Anna and Daniel watched as Elijah entered the white doors of the Belford Historical society by himself. Anna frowned to herself with concern. If Daniel hadn't asserted that Elijah should go alone she certainly would have wanted to go with him. If not to learn more about Teddy, to prevent Elijah from doing or saying something stupid that would upset the poor boy.
"Stop worrying."
"I'm not worrying," Anna argued.
"I know you are, I can smell it in the air," Daniel shrugged. "He'll be fine."
Anna sighed. She had the weakest senses of the group and forgot how strong the noses of Betas truly were.
"You really think it's a good idea for him to be there all alone? What if he..."
"Oh no, it's an awful idea. He's going to crash and burn."
Anna scoffed, "So why would you let him go in there then?"
"Because I meant what I said, Teddy needs to get to know Elijah without us censoring him." Daniel explained with a smug smile. "Now, let's go--- I've got places to be."
"But Elijah said he'd be back--"
"Oh, he's with his mate, he's not coming back for hours. Come on," Daniel beckoned as he began walking down the street back in the direction where they'd come from.
"Where are you-- wait!" Anna knew she ought to just wait for Elijah like she'd been told, but she didn't know her way around humans and didn't want to be left alone, so she jogged slightly to catch up to the long legged strides of Daniel. "Where are you going? The Alpha told us to wait."
"Not quite the Alpha yet, and as for where I'm going--- I'm going to get me a job at the Camomile Cafe."
"Oh!" Anna cried futilely. "Elijah said not to get a job.. he said he had it under control. You're not really going to go get a job against his wishes, right? Tell me you're joking."
"I saw just as well as you that there's not a shot in Hell that Elijah gets that job... and can you even blame the woman? If you saw Elijah, you wouldn't hire him either. So I'm gonna go get a job before we lose our minds."
"He's not going to like that," Anna warned.
"Tough."
"I think this is just about the worst idea you've ever had in your whole life," Anna ranted as the came up to the familiar yellow diner. "Just you wait until Elijah finds out--"
"Shh!" Daniel shushed her. "You comin' or not?"
"Me? Go with you? IN THERE?" She asked, eyes wide as saucers. "I already told you I thought this was a plain bad idea, that's it."
"Fine, then you'll just wait out here by yourself--"
"Oh no I won't," She argued back.
"Then I guess you haven't got a choice," Daniel shrugged pulling the door open.
"Daniel!" She shouted one last time, stamping her foot on the steps of the diner. Every bone in her body screamed that she didn't want to go in. The number of people she'd need to interact with just to be in the cafe was enough to send her running for the hills, but there was nothing better for her standing out front either. At least if she went inside she could attempt to stop Daniel from doing something else stupid.
With one final deep breath and a face of pure fire, she pulled the door open and walked in afterwards. Daniel was leaning on the counter next to a blue stool with a grin on his face that seemed to say: I knew you'd crack.
She glared back which only served to provoke a laugh from the boy.
The interior of the cafe was all done over in pastel yellows and blues with a black and white checkerboard floor tile. The counter Daniel leaned against had a shiny metal rail around the bottom and was surrounded by several light blue stools. It looked like something that belonged at a sixties sock hop. Behind the counter were taps for the pop and a chalk board menu that had a drawing of a sleeping moon with a night cap in one corner.
The perimeter of the room had booths with leather seats that were mostly yellow, but had a stripe of grey and light blue down the center. There were two unattached tables in the center and each chair matched the style of the stools from around the counter. There were two old men sitting in one corner and sipping tea and three little children in the other corner. Aside from that the restaurant was empty.
The children were seemingly doing homework and had their backpacks up on their laps. The smallest, a little girl with blonde hair, grinned and waved to one of the old man who chuckled softly at her.
Despite the low number of people Anna already felt overwhelmed and out of her element.
"Now just be super friendly and smile-y, and we'll both get hired. Elijah can't kill both of us, it's fool proof," Daniel suggested with a smirk.
"You.. YOU!" Anna snarled angrily. As she was about to cuss him out a frazzled looking middle-aged women with frizzy curly hair in a yellow dress and a white apron emerged from the swinging door behind the counter which must have lead to the kitchen. She swatted a towel flat against her knees and tucked it over her shoulder before realizing they were there and stopping abruptly.
