as she was in the bath but everything seemed to be awful pay or awful hours. She knew from her first few months here waitressing jobs were easy enough to get if she ever got that desperate again but she knew she would get tired of the abuse from customers within an hour and that's when she thought about bar work, surely she was qualified for that, she certainly knew her way around a bar.
The sun shone brightly that morning as Ella took Frankie for a walk, she was finding herself avoiding the retirement home all too often nowadays so she bit the bullet and took her usual route. She wasn't going to let her dad win; he wasn't going to destroy her life again. Ella clocked eyes on Grandma June as she ran by but she didn't look over, just kept her head held high and eyes straight ahead. When they got back to the apartment she printed off some resumes and headed out to some of the nicer bars once it turned midday.
'Sorry we're not hiring right now...'
'Do you have experience?'
'We're fully staffed...'
'There's nothing available but I can give you a call when there is...'
The rejection echoed through all of the bars she asked for work. Miserable and unwanted she headed to see Josie to drown her sorrows in the bottom of a rum and coke. She sat at the edge of the bar rather than her usual spot in the corner and sipped her drink.
"You never come in here with a smile on your face."
Josie towered over her wiping the sticky stains from the bar surface. She was late 40's, dyed red hair and rocked the biker chick look. She was quite intimidating and the customers knew not to mess with her, she had a reputation for throwing the scum bag guys to the kerb. In the same way she had that attentive mother feel to her, she was like an agony aunt to so many people in there and you could tell she's helped a lot of people out of hard times.
"If I was smiling you would lose business," Ella joked back.
"I don't know, I'm sure this guy could drink your share." Josie nodded towards the half asleep guy at the other end of the bar.
"He's more than welcome to join my pity party."
"Can I join too? Yasmin has just had her kid so I have to pull double shifts."
Ella's faced perked up... "I can help!"
"You need a job?"
"Please."
"Can you start now?"
Ella nodded with dubious excitement; Josie called her round to the back of the bar and showed her a few basics. The price list hung above the till, don't take no shit from anyone and all tips are put in the jar to be split at the end of the week. It seemed pretty straightforward. Josie watched Ella serve two customers, she engaged in casual chat with them that she had picked up from her last job and then Josie said she had to go check on her kids and she'd be back within the hour.
Ella found being behind a bar came almost as natural to her as being on the other side. It was busy work and the time passed quickly, Ella racked up around $30 in tips within her first hour and she was more than happy to put them in the jar to share. She knew most of the faces in there anyway but now she was being paid to talk to them she was willing to engage in conversation and it was a pleasant change for her telling people her real name. The customers she didn't recognise as regulars were all fascinated by her accent and sat at the bar encouraging her to talk with them in between serving. She was beginning to enjoy herself as Josie came back through the door.
"Sorry I'm late little one."
"Oh no it's fine!" Ella clocked the time at 5'o'clock – only two hours late she thought.
"How's it been?"
The customers all turned around from the bar to speak for Ella, they spoke highly of her drink making skills and flirtatious teasing and joked with Josie about how it was nice to have a young face around the place to which she offered to show them the door.
"I'm impressed Blondie. I'll just nip into the office and write you some shifts down. You alright to stay until close tonight?"
"Yeah of course, as long as this one gets me another drink."
Ella gestured towards the man sat directly in front of her, he reminded her of Harold, Adams Grandad, however he was a heavy drinker and had been demanding Ella have a whisky with him for the last hour. She refused obviously but she did partake in lemonade on his behalf. The hours flew by as did the customers, the drinks and the tips. She liked working with Josie already, she was so straight talking and blunt, the customers loved it, she would give them all nick names as they ordered there drinks such as saggy bollocks or hairy nipples and it kept Ella continually giggling. Josie had taken Ella under her wing and was teaching her the who's who – who would tip, who would try and get out of paying their tab and who was a good bloke. Ella felt comfortable here.
Josie was the bar manager, the owner was Rick but he didn't work here he just paid the bills. The other bar staff consisted of Yasmin, who was now on maternity leave, Lucas, a backpacker from South America and Martin who ran the kitchen single-handedly. It was a small team but Josie swore that's why it worked so well, they were there for each other if one was ill or needed a day off and Ella instantly felt part of the team. Josie had given her shifts for the next consecutive ten days, not that Ella complained, she could do with the money plus she liked keeping busy. They finished the shift without any issues and Ella waited with Josie why she locked up.
"Get some rest, tomorrow's game day!"
"Night Josie." Ella yelled down the street.
Once she got back home Ella realised how exhausting a real day's work was. She had a quick shower but was just too tired to walk Frankie so instead she crawled into bed with a cup of tea but fell asleep before it was even cool enough to drink. The alarm jolted her awake at 9am, she knew she had to take Frankie out before she started work so pulled herself in and out of the shower and out onto their morning run. The closer they got the retirement home she realised she could see Adam's car in the car park – she slowed down a bit in the hope he would leave any time now assuming he had finished work at 8am this morning and been here since then. And like clockwork she spied Adam waving goodbye as he ran down the steps towards his car.
"Adam!" She screeched across the road.
He spotted her straight away and came jogging over.
"Oh hey beautiful, how are you?"
"I'm doing good thanks! And you?"
"Yeah I'm good thank-you. I'm glad I've seen you actually, the guys from work are going out tonight I was wondering if you wanted to meet us." Adam questioned gleamingly.
"Oh Ad, that sounds good but I actually have a new job." Ella said proudly.
"No way do you?!" Adam asked shocked.
"Yeah, I'm just bartending at 'Rocco Ricks' you know the one at the corner of my road?"
"Oooh sounds glamourous! What time you getting off?"
"Around midnight hopefully." Ella replied.
"You've just made yourself a date baby girl, you best get practising your cocktail skills for when I come in later!"
"Oh how cringy please don't come see me at work."
"I'm coming, deal with it. I need sleep though; I've been on the night shift. Do you want dropping at home?" Adam pouted.
"I'll be fine running but thanks!"
Adam kissed Ella goodbye and they both went their separate ways. She noticed the curtain twitch from Grandma June's apartment but still awaiting her apology for being called crazy Ella turned on her heel and headed home. She had just under an hour before she started her thirteen hour shift so she spent it wisely – eating. She got dressed for work in a dark grey turtle necked jumper and short denim skirt with small heeled Louboutin ankle boots, considering it was game day she was all in for the tips. When she arrived at work she noticed the place was swarmed with turquoise blue jerseys. The Miami Dolphins were playing The Jacksonville Jaguars and every football game in America is a thousand times more exaggerated than any Premier League derby.
Ella had only had one foot behind the bar before the echoes of drinks orders began. She threw her bag under the bar and swiftly began popping bottle tops of Budweiser's.
"Welcome to game day Peachy." Josie laughed.