The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,77
when she’d had a problem before anyone else. ‘I think the strawberries on the bushes out in the garden are about ready – I noticed it the other day and I think the kids would like to go and pick them. I wonder if you could help them recognise the ripe ones – you’re so much better at these things than I am.’
‘And where are you gonna be?’ April asked cautiously.
‘I’ll come with you if that’s OK. That way I’ll know for next time – if we have to pick them without your help.’
April didn’t look convinced, but when Freddie and Freya looked hopeful at the thought of strawberry-picking (and strawberry-eating, probably) she seemed to quite forget she was supposed to be angry at them all for something.
‘How can I refuse those darlin’ faces?’ she said with a smile. She reached for her handbag and followed Kat, Freddie and Freya out of the room.
‘Now she takes the bloody bag,’ Sadie muttered as she watched them go. But the moment they were out of earshot her mother rounded on her.
‘I knew something like this would happen!’
‘How could you have done?’ Sadie shot back. ‘How could any of us have really seen this coming? There’s a difference between being a bit confused and what happened today – I know that! And if I’d thought for a minute that Gammy was as ill as she seems to be I would never have pushed to reopen the waffle house – even I’m not that pig-headed!’
‘Sometimes I wonder…’ Henny said brusquely.
‘Well,’ Sadie said, her tone just as cold, ‘if I am then you must know where I get it from. Why am I suddenly the villain here?’
‘Nobody is saying that,’ Graham put in.
‘You just never listen to anyone,’ Ewan said.
Sadie threw her hands into the air. ‘Oh, here we go! Saint Ewan has spoken and everyone has to listen!’
‘Oh, grow up, Sadie!’ her brother shot back. ‘And maybe you could listen once in a while; you might find that people aren’t always out to get you or stop you from doing what you want when they’re giving you good advice. They’re just trying to protect you.’
‘Well maybe I don’t need protecting. Maybe I can be left to look after myself and make my own mistakes like everyone else does, and maybe it will work out just fine.’
‘Like the waffle house? Because that’s worked out just fine, hasn’t it?’
Sadie crossed her arms over her chest and looked out of the windows. She could hear murmurings coming from that direction; the voices of Kat, April and the kids as they pottered about in the greenhouse. If only she could have volunteered to take April out of the way and let everyone else have this horrible conversation instead of having to be a part of it.
‘Nobody is blaming you,’ Henny said, her tone more measured now.
Sadie turned to her and jabbed a finger at her brother. ‘He is.’
‘That’s because—’ Ewan began, but their mother jumped in.
‘Enough!’ she snapped. ‘You’re not children anymore – either of you – but you’re bickering more than I’ve ever seen Freddie and Freya do.’
Ewan’s mouth clamped shut. Henny turned to Sadie.
‘We realise your efforts at the waffle house came from a place of love for your grandmother, but surely you can see now that the kindest thing to do is to call it a day. Your grandmother will be unhappy at first, but it will take her less time than you imagine to settle into a new routine without it.’
Sadie turned back to the windows. She sniffed hard.
‘Sadie…’
When Sadie looked back at the table, Graham had left his chair to sit on the one now vacant next to her. He took her hand.
‘Nobody loves that old place more than me, and nobody is more proud of what you’ve been trying to do there than me, but sometimes you have to know when to throw in the towel.’
‘But that’s just it, Dad, it feels like I’m always throwing in the towel. With my teacher training, with…’ She stopped, paused, took a moment to recognise that some things she’d given up probably shouldn’t be mentioned. ‘I don’t want to throw it in this time. Just once, I want to see it through. I could make a go of that place, I know it.’
‘Everyone told you not to chuck in your teacher training,’ Ewan said, and Henny glared at him.