Sugar Secrets…& Jealousy Page 2

  “So how did Maya enjoy her pre-holiday send-off?” asked Matt as he browsed through the menu in the End, wondering what to order for his lunch to go with the huge pile of chips he fancied. He, like the rest of the crowd, knew Maya hadn’t been looking forward to the prospect of spending ten whole days in such close proximity to her annoying sister, and figured that her mood would be even bleaker now that she was in recovery from her split with Alex.

  “Actually,” Sonja replied, “I think we all did a pretty good job of cheering her up, until we walked right into Alex and another woman.”

  “What?!” Matt gasped. He looked anxiously from Sonja to Billy Sanderson, who looked as shocked as him.

  Sonja nodded. “Yeah, it was Holly. Do you remember - that woman who turned up at the Railway Tavern with him one night when Maya was doing her mocks?”

  She went on to tell the boys what had happened the night before, and how Maya had immediately assumed that Alex was going back out with his ex, and how down she had been about it.

  “Of course,” finished Sonja, “no amount of reasoning from any of us could bring her round to the idea that they might, just might, have been going out together as friends and nothing else…”

  “So were you trying to convince her it could be innocent to make her feel better, or because that’s what you actually think?” Matt asked. “Because from the way you’ve described Alex, with his arm round Holly and looking all shifty and embarrassed when he saw you all, it sounds highly suspicious to me.”

  “I guess it does,” Sonja shrugged, “but we couldn’t exactly ask, could we?”

  “Poor Maya,” said Matt. “What a great way to start your holiday. Thinking that the guy you’ve just split up with cared so little about you that he took up with his ex before you’d even had time to scratch his name out of your diary. She must be going through hell.”

  “Ooh, you have changed your tune, Matt. How many hearts have you broken that way? Hmm - anyone got a calculator?” Cat couldn’t help herself - Matt might be a one-woman guy now, but no one (especially Cat) could forget how badly he had treated girls in the past.

  “I guess she will be feeling pretty raw at the moment,” Billy commented. “Though just because he was out with his ex doesn’t mean to say anything was going on.”

  “Not that it’s any of Maya’s business any more if there was,” Cat said bluntly. She glanced up and saw Anna coming into the café from the kitchen. Without so much as a pause to think about what she’d just said, she chirped, “Oh, hi, Anna. Glad you’re here at last. Nick’s being so slow with my burger, I think he might have gone to sleep making it. You couldn’t give him a kick up the bum, could you?”

  Anna looked over to where the gang were sitting at their favourite table by the window and briefly wondered why they all seemed to be staring at Cat with incredulous looks on their faces.

  “Sure,” she smiled, heading back towards the kitchen. “I’ve only just got here, so I’ll be delighted to put the blame for any slowness on Nick’s shoulders. By the way, why is everyone staring at you like you’ve got two heads, Cat?”

  Cat looked around the table with a quizzical expression on her face. “What?” she demanded. “What did I say?”

  “Oh, nothing out of the ordinary, Cat,” Sonja smiled sweetly. “You just seem to have the most perfect ability to speak without thinking. All I can say is, it’s a good job Maya isn’t here or she’d probably be in tears by now.”

  “Well it’s true,” argued Cat. “She dumped him, so it’s got nothing to do with Maya who Alex sees.”

  “I know, and you’re right, but do you have to be quite so blunt?” Sonja argued. “You’re talking about the life of one of your best friends here - you could be a bit more sensitive!”

  “Pah!” Matt scoffed. “Like she’s going to. You might as well ask her to stop dyeing her hair. Or wearing nail varnish… Ouch! Cat, that hurt!”

  Anna chuckled to herself as she saw Cat give Matt a hefty thwack on the arm. If those two start a barney, I know who’ll come off worst, she thought as she headed back to the kitchen where Nick was toiling over the griddle.

  “Got a customer complaining about the service out there,” she said cheerfully.

  “Really?” Nick looked up, concerned.

  “Yeah, Cat’s stomach thinks her throat’s been cut she’s so hungry for her burger.”

