The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,12

thought we’d agreed when we looked at the books…’

She stopped short of completing her sentence and Sadie wondered just what her parents had discovered in them. She had to guess that perhaps the waffle house hadn’t been making as much money as she’d imagined it was. She had never really thought about it, because it had always just been there, part of the landscape of the bay and of her life there, and she had never really equated that with the making of an actual profit.

‘I fear Henny may be right,’ April said sadly, and Sadie stared at her grandmother. Maybe she’d been forced to agree because she knew deep down that the waffle house wasn’t making all that much, but it wasn’t like her to give up so easily.

‘I have to agree with Mum too,’ Ewan said. ‘I hate to say it—’

‘You mean you hate to agree with me?’ Henny asked with a faint smile.

‘That,’ Ewan said with a small smile of his own. But it faded into something more pained as his gaze travelled to April. ‘And the fact that none of us has time on our hands to help; we can barely keep on top of our own affairs without running a waffle house as well.’

Sadie looked at her grandmother, waiting for a response, but nothing came. It was like she’d already chosen to retreat, the woman she’d once been choosing to follow her husband into the void and leaving behind someone who simply looked like April Schwartz. It pained Sadie to admit, even privately, that they’d already half lost her. It couldn’t be that simple, surely? There had to be a way to get her back, and surely that’s what they all wanted? Certainly the one thing they shouldn’t be doing was taking from April the only thing that might bring her back to life. If they took the waffle house from her, persuaded her to give it up, what would she have left? Surely it would be better to give her something to focus on, to keep something of what she’d shared with Gampy, even if it was more of a keepsake than a viable business?

But then, Sadie also had to admit that her mother and brother were right. Who could spare the time to help run the waffle house? If it didn’t make enough money these days to employ staff, then that was out of the question. If April was going to have help it had to be one of them, but none of them could do it.

‘Gammy…’ Sadie said. ‘Never mind what can be done… What do you want? You must have some idea.’

April looked at her. ‘Is there any point in saying what I want?’

‘Of course there is,’ Lucy said.

‘But you’re all telling me that it’s not possible.’

‘That’s not what we’re saying.’

‘But nobody wants to work with me?’ April asked. She shook her head sadly. ‘I can’t say I blame any of you. Ain’t enough excitement in an old place like that, and you’ve all got bigger plans.’

‘But if you could,’ Sadie asked, ‘you’d want to keep the waffle house on?’

‘It’s not possible,’ April repeated.

‘So what do you want us to do?’ Graham cut in.

April shook her head slightly but she didn’t offer a reply.

‘We’re surely not just going to wrap it up like that?’ Sadie asked, her gaze settling on every adult at the table in turn. ‘If Gammy wants to keep it on there must be a way around it. If we put our heads together surely we can come up with some kind of solution?’

‘Like what?’ Ewan asked.

‘I didn’t say that inspiration would strike instantly,’ Sadie replied tartly. ‘But you’re writing the waffle house off with no discussion.’

‘Isn’t that what’s happening here?’ Henny asked. ‘I thought this was a discussion.’

‘OK, without an informed discussion,’ Sadie replied. ‘We haven’t gone over all the options.’

‘That’s because there aren’t any,’ her mother said.

‘I’m with Sadie,’ Lucy said. ‘There must be a way to make things work.’

‘I agree,’ Graham said. ‘I’ll admit it’s going to be hard to part with that old place – we all have a lot of good memories there. I certainly don’t want to see it go.’

‘And can you imagine it being sold off to someone who might turn it into something tacky or horrible?’ Sadie said.

‘Or even knock it down,’ Graham added.

‘Isn’t it protected or anything?’ Kat asked.

‘Protected?’ Ewan glanced at her. ‘In what way?’

‘It’s old, isn’t it? A pretty unusual example?’ She turned to April. ‘Isn’t it