The Waitress

21 - The Valley 'House'

Since she'd stopped crying and had accepted her fate, all she felt was angst as she sat unwillingly in the seat of a black car with two men in black suits sitting in the seats in front of her. Her mother was in the car behind them, understanding Kaely wanted nothing to do with her. The same mother who killed her father to complete a stupid mission. Jared, Lexus, the boys- even Oliver lied to her, but this? Her mother being alive? It was too much. The best she could do was keep her eyes out the window and not think about where she was going. She had been in the car for an age and it seemed they weren't any closer to their destination than they had been when they left. Kaely declined the food and water she was offered and didn't speak up at all; not even when she needed to use the toilet. She decided she could wait; it shouldn't be too much longer before they got to their destination. Hopefully it had a toilet because every time she had been asked if she needed to go, she would shake her head and continue to stare out the window, afraid she'd start crying again. She'd had enough crying for one day; God, she'd had enough crying for a lifetime so far. So instead, she stared expressionlessly out the window, not knowing where she was being led. She didn't know if Jared missed her, she didn't know if Eliot missed her but she realised soon that either way, she didn't even care. They lied to her; even Eliot. How could they do that to her? They knew the whole time who was trying to frame them, and that her mother was part of the whole scheme. God, she shouldn't have survived that car crash. It was what led her to this life. She only registered that it was hers the day Jared, Eliot, Dex and Leo came into her restaurant that one day a few weeks ago. It seemed like a lifetime ago. None of it mattered anymore. It was all fake; they never liked her, or cared about her. They didn't care what happened to her, because they did it all to make sure that her mother didn't reach out to her. When they found out she wasn't even in contact with them, it was a little too late to do anything about it, wasn't it? Because it would have compromised their position. Kaely didn't care anymore; her life was ruined. And there was no going back.

So, apparently Genevieve wasn't the one with Allison Bryson in Canberra. A look-alike from a distance could trick anyone that easily, because while that was going on, the real one was knocking on Kaely's door to announce herself to her unsuspecting daughter. What better way to get what she wanted than to show up unannounced like that? Kaely wouldn't be here if she wasn't upset; she'd have bolted. Maybe she'd have jumped out the window.

Just when she was about to ask the men in the suits to stop the car so she could pee, it came to a slow halt and Kaely looked out the window and realised that they had pulled up at what was supposed to be their destination.

She tried to keep her jaw from dropping.

As the men got out the front and pulled Kaely out with them, she took everything in. There was a round-about-driveway that centred a large water fountain, which they had pulled up beside. Behind the fountain sat a house so big it couldn't have been a house at all; its exterior walls were made of some sturdy material unknown to her, but were painted over in a blue so light that the sun couldn't make a shadow around itself on the surface. There were large windows lining the bottom floor, and the one above it had a larger one in the centre room. They were framed in white wood and the glass was polished cleanly, leaving no room for improvement. As she was tugged towards the building, she saw the entrance was a large French double-door that was tinted slightly paler, with its golden door handles sparkling in the sunlight. The first man reached forward and pushed the doors open as the second held Kaely's arms behind her back. She got a good look at the indoors; as she was pushed in, there were two corridors leading off to the right and left, with all the light coming from the big windows at the front of the house that were accessible from the passageways. There was another large corridor that led right forward; the entry hall, no doubt, which led to two more double doors that appeared to open into a larger space. To the right corridor, there was a door at the end that sounded like it led to the laundry. She found herself scoffing at the laundry being a room; hers was tucked into a cupboard in the corridor of her apartment.