  “Cheeky madam,” Nick laughed, flipping the burger over with his spatula. “She only ordered it a minute ago. This isn’t McDonald’s you know. Still, now you’re here, it won’t take long to get back on track. You’re so good at getting us all organised,” he added. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Anna laughed. “And while you’re singing my praises, I wonder, could you do without me for a couple of days next week? It’s my mum you see…”

  Nick turned back to Anna, an anxious look on his face.

  “Tell me you’re joking,” he said.

  “Urr, no.” Anna felt suddenly apprehensive. “I had a call from Owen this morning. Mum’s had an accident; she’s broken her arm. I said I’d try to get some time off to go and look after her for a bit…” Anna broke off. She could see from Nick’s expression that this request wasn’t going down too well.

  Nick turned back to the griddle. His shoulders heaved as he took in a big breath and let out a long, deep sigh.

  “If it’s a problem…” she began.

  “No, no problem,” Nick said curtly.

  “I could work until Tuesday lunchtime and be back by first shift Saturday…”

  “Sure, Anna, of course. That’s fine… Now can we all up the ante a bit? Or we’ll be getting more complaints…”

  CHAPTER 3

  HAPPY HOLIDAYS?

  “Has Anna told you about her mum?”

  Nick strode into the record shop, banging the door behind him and making Ollie Stanton jump. He’d been having a leisurely browse through the NME in the customer-free shop, and having his uncle burst in on him like this nearly made him knock his mug of coffee over.

  “No? What about her?” Ollie asked, swiftly folding his newspaper in two and putting it to one side.

  “She’s only gone and broken her arm,” Nick huffed, “which means that Anna’s asked for some time off to visit her, which means that I’m short staffed next week, for longer even…”

  “Oh, I see.” Ollie was a bit stumped by his uncle’s grumpiness. He did a quick calculation and worked out that, even if Anna had time off, there were still enough able bodies to cover for her at the café. It might mean that Nick would have to spend a bit more time in there rather than doing his own thing, heading off to record fairs and such like, but, well, it was his business.

  “D’you reckon Joe could help out?” Nick carried on, scratching his frowning forehead.

  “Uh, no. He’s gone to his dad’s for a few days - spending a bit of time there before he goes off to uni. What about Irene?”

  “Not back from her holiday until next weekend. Though Dot’s back on Monday…”

  Nick let out a deep sigh and began drumming his fingers on the counter. “Whatever,” he carried on. “It’s so busy next door I can’t hear myself think. D’you fancy doing a swap for a couple of hours, while I sort this mess out?”

  “Sure. No problem.”

  Ollie could sense that there was more to his uncle’s problem than he was letting on at the moment. Knowing it would be useless to probe further, he nipped under the counter and headed towards the door, wondering why Nick was being so grouchy.

  What no one else knew was that Nick was planning his own impromptu trip away that week. Having Anna out of action could seriously jeopardise his plans… Sighing heavily, he picked up the phone and began to dial an international number. Before he’d even been connected he heard the shop door open.

  Replacing the receiver, he turned to see a girl standing on the other side of the counter, looking slightly apprehensive.

  �
�Uh… hi,” she said.

  Nick gave a brief nod of acknowledgement. “What can I do for you?” Almost unconsciously he realised that there was something familiar about her delicate, dark brown features, but he couldn’t quite place her.

  “Um, I was wondering whether you had any part-time work going here?” she asked, adding quickly, “sort of Saturdays or holidays. Not, I mean, during term time, because I’m… well, I’m still at school.”

  Nick thought rapidly. This girl could be the answer to his problems.

  “You might be in luck,” he beamed. “I don’t have any work going here, but I also own the café next door. The End-of-the-Line - do you know it?”

  The girl nodded, a trifle hesitantly. “I’ve been in there a few times,” she said.

  “Well, I’ve got a week or so’s work there if you’re interested…”

  She nodded.

  “Have you had any experience?”

  “Not waitressing,” she answered, “but I’ve done a bit of work in a pub kitchen, washing up, that sort of thing…”

  “Which pub?”

