Chapter 5

Edvin, after having breakfast with me, stayed over for an hour and a half, waiting for the fog to clear up so that we could easily tread through the floral path I preferred taking each time I decided to head to the Bolt's inn.

It was the only pub in town and it was located right in the middle of every other place so no matter what time of day it was, there was always much traffic heading towards or about it.

But that small gravel path in the midst dense foliage and a colorful variety of flowers was almost always serene and devoid of townsfolk passing by. And the relief of not having to force a smile for a stranger who just happened to hear about you "the new girl in town" was a welcome addition to my tiring routine.

The only downside to this route was its wilderness. And the wilderness is unexpected, not to mention dangerous. Up until yesterday, I thought dangerous or not, I could at least manage a ten minute walk without putting myself in a damgerous situation.

Today, however, I wasn't so sure. Not after the morning I just spent in a rotting cabin and almost encountering an unknown assailant stalking our grounds.

With such an awful start, I suppose it's safe to say I was a little— perhaps a lot— afraid and the effect it had on me was something even Edvin couldn't ignore.

And so here we were, sitting in the warmth of my house in a companionable silence, waiting for the fog to clear up. And it did.

I leaned over the moist window sill and looked out the misty glass pane. "I think we can head out now," I announced.

Edvin, looked up from the magazine I had given him to help pass the time, and gave me a tired look. "Well, it's about time! I thought my eyes would rot if I looked at another half-naked picture of male models."

The corner of my mouth rose into a smirk and I said, "What? I thought you quite liked that one photo of Chris Hemsworth a few pages back. There was that odd twinkle in your eyes."

"I was merely criticizing his bad taste in attire," he shrugged.

"I thought he wasn't wearing any clothes."

"My point exactly."

*

Both of us got ready to head on out and dressed warmly. Once outside, we admired the view on our way to the inn and I, as antsy as I was after this morning, couldn't help keeping a steady eye around me.

Barely able to relax, I would throw an uneasy look over my shoulders every now and then to make sure I wasn't followed. Nobody was there but my anxiousness remained unhindered.

Regrettably, Edvin caught me during one of my endeavors to look over my shoulder and I hastily covered it up with a question I'd been meaning to ask for a while.

"So what exactly are Diana and Dave doing at your place so early in the morning?"

For a moment, I felt like I saw a slight change in Edvin's demeanor but it was so momentary that I began to doubt it ever occured.

"Beats me," he shrugged, casually. "They get together like that all the time, for all I know."

"And you never wondered why?" I looked at him, unconvinced.

"Well, I do, but I figured there were more interesting things to indulge myself with, other than wondering what my old folks were up to holed up in the basement so early in the morning." he gave me an amused smile. "Why? Do you think they're up to something freaky?"

I could feel a slight rush of blood through my cheeks but quickly suppressed it and walked a little faster to further conceal my embarrassment. I wasn't expecting a straight answer but he could at least humor me.

He laughed, "I don't know what's getting your insides in a tangle but you can see for yourself what they are up to once we get there."

I rolled my eyes.

He must think I'm odd for wondering what my own Aunt and Uncle were doing. But you can't blame me for being curious. I had not seen them before, not once in my life. In fact, I used to think I never had any relatives to begin with. But then, just this morning I saw a photo of me standing next to both my aunt and mother when I was three years old.

To think, no one would mention anything about that made me feel like they were deliberately hiding it from me. It would make anyone a little suspicious if given the circumstances.

Not even my mother had ever talked about her family. I just blindly assumed she didn't have any but I was wrong. Why did Aunt Diana show up when she did? Why did she suddenly decide to take me in and why did she never talk about my mother, not even once since I came here?

I thought maybe she was being mindful of my situation or maybe she didn't want to put me in an uncomfortable spot but she should have mentioned something by now. She should've told me why we became estranged in the past. And the fact that she didn't, only made me feel more apprehensive.

I was deep in thought, when I heard the door bells jingle ahead of me and I looked up, suddenly taken out of my reverie. A very familiar back just walked into the Bolt's inn. It was Robert Petrosi. And we were standing right outside the doors.

"We're here," I said, blankly.

Edvin gave me an exasperated look, "I think its safe to assume that you missed half the conversation we had on our way here."

I looked at him, apologetically, "I was thinking."