She didn't quite seem angry, but yet she still seemed bothered by them. Whether she recognized the feeling they gave her to be the same as the one that Elijah brought, or was just annoyed to have business was not immediately known to Anna, but she knew she didn't want to interact with the woman at all.
Anna always had to remind herself that some of these people could be perfectly lovely and yet completely unnerved by werewolves who gave off an unnatural and eerie aura.
A clang across the room snapped the woman back into action as she looked to the children who had managed to drop a fork on the floor and were still standing on their booth and trying to talk to the elderly men sipping their coffee.
"Lily, leave Mr. Eddie and Mr. Bates alone!" The woman shouted, and the little blonde girl pouted and sat back down in the booth. Anna assumed she must be the woman's child from the matching curly blonde hair. Once the altercation was completed the woman turned back to them, "You all need something?"
The elderly men, no longer distracted by the children, looked from their coffee to the strangers invading on their quiet cafe and both their faces turned to something akin to fear as they stared at the very tall people talking to their waitress.
Daniel paused only a minute before snapping into action, "...Good Afternoon Ma'am, I was wondering if I could inquire about a job?"
The woman furrowed her brows in confusion.
"That's a popular request today... I haven't had anyone ask in years, but you're the second today," She still seemed to be slightly on edge and remained firmly behind the counter as if keeping it as a barrier between them. "Do you have any food service experience?"
"Yes Ma'am," Daniel lied.
The lady looked at him like she didn't believe him, then turned her attention over to Anna.
"What about you?"
"Oh--- I'm not loo-" Anna began.
"She does too."
"She does?" The woman raised an eyebrow at Daniel. "I asked her, not you. What's your name?"
"Daniel."
"Well Daniel, I'd appreciate it if you minded your own business," the woman turned back to Anna once again. "My name is Mrs. Goodwin, what's yours?"
"Anna," Anna replied.
"Good, now I believe in good old fashioned manners, so I'm going to talk to you for a while. Your friend said you had food experience. Is that true, Anna?"
"Yes Ma'am. I used to cook... been doing it ever since I was a little girl."
Daniel looked at her for a moment in surprise.
"Ever waited tables?"
"Yes Ma'am," Anna nodded. It was the truth, Omegas did most of the cooking and serving at the pack house so nothing in food service outside of dealing with humans, who couldn't possibly be more aggressive than wolves.
"That's my Anna, she's just the best at--"
"I can only hire one of you, I don't need two employees and I can't afford it anyway," Ms. Goodwin interrupted. "Now, I don't have time to fully interview you today, but I'm available tomorrow afternoon if you're interested. One O'clock sharp."
"Thank you, Ma'am," Anna smiled at the woman.
Another crash from over by the children turned their attention again to Lily who had just managed to spill all of her food directly onto the floor. Ms. Goodwin let out a highly pained sigh and shook her head to herself in true annoyance.
"Lily! How many times have I told you to be careful?" The woman called exasperatedly. "I'm sorry, I've got things to attend to. Have a nice evening, you two."
"Have a nice day!" Daniel called back to her. The two of them then exited the cafe back out onto the stone street. Anna paused for a moment to take in the view which partially obstructed by an old-fashioned light house let out to the water. On that particular day it was a deep blue reflecting the sky and nearly as flat as glass. "Wow, I never knew you were such a great liar!" Daniel snorted.
....
Fr. Charles, Mr. McDermott, and Mr. Murphy sat together at a table at Terry's Pub towards the end of Main Street in Belford. The interior of the pub had a northeastern nautical theme with dark wood accents. The building sat on the edge of the boardwalk and outside the windows the colors of the sunset were visible painted over the horizon line of the water.
In one corner away from the wooden tables and pushed almost against the windows was a small wooden foosball table which Mr. Sullivan, who ran the bait shop, drooled over with Mr. Lombardi in his particularly inebriated state.
Fr. Charles was never very fond of the pub or the Hedonism that he saw it breed around his town, but Mr. Murphy liked to meet there after their meetings. Fr. Charles greatly respected Mr. Murphy and for that as well as the need to get out more he allowed himself to be lured out of his Church.
In front of Fr. Charles on his placemat was a foaming mug of beer that Mr. Murphy had always purchased for him and he always neglected to drink. Fr. Charles had no problem with alcohol in moderation, of course he was a Catholic and wine was central to the Catholic rite, but such a substance had so much opportunity to be abused that he often avoided it himself aside from a glass once and a while with dinner.
