Marble’s Marvels

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Kate opened the front door to the restaurant, letting Aidan in before closing and locking it again. Having rushed their own dinner of macaroni and cheese, she wanted time to sit and let it rest, but she had to open for their first customers, who were due at half-six.

Being a Thursday night, anything could happen; they might only have their reserved diners, or a big group might descend on them.

Benjamin Babcock, an eighteen-year-old local lad was starting at six, helping set up the kitchen with Aidan. From Thursday onwards each week, Kate liked to have two out front and two in the kitchen. The reason they taught Ben waiting was so that he could help out front when the kitchen rush ended.

"I'll get started in the kitchen," her husband said, carrying his chef whites.

"You won't forget, will you?" She knew pestering him might annoy him but securing capital for this place was always at the forefront of her mind.

Aidan turned to her. "Forget what?"

When he failed to smile, Kate tutted. "To try your dad again. Do I have to do everything? Phone him now, will you? We need that money, love."

“I knew that." He grinned, taking his mobile out of his jeans pocket. "I'll phone him now, but don't get your hopes up."

"Thank you!" She called after him, as he put the mobile to his ear. "Be nice to him, or he won't want to help."

Kate didn't want to rely on Aidan's difficult dad, yet she had no choice. Over the past six months she had exhausted every avenue of cashflow she could think of. Banks, building societies. Online it was a minefield, full of them. The problem: most of them wanted interest in the thousands of percent. Kate had no intention of getting in bed with a loan shark.

Having received the email from Roderick's Foundation earlier, Kate was far less hopeful of the restaurant's doors remaining open past next month. She crossed her fingers walking behind the bar.

After switching the till on, she heard voices outside. Looking up at the clock on the wall, it was ten to six. They increased in volume. Laughter. The glass in the door rattled. "Benjamin! What are you doing?"

She couldn't see them, but Kate could hear their taunting. Every so often the local teenagers liked to gang together and bully Benjamin. He knocked on the window, scared. With the keys in hand, she rushed over and unlocked the door.

Four young lads in their late teens stood leering at her.

"Leave him alone, you nasty yobs. Go on! And don't think I don't know who you are, Finlay Ealing. If your mum and dad find out you're a bully-"

They turned and walked away, grumbling. "We'll see you later, Babcock."

Three of them laughed at Ealing's use of the word 'c**k'.

"Grow up, the lot of you," she barked after them, closing the door and locking it again. "Lovely bunch of boys you hang out with, Benjamin."

The slight, effeminate Benjamin leaned against a chair. "They're not my friends, Mrs Marble. They were in my class at school, but I don't like them."

"I know they're not your mates. Are you okay? You're shaking. Would you like a drink of water before you start?" He shook his head. "Very well! Aidan's in the kitchen waiting for you."

Kate had a soft spot for Ben, who preferred his long name, Benjamin. He was at the awkward age of eighteen and gay. He told her in confidence once that he longed to tell his parents of his sexuality, but he couldn't tell his tyrant dad, or break his mum's heart.

Such a lovely boy, she thought, watching him walk away. "Wait!" She ran and caught up with him, arriving at the kitchen door. As soon as it opened, Aidan turned away, the phone against his ear.

"Look, I need this, Dad," he said, his voice stern yet pleading. "You don't know what this place means to me, or Kate. Please, won't you at least think about it?" He took the mobile away from his face. "Using you? I'm asking you for a favour. And I told you just now we'll give you a percentage of the profits and pay you back eventually." He stared at her while he spoke. "Yeah? If that's the way you feel, fine. No, I just said, don't bother, I'm not interested." He hung up by jabbing a finger at the screen.

Kate didn't need to be psychic. "That went well."

"I don't know what you expected." Aidan walked over to the stand-up fridge, opening the door, and taking out a tray of small dishes. "He thinks I'm using him, and he's right, isn't he? I haven’t spoken to him in months, and I ring him up one day asking him for money. He's old; he's not stupid."

"I know he's not stupid. I guess I thought I would never see the day when your dad saw one of you go without, that's all. I thought he would always help, no matter what."

Benjamin stood next to her in the doorway. "What's going on? Is this place closing? Please don't tell me that; I love this job."

Kate squeezed his shoulder. "I hate to say this, but it's a possibility. If we don't get a cash injection soon, those doors will be closing. So, Benjamin, if you want to help, tell your friends at those clubs you go to about this place, tell them to book a table, or something, we need lots of bums in seats if she's going to survive."

Aidan walked over to her. "You never know, mum might talk dad round. I'll call her separately. How's that? See if I can't persuade her to help."

Relief poured out of her in that moment. Aidan's mum would help. If there were ever a mother devoted to her children, Celia Marble was that woman. "Would you do that?" When he nodded, she smiled, stroking his cheek.

Walking back to the bar, Kate made a mental note to keep on at him to phone Celia, when a knock at the door made her jump. Francesca stood outside. By the look of her red eyes, Kate could tell she'd been crying. "Fran, honey, what's wrong?"

Her waitress stepped inside. "Oh, damn it! I said I wouldn't cry." She walked with purpose over to the bar, went behind and picked up a pint glass.

"What's he done now?" Guaranteed it would be something to do with Paul, her s**t of a husband, who blamed poor Francesca for not conceiving a child. Francesca looked awful, with red puffy eyes.

"He left me," Francesca answered with a sardonic laugh. "For a younger model he has more in common with." She poured water from the sink behind the bar into her glass, took a big swallow. "He waited until I was here this morning to pack his things. Now all I have is the house, and my car."

Kate wished she could act more surprised. Having never warmed to Paul Darby, she always imagined him flirting with whichever lady fell for his good-looking charm. "I'm so sorry, Fran," she said, taking her employee into an embrace.

"He blamed me for not getting pregnant," her waitress wailed. "And this whole time it was his fault, his low sperm count. When I told him the doctor gave me the all-clear, he just shrugged, like it was nothing."

Breaking the embrace, Kate glanced at the clock: opening time. "Listen, I would love to talk this through with you, honey, but I need to open up. Are you staying tonight? If not, I'll muddle through. Benjamin can help me out front."

Francesca stood up straight, wiped her eyes with a tissue from her handbag. "No, I'm fine. I'm strong. He's not going to affect me, not this time. I've cried enough over him." She took out a compact, checked her face in it. "Oh, I look awful. Give me five minutes to sort myself out, and I'll be right with you."

With a sigh, Kate walked to the front doors, bent over to unlock the bottom bolt, then reached up for the top lock. She smiled at her first guests, who were stood outside waiting. "Mr and Mrs Spencer, good evening." They were well-to-do, so she adopted her Queen's best accent. "Please, come in. Make yourselves comfortable."

They weren't part of the two bookings they had in the diary. Marble's Marvels needed walk-ins like these, only lots more of them.