"And now you'll never know who took the blame for the dead rat in Mrs. Letitia's parlor."

"Let me guess: you?"

He turned around and opened the door for me mumbling, "Lucky guess."

I laughed and stepped inside, followed by him behind me.

There was already a steady flow of townsfolk buzzing about the pub and it seemed like it was a familiar sight for Edvin who cheerfully went along greeting the regulars like he hadn't just left work for two and half hours. There was warm smell of freshly cooked breakfast inside the pub.

Edvin turned to look at me and said, "Looks like Tim has reached his limits." He pointed over his shoulder towards a twenty-something man, fumbling with a tray full of half spilled dishes. "I'm going to take over from here and help out with waiting tables. You can make yourself at home." He bobbed his head towards the door that I presumed led to the kitchen.

I just nodded and gave him a thumbs up as a gesture of good luck. He smiled and turned to work. As he did, I passed the lot of hungry customers, half of whom were just here to mingle with the rest of the townies and have a good morning, and entered the door Edvin pointed me towards.

Behind, the smell of fried eggs and bacon held me down at the spot for a moment before I looked around and spotted Aunt Diana and Edvin's mother, Joanne Bolt, next to a counter conversing merrily about something I couldn't quite hear over all the sizzling coming from the frying pans.

The two part timers had the kitchen remarkably under control despite the head cook's distraction with my aunt.

Mrs. Bolt caught me watching and waved me over. I hadn't talked to Diana since yesterday so I was a little nervous about what to say but then despite the nerves when I saw what they were doing I couldn't help but say it out loud, "Rosaries?" I asked looking at the varied assortment of exotic rosaries on the table.

"It's a little hobby your aunt and I tend to over-indulge," Mrs. Bolt said, heartily.

I looked between the two of them and asked the next question despite my better judgement, "Is that what you've been doing since four in the morning?"

The smile plastered on Mrs. Bolt's face faltered for an instant and Diana answered in her stead, "We've been discussing many other things as well. I just didn't think you'd wake up so early. I'm sorry if we worried you."

I looked at her for moment and shook my head, "It's fine."

"Well now that you're here, why don't we head out into the living room. It's a bit difficult conversing over all this noise," Mrs Bolt said, giving a pointed look at one of her cooks who marvelously ignored it.

I silently followed the two of them out of the kitchen. As we entered their living space, Mrs Bolt suddenly clapped her hands and turned to me, making me flinch to a halt. "Now about what we've been discussing," she said, looking at Diana with a smirk.

Diana rolled her eyes and looked at me, "Joanne and I were just talking about fixing that cabin up for you and in the meantime you can come here and use Edvin's workroom as a studio."

I was a little surprised that Diana decided to let me use the cabin given her exaggerated reaction from last night. But more than that I was curious and gave them both a confused look, asking, "Edvin has a workroom? For what?"

"Oh my, he didn't tell you? He's a photographer. Taking pictures has always been a passion of his."

"No way!" I blurted then gasped, following it up with a quick fix. "I mean, really? Who would've guessed."

Both of them just looked at each other and grinned. For some reason, I didn't like the look they just shared. It felt like there was a hidden inuendo to it.

"So? What do you think?" Mrs. Bolt asked. "I can also offer you a job, working as a waitress in your free time. Edvin could use an extra hand at the tables."

Mrs. Bolt barely stopped herself from winking at me. Barely. I could even see a little vein pop at her temple from the strain of holding the wink back.

The offer was indeed appealing but the whole idea of wanting to work at the cabin was so that I could sneak Oeric in and paint him till however long I wanted without getting interrupted and questioned about stuff like:

'Did you just bring a naked person in to our home?'

'Where did you find him?'

'Why doesn't he have any clothes?'

'Are you even sane?' etc.

I sighed. Truth be told, even I don't think I could answer those questions because Oeric was truly suspicious, even by my standards. There was no way of getting around it because regardless of his circumstances, if even I found him strange then there was no hope of getting past the suspicions of others if they were to ever find out about him and I.

And then Mrs. Bolt even offered me a job which could be really handy when I need to restock on painting supplies. The opportunity was too appealing to let by.

I looked up and saw two eager faces waiting for my reply and so I replied, "Sure, why not? I could use a little extra cash."

