The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,11
– after all, she was only there by virtue of her marriage to Ewan – but the Schwartz family knew that she was probably the only person at the table not so blinkered by emotion that she could be rational about the difficult discussions they faced. Though nobody wanted to address it, Kenneth was gone and they had to acknowledge that the waffle house would be tough for April to run by herself. The place had been closed for a month now, during the height of the tourist season, and money was draining from the business faster than water from a leaky boat. It couldn’t continue that way. Something had to be done and today, whether they liked it or not, was one of the rare occasions they’d have to sit together and decide what that ought to be.
‘Right,’ Graham said. ‘And while we have Lucy here, as it concerns her too.’
‘I’m not getting involved,’ Lucy began, but her father put up a hand to stop her.
‘You don’t need to get involved but I’d rather not have these discussions behind your back. You’re still my daughter and a part of this family even if you’ve chosen to leave the bay.’
Lucy nodded shortly and turned to her grandmother, and everyone else did too.
‘April…’ Kat said gently. April suddenly didn’t show much sign of wanting to engage, but perhaps that was because she knew that the following conversation might be painful. While everyone tiptoed around, Kat, again, was perhaps the only person detached enough to be a little tougher on her, to make her face what needed facing.
April shook her head.
‘April…’ Kat repeated. ‘We have to talk about this. For a start, do you want to open up again? Do you want to carry on working there or do you think this is a good time to retire? After all—’
‘I think it’s too much,’ Henny cut in briskly. Graham stared at her but she ignored the rebuke. ‘There,’ she continued. ‘I’ve said it. That’s what we’ve all been thinking after all, isn’t it? I know nobody likes the thought of selling up but I don’t see what else we can do with Kenneth gone. It’s too much for one person to manage on their own, let alone a pensioner.’
‘Why does anyone have to manage it alone?’ her husband asked.
Henny shot him a withering look. ‘Are you going to run it with your mother?’
‘Of course not,’ he fired back. ‘That doesn’t mean it has to close.’ He turned to April. ‘Mama, what do you think? Is it making enough to maybe pay someone to help?’
April shook her head. ‘I really couldn’t say right now. You know your papa took care of all that – I just cooked.’
‘You didn’t just do anything,’ Sadie said. ‘You made the magic, Gammy, and that was worth everything.’
‘That’s sweet of you to say so, darlin’.’
‘Yes,’ Henny cut in. ‘There’s no doubting that, but making magic doesn’t pay the bills.’
‘It does when it brings customers in,’ Graham said.
‘OK,’ Henny said. ‘But we still haven’t established who’s going to run the place.’
‘Well you know it can’t be us,’ Graham replied, looking both flustered and increasingly irritated at the same time. Clearly he wanted to give an answer that served his emotions, they all did, but he didn’t have one and Sadie could see it frustrated and saddened him.
Henny turned to Ewan.
‘I don’t have time,’ he said, his argument perfectly valid though he looked guilty about it all the same.
‘I know you don’t,’ his mother said. ‘That’s my point – none of us has time. Your father and I have the boat – and let’s face it, we’d be mad to spoil the income from that for the sake of a little business that struggles to make half what we do.’ She held up a hand to stave off objections from her husband and continued talking to Ewan. ‘You and Kat have the dive business and the children. Sadie has her studies and we can hardly ask Lucy to come home from New York to do it. I know it’s hard to say so, but what choice does all that leave us with? Not much, really, does it?’
The table was silent for a moment. ‘We definitely can’t hire an assistant or something?’ Sadie asked finally.