I collapsed into a chair in one of the booths at the back of the restaurant I worked in. I was nearing the end of a nine hour shift. My feet were swollen, my back ached and I hadn’t seen Nick for three days. He was busy in the recording studio and I had been working almost non-stop.
“Ella, can you get the group who just came in?” Nancy, my boss called. I sighed and slowly stood up,
“Hi!” I said cheerfully, “Can I take your order?”
“Ella?” One of the guys asked. I looked more carefully at him,
“Sam?” He smiled and nodded. Sam was one of Nick’s friends, I hadn’t seen him since a little before I left America. They would often play basketball together.
“I heard you were back… I know Nick missed you.”
“I missed him too,” I played unconsciously with my note pad. “Hey, we should all get together soon.”
“Yeah, that’d be cool.” He picked up a menu. “I’ll give Nick a call and we can organise something.” I agreed, happy to be getting back some sort of normal social life.
I dumped my bag in the hallway and collapsed on the couch. Kerry laughed at my appearance.
“What d’ya do? Throw the food over yourself?” I shot her an icy look,
“I had a bad day, okay?” I put my feet on the table, “leave me alone.”
“Nick called,” Kerry told me, going into the kitchen. “He invited you over to his house for dinner. You can borrow my car,” she continued , rejoining me. I closed my eyes briefly. “Go have a shower… I’ll call Nick and tell him you won’t be long.” I smiled wearily and stood up, stretching to rid myself of the kinks and knots in my muscles,
“Hey sweetheart,” Jane greeted me at the door, “It’s been a while since we saw your face.” I laughed,
“Thanks for inviting me.” Jane smiled,
“You look tired. Go and relax. Dinner will be about half an hour.”
“Okay, thanks,” I said with a half-hearted smile.
“Nick’s in the back room.” She watched as I headed through the house and shook her head, “Such a shame,” she said softly to herself.
“Hey baby,” Nick smiled, wrapping his arms around my waist, “You look tired.”
“Thanks,” I replied sarcastically.
“You know what I mean,” he grinned, pulling me down into a chair. “Hard day?” he asked, gently rubbing out my aches and pains.
“How’s the recording going?” I enquired, turning to face him.
“Okay… I spoke to Sam earlier. Are you free Sunday?”
“Yeah, why? We all gonna do something?” Nick nodded, a grin appearing on his face.
“Uh-huh. A basketball tournament. Cool, huh?” I shook my head and laughed. Ignoring my obvious lack on interest, he proceeded to tell me how he would organise the teams and everything.
Chapter Four
When The Time Comes
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