"How's your wife, Duncan?" Mr. Murphy asked Mr. McDermott.
"She's alright, been nagging me about trying to maximize profits at the Bakery... I suppose I ought to expect that though."
"Ain't that the truth," Mr. Murphy joked.
"How's Damien faring, Jack?"
Mr. Murphy shook his head to himself with a pitied kind of smile.
"I swear, he'd lose his head if it wasn't screwed on for him!" The man's smile broadened to a grin. "You know I think he's nearly got himself, maybe she'll knock some sense into him?"
"Oh yeah?" Mr. McDermott raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?"
"Don't look at me like that! My boy may not be a scholar like Fr. Charles', but he's as good looking as his father was back in the day."
"I know, that's why I was confused as to how he managed to find himself a girlfriend," Mr. Murphy shrugged.
"Oh, you're a real jokester. He's been hanging out with that Goodwin girl. Looks just like her mother did back in the day, you remember how pretty Mrs. Goodwin was, don't you Chuck?" Mr. Murphy asked, turning to Fr. Charles with a smirk.
"He ought to!" Mr. McDermott called. "He dated her!"
"That was years and years ago," Fr. Charles lifted a hand to dismiss the thought. "And I certainly don't take stock in her appearance anymore."
"I know that, Father, but she still was quite the catch you let go. I always figured she woulda married you if you hadn't..."
"I'm married to my work," Fr. Charles shrugged with a frown. "I never meant to hurt her, and I hope you're wrong about that... If not I'm awfully sorry about it."
"Oh no, she's got herself a nice husband... when he's home," Mr. Murphy frowned to himself. "Didn't mean to upset you, Chuck."
"How's Teddy been? I saw him the other day walking past my bakery, he looked a little lost in thought, though I suppose he always does," Mr. McDermott asked.
"He's doing very well. Good grades... I think he's on track to be the Valedictorian, but of course I expect nothing less form him," Fr. Charles nodded.
"Yes, Teddy! That's what I wanted to talk to you lot about," Mr. Murphy remembered. "You remember those vagrants we saw hanging outside the church, the ones you thought might be looking for Teddy?"
"Vagrants?" Mr. McDermott frowned. "What vagrants?"
"Just a few curious looking teenagers," Fr. Charles assured his sensitive hearted friend.
"I saw them hanging outside my store again... they were waiting for Teddy, came upon him as soon as he left and started talking to him."
"They're certainly permitted to talk to Teddy if they wish."
"Oh but Father, aren't you worried?" Mr. McDermott's face creased with concern. "These vagrants sound dangerous...."
"They're not vagrants, they're just children," Fr. Charles argued. "And if anyone can handle themself around curious characters its Teddy. He's damn near incorruptible. If anything I'd be glad to see him acting as a good influence."
"It's not Teddy I'm worried about," Mr. Murphy asserted. "I'm worried about them doing something off-color.... At the very least I think we ought to have an eye out.. you hear stories like this all the time... strangers come in, it seems fine, and then... SNAP! When you least expect it."
"Oh no! You don't think they're human traffickers, do you Jack?" Mr. McDermott's fear spread to his face.
"You're upsetting Duncan with all of this foolishness," Fr. Charles chided his friend. "I'm sure they're nothing but some troubled teenagers trying to escape their past. If something needs to be done, I'll step in... for now Teddy is a very capable boy with a fine head on his shoulders and I trust him to keep vice at bay."
"You can trust him and still keep an eye out. We all can," Mr. Murphy argued. "I'm not suggesting we sack Teddy and lock him in his bedroom, but we can keep our eyes peeled for suspicious actions and make sure your boy stays safe. Be on guard, keep awake. You don't know when the time will come that you'll be needed."
"I'll certainly watch out for Teddy any time I see him, I'd hate for something awful to happen... that'd be just dreadful," Mr. McDermott agreed.
"I'll do my best..." Fr. Charles sighed deeply, "You know, I became a priest because I didn't want to worry about children. This pit you're putting in my stomach makes me feel sick."
Mr. McDermott frowned, but Mr. Murphy raised his glass like a toast.
"Amen to that!"