  “The Dog and Whistle at the other end of town.”

  “Ah yes, I know Chris, the landlord.” Nick handed her a piece of paper and a pen. “Stick your name and number down on there,” he instructed, “then, if you’ve got no objections I’ll have a word with Chris and call you. How does that sound?”

  “Great,” the girl replied, taking the pen and beginning to write. “Uh, what sort of work will I be doing?”

  “Washing up, waitressing, helping make sandwiches, cleaning, that sort of thing. All the stuff that’s tough on the feet, y’know? And there may be more holiday work in the future if you take to it. How does that grab you?”

  “Ooh… um… that sounds brilliant,” the girl replied, a little tentatively. “I’ll wait to hear from you then.”

  “OK. Bye for now.”

  Nick smiled to himself, as he watched her leave the shop. Problem sorted!

  “Come on, Sunita, we’ll be late!”

  Sanjay Joshi slammed the car boot shut, checked his watch for the fourth time in less than five minutes, and began rattling his car keys at his youngest daughter.

  “I just remembered I forgot my Britney CD. Won’t be a sec.” Sunny hurled herself up the path like a guided missile and pushed past her mother who was about to lock the front door.

  “Steady!” she cried as she watched Sunny leap up the stairs towards her bedroom, two at a time.

  “Sorry!” Sunny called back. “You get in the car. I’ll lock up.”

  Nina Joshi tutted. Leaving her keys in the lock, she walked to the passenger side of the car and climbed in. She glanced at Ravi sitting in the back with his Game Boy, then at Maya, staring glumly out of the window, taking no interest in, or notice of, what was going on around her. She’d been like that all morning and, although her mother hadn’t said anything about it, it didn’t mean she hadn’t noticed. Nina wound the window down to get some air circulating and pulled the seatbelt across her body.

  “You haven’t forgotten anything have you, Maya?” she asked, pulling down the sun visor in front of her and peering at the top of her daughter’s head through the little vanity mirror stuck on the back of it.

  Maya didn’t answer. She hadn’t heard the question. She was still thinking about last night.

  There has to be something going on between Alex and Holly, she mused. Why else would they be out together? Maya’d run a little fantasy sequence through her head many times since then, in which Alex phoned her up to confirm just that. Realistically, though, why should she expect him to call? It wasn’t as though he owed her an explanation, since they weren’t going out together any more…

  “Maya?… Maya!” Nina’s voice rose a few tones in an attempt to get a reaction from her eldest daughter.

  “Sorry?” Maya, who had been slumped against the car window, raised her head and blinked slowly, as though she’d just been woken from a deep sleep.

  “I said, are you sure you haven’t forgotten anything? Because we won’t have time to come back once we set off.”

  “Uh… no. I’m sure…” Maya’s voice trailed off and she went back to staring into the distance again.

  At that moment, Sunny appeared at the front door. Before she could step outside and close it, the phone started to ring. “I’ll get it,” she said to her father, who was pacing up and down outside, and disappeared again.

  “If that’s one of your friends I want you to get back out here immediately. I don’t want you wasting any more time gossiping,” Sanjay shouted after her as he looked at his watch again and prayed that it wasn’t some sort of dire emergency at his surgery or at the hospital where Nina worked.

  Sunny ran to the phone and picked up the receiver. “Hello?” she said breathlessly.

  “Maya, is that you?” Alex asked at the end of the line.

  Sunny recognised him straightaway.

  “No, it’s Sunny.”

  “Oh, right, hello, Sunny. Is Maya there?”

  “Uh… yeah, but we’re about to go on holiday. Dad’ll go mad if we don’t leave right now,” Sunny replied. “Is it important?”

  “Uh, yeah, it is actually. Urn, could you tell her I rang, and that I’ll speak to her when she gets back?”

  “Sure,” said Sunny brightly.

  “Thanks, Sunny. Have a good holiday.”

  Sunny put the receiver down and bounded back out of the house, locking the door behind her. She wondered why Alex was calling. She knew Maya had been in a bad mood ever since she and Alex had split up, and today she seemed to be especially down. Sunny didn’t know why that was, but she would be willing to bet that Alex had something to do with it.

