Leaves [gxg]

34

34

River opened the shop the next day. And the next. And the next. It was the only thing she could do. The bump in customers, gathered by Celeste's bogus reviews had not reduced and were it not for Antoine taking on more shifts, River doubted that she could have dealt with it half as well. Though he still had much to learn, his clumsiness began to evaporate the more he worked.

Erisa had called a number of times, but she had not returned. River doubted that she would. Once Erisa set her mind to something, she stuck with it unless that decision proved to be wrong. She wasn't inflexible, only driven and determined. In the course of their calls, they never spoke of the possibility of 'Leaves' becoming a franchise. Which ever way River decided to go, she felt more than a little betrayed by Erisa not supporting her.

And Celeste. Before River could call her, she couldn't help but check the messages. Or, rather, message. A single, simple message, telling River that Celeste would give her some space and that they could talk once she returned. Celeste had continued on to China, because of course she had. In many ways, Celeste and Erisa were very similar and River wondered if she attracted such people to her to offset her own, wildly chaotic, personality.

Except Antoine was nothing like either of the two strong-minded women. River wondered, then, if it were only that kind of woman that seemed to fall into her orbit. The thought that she had that kind of 'type', even though she didn't look at Erisa that way, made her wonder whether she unintentionally gravitated towards them, not the other way around.

During the post-mid-day lull in customers, River pottered around behind the counter, washing cups and saucers, emptying and wiping teapots before getting ready for the afternoon uptick of customers. Countertops had to be wiped, as did the tables. Spoons shined within an inch of their lives. Containers of tea, all clearly marked and placed in a very specific, but utterly illogical pattern became straightened, adjusted and stared at as River wondered whether she should rearrange them in alphabetical order.

With a vigorous shake of the head, she rejected that idea. Logic and order had no place in River's world. Eclectic. Disorganised. Chaotic. These were River's strong points. Anything else would soon fall into disarray during the normal course of the day. By the time she had finished tidying, cleaning, failing to rearrange things and fail to find anything else to occupy her time, she realised she had filled an entire half-hour. Far, far less time than she had hoped to fill.

"I was wondering, if it's alright, if I could go out for an hour? Or so?" Leaning upon the counter, Antoine had the wide eyes of a child begging for an ice-cream. The expensive kind. "Only, it's my Mum's birthday in ... tomorrow. It's tomorrow! And I haven't bought her anything. Yet."

"Of course!" With a furrowed brow, River tried to think whether she had remembered her own mother's birthday. Or her father's. "Go! Buy her something lovely. No ornaments! No-one likes to get ornaments for birthdays. They just gather dust and remind people that you haven't really thought about what they like. How old will she be?"

"I haven't a clue." Antoine grimaced, removing his apron, folding it and leaning over to tuck it under the counter. "One of the big ones, I think. I'm fairly certain it ends with an 'oh'. Fairly certain. See you in a bit!"

Before River could even begin to give him some advice for buying a gift, Antoine had scooted through the door, pausing outside before looking both ways, trying to figure out which way to go to find the right shop and the right gift. It was probably going to be an ornament. Listening was not one of Antoine's talents. Other than having older ladies want to pinch his cheeks, River wasn't certain he had any talents.

Left alone in the shop also left River with far too much time to herself. Time enough to think and she had done more than enough thinking over the past few days. After coming to her very definite, unchangeable, set-in-stone, never questioned decision, she had, predictably, flip-flopped several more times. Sometimes she changed her mind almost every hour and it had started to affect her physically.