Elina (ilmatar) wrote in morningstar_mnr, @ 2009-07-01 18:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | avery, emily, jazz, lucas, robert |
Multi-pup; Closed.
Robert parked his black Toyota Camry to the garage of the Manor coming home from work. He picked up his blazer - he really wasn't the suit type but at work he usually wore a blazer with a nice t-shirt, jeans and quality shoes - a folder of some charts he needed to look into before tomorrow's meeting and finally his cell phone and keys. He made his way up to the 4th floor to his apartment which was still a mess. The kitchen lacked curtains, carpets were still rolled up and waiting for their right places and the floor was littered with boxes and bags. At least he had a bed, a couch, a tv and a working kitchen and a shower.
After cooking a quick and simple dinner he sat down with the plate and a beer on the couch, but he couldn't find the remote control. It was hiding somewhere in the middle of the mess. Robert sighed sitting on the couch with the hot plate on his knee, and leaned his head back closing his eyes for a moment. He was too tired to get up and look for it just when he had settled down comfortably. He was too tired to unpack, too tired to shave properly, too tired to get up in the mornings, too fucking tired to continue.
Robert moved the plate to the low living room table and leaned his elbows on his knees looking around the apartment. It was big. It felt empty and strange. This had not been what he had imagined his life to be like closing in on middle age. Middle fucking age. All he had was his shoe factory and for anything else he was getting too old. It felt pointless and impossible to start over.
He sighed and took a long drink of the cold beer. Then he finally stood up to look for the remote control which he found in the mostly empty book shelf on the side of the room. It wasn't the only thing he found - the big half-full bottle of Jameson was something he also picked up and took with him back to the couch.
Earlier he had thought about going for a pint or two at the Lamb, but now the thought of facing other people made him uncomfortable. Robert ended up spending yet another lonely night at so called 'home' with only recaps of Wimbledon on the TV and Jameson as company.
**
In the afternoon Emily was going through the fridges of La Fee Verte's kitchen. She shut down most of them seeing that they were all emptied and cleaned properly. All staff had been in cleaning the whole restaurant from ceiling to floor and Emily had taken care that the kitchen was sparkling clean. The restaurant had closed its doors for the whole of July and that was a moment to do a thorough cleaning as well as throw out all indredients that would not hold.
Most of the others had already left having done their part and eager to go spend the lovely summer days with their families and friends. Scott was still finishing up in the front of the house while Emily was doing final check ups and Lucas was taking apart and cleaning the big dishwashing machine as his last chore.
"So what are you going to do now that you have a month of freedom?" Emily asked.
"Dunno. Nothing. Hang around. Enjoy the summer," Lucas answered shrugging and started rinsing the insides of the machine. "What about you, chef?"
"About the same. I was thinking of going to France for a couple of weeks but turns out my friends there are going on a holiday themselves so why go if I can't meet them," Emily explained and gathered temperature forms to one neat pile.
"Yeah. Traveling would be great though. Dunno where. Doesn't really matter where."
"You always take things as they come, don't you," Emily chuckled.
"I guess. I can't really think about the future much. Thomas keeps on nagging to me about it. He thinks I should go back to school but I dunno. I dunno what I'd study."
"You do well in the kitchen. I don't really understand why you wouldn't consider cooking. Go to college or apply for internships and learn more," Emily suggested.
"Mmh, well. No offence, chef, but... I don't really think cooking's the thing I wanna do for the rest of my life, you know? I've been here for a year now and it's been great. Seriously. But I'm starting to feel like..." he paused wondering if it was a good idea to talk about it to his boss.
"Like moving on?" Emily completed the sentence.
Lucas glanced over his shoulder at her. "Yeah."
"So are you coming back in August?"
"Yeah. I don't have anything else yet. But I think come autumn I might try something else," Lucas admitted and looked at her again cautiously. "Is that okay, chef?"
"More than understandable, Lucas. I'm actually surprised you stuck around as long as you have," Emily reassured him. "If you need help with finding that something else, I'll do my best to give you a hand or advice."
Lucas smiled. "Thanks, chef."
**
Having finished cleaning his own section and going through the beverage stocks and orders, Thomas Avery was back at the Manor in the afternoon. He made only a quick turn in his apartment, though. He got a small package wrapped in brown paper from his rooms and headed back downstairs to the lobby. From the elevator he walked straight to the mail room and left the package to the mail box labeled "Estrella Gonzales". Then he took his own mail and was gone again.