"Great!" they both exclaimed, simultaneously.

I guess this could be considered as a good experience. I might even pick up a few things about bartending while I'm at it and make money at the same time. It will help me get the tuition to get through another semester for my major. That is, if I ever get the heart to go back and continue my life from where I left it.

That brings me back to another recurring thought that's been bothering me for a while. When will I go back? I knew that I had to go back some day. Go back to the life without my mother in it. A life where I lived as an introvert.

I have to go back. After all, my dad was still waiting for me. And he needs me just as much as I need him. But when I go back, will I be any different from who I am today or will I still be the same?

I was sprung back to the present when Mrs. Bolt decided to go grab us some leftover cake she baked yesterday, leaving me and my Aunt standing in an awkward silence.

Diana noticed that the events from yesterday had bothered me, hence explaining the reason for my nervousness. She looked at me and said, "Sit down, huny. Make yourself at home."

I made a sound similar to a grunt before I could stop myself and spoke with an intentional edge in my voice, "It's not that easy to get comfortable in a strangers house, don't you think?"

Maybe Aunt had realized the hidden meaning behind what I had said. I was talking about her and Dave and I think she figured out that I knew they were hiding something from me.

She made a face that I could only picture as disappointment if it was on my mother's. And then I hated myself for making the comparison. Even if they resembled each other in terms of appearance, they weren't even remotely similar once you got to know them.

"Listen," she said after a long pause. "I know I was a little hard on you yesterday."

Well, so long as she knows. I made my expression as poker as I possibly could and focused on staring at nothing in front of me.

She continued, "It's about the shed you were talking about. Not you. I just don't have many good memories of that place so don't take my words to heart too much."

That's when I decided to look at her from the corner of my eye and saw a flicker of painful nostalgia cross her face that had my heart drop down to my stomach.

And then I just felt pathetic.

It felt like I was child throwing a tantrum because no one was listening to me. I'm not a kid and she doesn't need to baby me either. She must have her own concerns to deal with. I don't need to add to her burden much more than she's already carrying. With that, my irritation at last nights events were sated to something trivial that I'd rather forget ever happened.

"You can use that cabin however you like but only after I fix it up and make it a little less of health hazard," she spoke, warmly.

I smiled despite myself and said, "I can live with that."

Her tense shoulders relaxed a little and she returned my smile.

After having a bite of Mrs. Bolt's delicious Chocolate chip cake, I walked out to the diner through the kitchen and saw Edvin juggling from one hungry customer to another. Despite the crowd, he managed to handle his work expertly. But no matter, I decided to give him a hand since we're going to be working together anyway.

I grabbed an apron from under the bar and pulled it over my head then headed over to where Edvin's father, Ronald Bolt was handling the counter and receiving orders.

"Um, excuse me, Mr. Bolt," I said, meekly, wondering if bothering him during such a busy hour was a good idea or not.

He turned to look at me, showing me a quizzical expression as if he was not really sure who I was when suddenly a look of recognition crossed his face and he smiled at me, "I'm guessing Joanne had a word with you about working here?"

I sighed in relief. Thankfully the decision for my part timing and painting here was made together so I didn't have to explain much. He guided me to a booklet that was labelled, "Working at a Pub for dummies - Bolt's edition"

Well that looked inviting.

I grabbed a stool across the bar and settled down with the oddly labelled booklet. It didn't take me long to get through it. It was handwritten, short and simple. A perfect book for dummies. So without a second wasted, I set to work beside Edvin, taking orders and relaying it over to the kitchen, refilling cups with coffee, restocking ketchup and wiping the tables clean.

I still wasn't confident with my ability to carry multiple plates at the same time without spilling them so I left the serving part to Edvin. He still hadn't noticed I was there working with him. Only when there were a lot less customers left to serve did he notice my presence and he just stared at me dumbfounded.

I realized, he might have been the only person who didn't know about what his parents were conspiring behind his back and looking at his bafflement, I couldn't help but giggle.

Only when he heard my laugh did he snap out of his confusion and blinked twice.

"Does it look weird?" I asked, motioning towards the apron I had on to give me a more "waitress" feel.

He processed my query and shook his head a little too vigorously.

I held back another laugh. "Well, good cause I'm going to be wearing it a lot more often from now on."

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