  “It wasn’t for me or your mother then?” Sanjay asked as Sunny walked with him to the car. She shook her head and slid into the car next to Ravi, a couple of CDs in her hand.

  Maya looked over. “Is that my Fatboy Slim CD you’ve got there?”

  “Might be,” Sunny replied.

  “You took that out of my bedroom, didn’t you?” accused Maya.

  “So?” Sunny said, looking at her sister defiantly.

  “Don’t you dare go into my room without my permission!”

  “Ooh, touchy!” Sunny smirked, enjoying getting her sister’s back up.

  “No I am not. I just don’t want you snooping round my room, all right?”

  “OK, you two, that’s enough,” Nina Joshi sighed from the front seat. “You could at least try to be civil to each other for the next ten days, if that’s not too much to ask.”

  Maya glowered at her sister then slumped back into her seat.

  Yeah, I’ll tell you Alex called, Sunny thought mischievously as they drove away. When I feel like it…

  CHAPTER 4

  LONG DISTANCE CALLS

  Nick swept into the café at the end of the day, whistling an unrecognisable tune, and rattling his lock-up keys in the palm of his hand.

  “Good afternoon, girls and boys!” he beamed at Anna and Ollie. “I trust you’ve had a productive afternoon?”

  “Uh-huh, fairly busy,” Anna replied a little warily. She wasn’t sure how to take Nick today, not after his reaction to her request for some time off that morning.

  “How about you, Nick?” asked Ollie. “Did you get the staff problem sorted?”

  Before he could answer, Anna butted in, “Actually, Nick, I wanted to speak to you about that. If it’s a problem for me to take time off, please say. I won’t go if you can’t get anyone to cover.”

  “No, no,” Nick replied cheerily. “Thanks, Anna, but it’s OK. Really. The thing is, when you told me, it did put me in a bit of a spot for a while because, you see, I’m going to be away next week too.”

  “Really?” Ollie exclaimed. “You never said…”

  “I know. But it wasn’t definite until yesterday when I booked my flight. So anyway, I’ve got a new girl starting at the café as soon as the breakfast rush is over on Monday. I th
ought you could show her the ropes, Anna, before you go away. Bryan can cover at the record shop, maybe Matt too if he’s not too busy doing his DJing stuff. Ollie can float between the two, and with Dot back from her hols, we should have it pretty much covered. So there isn’t really a problem at all…”

  “Hang on a minute, Nick,” Ollie said, scratching his head. “Could we rewind the ramblings for a moment, back to where you said something about a flight. A flight to where exactly?”

  “America.”

  “Again?” said Ollie incredulously. “You’ve only just got back from a holiday in America.”

  “No, I haven’t,” Nick replied a little defensively. “It’s at least three months since I was there.”

  “Still, hitting America twice in three months is more often than a lot of people go in a lifetime. What’s the story?”

  Nick shrugged. “There isn’t one. I just had such a great time in Nashville, I want to go again. Nothing wrong with that, is there? And the flight was so cheap I’d have been a fool not to take it. So, anyway, I’ll be away from Wednesday to Tuesday. I take it I can trust you both not to blow the place up while I’m gone?”

  “I think you can rely on us.” Ollie winked at Anna, who gave him a conspiratorial grin back. “Anyway, we want to know more about this trip, don’t we, Anna? Like, for example, what the big attraction is out there…”

  “Pardon?” asked Nick innocently, though unable to disguise the little smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.

  “C’mon, spill the beans!” demanded Ollie. “There must be some reason for going back so soon, other than a cheap flight. Are you going alone?”

  “Of course I am,” Nick replied, all mock indignation.

  Ollie suddenly clicked his fingers and grinned an even bigger grin. “I know,” he exclaimed. “I remember it now. After you came back, you started getting calls from some American woman, didn’t you?”

  “Did I?” grinned Nick.

  “Yeah, though at the time you insisted she was just sending you some records you were after. I bet you’re meeting up with her again, aren’t you?”

  “Am I?”