I shook the rambling thoughts from my mind and eyed Chris’s practically green complexion. I didn’t feel in the least bit sorry for him.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Another full day spent in the kitchen at the Onslow didn’t seem so bad.
Melba, Ellie, Tess, and I were all scrubbing every nook and cranny of the kitchen, rewashing pots, pans, plates and cutlery. Bagging up linen for the dry cleaners and working together like a well-oiled machine. Our cleaning frenzy soon spilled over into the restaurant, where we opened the sliding door out into the beer garden to get some fresh air filtering through.
“Whoa! You’re going to need a machete to get through that.” Ellie grimaced at what had once been a beautiful, shady, well-kept beer garden, dotted with picnic tables and fairy lights, the perfect escape on a summer’s evening. It now stood overgrown with ivy, tables all dismantled and set against the wall, the paved courtyard littered with leaves and debris from the overgrown surroundings.
It was overwhelming.
Dad had really let this place go.
“It beats me how Adam managed to find his way to the stairs without injuring himself,” I said, shaking my head.
Ellie’s head snapped around to face me.
“What?”
“Adam actually navigated his way through this mess in the dark.” I said with a half laugh.
It wasn’t until I noticed Ellie’s big, blue eyes shift from me to Tess, who also stood frozen mid-wipe of her table, that the penny finally dropped.
“Oh, uh, yeah, Adam’s home.”
Ellie looked at Tess and then back at me.
“When?”
“Only last … Well, this morning actually. Scared the crap out of me too. Talk about a grand entrance.”
Tess laughed. “That’s Adam.”
“No, seriously, I thought it was someone breaking in. I attacked him with a hardback dictionary.”
Ellie finally broke into a smile. “Did you hit him really hard?”
“So hard.”
She nodded. “Good.”
“So where is he now?” Tess beamed.
“Good question. He went out this morning but he hasn’t come back yet – he’s probably avoiding Chris. He’s not in the greatest of moods.”
“Pfft, what else is new?” said Ellie.
I had never fully realised what Adam’s absence had meant to the likes of Tess and Ellie – he was always just my pesky cousin I would see in the holidays. For the last couple of family gatherings, Adam had been noticeably absent. He’d been off travelling and busy being an international man of mystery. I had emailed him a few times, telling him about what was going on, but his responses were always few and far between and pretty generic. I used to shrug and think whatever, but I couldn’t imagine how it would have felt being on the receiving end of his silence as a close friend. I knew how close Tess, Ellie, and Adam were. I could hear it even now as the three of us retold famous Adam stories, and there were plenty to choose from.
In the hours of dusting, polishing, vacuuming, and airing out the restaurant, we had pretty much recounted all of their high school years to the present in the Adam files. As I wiped the blackboard clean, I retold the story of last night’s events with great animated detail to Tess and Ellie. They listened intently and bent over in hysterics. I re-enacted Adam’s cries and head holding, trying not to lose it myself as I thought back to last night. I was about to finish in a grand finale when I was interrupted by an unexpected voice.
“That’s not very nice, Amy.”
I whipped around to see Adam leaning casually in the door frame of the restaurant.
Oops!
“I’m going to put a bell around your neck,” I said, placing my hands on my hips.
Adam walked past me, ruffling up my hair as he made his way over to Tess who was frozen as if she had seen a ghost. Without a word Adam smiled and pulled her into a bear hug and within seconds she melted into his arms.
I stood awkwardly to the side – it seemed strange witnessing this reunion . It felt like it should be private, that I should discreetly step away and give them some space. I probably would have if I hadn’t looked at Ellie, and found, surprisingly, that she stood off to the side, glaring daggers into Adam’s back.
Adam’s arms fell away from Tess as she wiped away tears from her cheeks and laughed gently.
He playfully knocked her on the chin before turning to Ellie who still looked like she had laser beams shooting out of her eyes.
In true Adam style he ignored her rather obvious body language and broke into a broad smile.
“Hey, Pretty Parker.”
Tess and I cringed in unison at the nickname Ellie had always despised above all others; a nickname she was stuck with since her second placing at the Miss Onslow Showgirl in Year Nine. It was a sore point and Adam knew it.