Wes parked the bus and turned the key to kill the engine. “There should be a map in the back of the café, don’t feel like you need to rush to learn everything about this place. I’ve spent all of my thirty years here and I still feel clueless,” he smiled. He climbed out of his seat and offered to carry my suitcase across the sand. I was grateful for the help.
The café was still open, and I could see people inside happily eating and talking. I was thankful we made it in good time as I didn’t have a key yet and would have been stranded here otherwise.
“Pardon my intrusiveness, but I’m just dwelling on what you said earlier about having no family,” Wes said as we approached the door.
“Yeah, I was adopted by a sweet lady, but she passed away a few years back,” I replied. “It’s okay now, don’t worry about me.” People always tended to pour pity and sympathy all over you when you mentioned stuff like that, it’s why I rarely told anyone. Why I offered that information to Wes I had no idea.
“I’m just confused. You’re related to most of the people in Hallow Haven, didn’t you know?”
2
My forehead was screwed up in confusion. I had follow up questions but Wes was already mingling with the patrons of the café and I was left standing alone in the doorway. It was busy and loud, the sound of excited voices washed over the lunch-time diners as they saw me, and I looked back over my shoulder to double check that there wasn’t a celebrity behind me.
“Leave her be, she’s only just arrived!” a young woman yelled. Her authority was unquestioned, and everyone returned their gaze to the person they were sharing a table with. “Sadie, this way,” she barked. I picked my suitcase up again and followed her behind the counter through a door in the back.
“Nice to meet you, I’m...” I began. I was quickly cut off.
“Sadie Alden, I know,” she smiled. “My name’s Effie, I’ve been taken care of things between owners.”
“Thank you,” I replied. It made sense that they keep the place running, I wasn’t sure of the circumstances surrounding the departure of the previous owner and I hadn’t checked how long the ad had been available online, all I had seen was the price and the location.
“How was your flight?” she asked.
“Long,” I sighed. “Well it was actually several flights and they all added up to a long trip. I struggle to sleep on planes even with the eye mask and ear plugs.”
“Oh yeah, getting to the mainland is such a chore!” Effie was already pouring me a cup of coffee and I was so glad to have the scent of it flooding my nostrils. She was the most interesting person I had ever seen. Her hair was two different colors and they met at the central parting like two colliding oceans.
On the right side of her parting her hair was peach colored, on the left a vibrant lavender. She had bangs that covered her whole forehead, the color divide ending just above the bridge of her nose. Her nose ring caught the light as she turned to pass me the mug of coffee and I realized I had just been staring at her in silence.
“Been a while since you saw anyone cool, I’m guessing,” she laughed.
“Your hair is amazing! Yeah, back home there isn’t much variety,” I admitted. I hadn’t considered that the people here would be so different to the people at home. My main focus had been to get away from my ex-boyfriend, Effie had an aesthetic that promised adventure.
“Oh we have variety in spades,” she smiled. There was something about the glint in her eye that suggested there was more to her statement, but I left it alone. “We still have the schedules and everything figured out until the weekend and you just got here so you should take some time to soak up the place.”
“I’d love to just throw myself in the deep end,” I protested gently. “I’d appreciate a little time to shower and unpack though if that was okay.”
“Sadie, this café is famous around these parts. It won’t be something to figure out overnight, there is a lot going on with this place that you probably haven’t dealt with before,” she said sternly. I felt slightly offended.
I had plenty of experience with cooking and baking, I’ve been making bread since I was a kid, I know all about the early starts and how to balance the books. What was it that she thought I wasn’t equipped for?
I parted my lips and the look she gave me prompted me to press them together again.
“Sorry, I’m coming at this all wrong,” she said, placing her hands on my shoulders. “I was warned that there was some stuff you didn’t know, like, stuff you don’t even know you don’t know, you know?”
I blinked slowly like a fish out of water.
“You’re new here, I can get you all caught up with The Sand Witch over the next few days and transition to your leadership as we go. I’ll show you how things are done, and you can learn as you do, is that okay? I just don’t want to drop a huge pile of problems on your lap when you still have jetlag and aren’t even wearing sunscreen.”
I looked down at my pale skin and saw that I already had a pink hue on my arms. I had gone from the airport to the bus, then from the bus to the café. How had I caught sunburn already? Effie reached into the apron she was wearing around her waist and pulled out a bottle of sunscreen to give to me.
“Consider this the lamest ‘welcome to your new home’ gift you’ll ever get,” she smiled.
“I appreciate it,” I smiled back.
