Page 25 of Autumn at the Oak Leaf Café
‘You need to go to bed.’
Madeline yawned. ‘Yeah, you’re right.’
She had taken to getting to the café early, around about seven o’clock, long before they usually opened. She would let Hazel outside for the toilet and a little play, then put the kitten back inside while she went for a stroll around the park.
It was a fine morning, the sun just above the horizon, a few wispy clouds in the sky. The air had that delicious, chilly crispiness to it, and a light breeze had begun to take browning leaves from the trees, scattering them across the grass.
Madeline said good morning to Dan and Milady, making their last circuit of the park before going home, then bought a coffee from Pete’s burger van, pausing to chat for a while before leaving him to serve the first of the morning’s commuters.
Everything felt wonderful … on the surface. But just beneath the pristine waters, Madeline was struggling. There was an aching feeling in her stomach that she just couldn’t shake off.
It had been a couple of days since Rory’s appearance at the café, and Madeline had struggled to concentrate since. During any lull in custom, she had found herself standing by the door, peering out at the park, wanting him to come strolling along the path. And when he hadn’t, she had struggled to function. She had messed up a couple of orders, been sharper with customers than they deserved. She needed to sort herself out, and soon. Only she didn’t know how.
Then, half an hour before the café opened, she had just put down some fresh formula for Hazel when she noticed a little business card tucked underneath a placemat behind the counter. She reached down and pulled it out.
Janine Woodfield.
Before she could chicken out, she picked up the phone, dialed Janine’s number, and booked herself an appointment.
She got Ruby to cover the café while she went over to Janine’s office. It was not far from Sycamore Park, on the fifth floor of a modern office building. A pretty reception area complete with tall house plants and a fish tank had a view of the back of the theatre.
The door to Janine’s office opened and Janine appeared, immaculately groomed and dressed. Madeline could almost hear the rustle of catalogue pages as Janine stepped out of the business section into the hall. ‘Ah, Ms. Fellow,’ she said, as though they had never met before. ‘Please come this way.’
Janine’s office was smaller than Madeline had expected, no bigger than the average living room, filled with a large desk in front of a window and ringed with tall shelves loaded with large hardcover books. Madeline scanned the shelves and caught such titles asHow to defeat YOU: Overcoming Insecurity, andGrowing Pride from a Seed: Discovering the Mind Inside.Already feeling a little overawed, she nodded dumbly as Janine waved her into an easy chair, then sat down opposite in a black leather swivel chair. She crossed one gym-honed leg over the other and drummed her fingers against the armrest.
‘You’ve made the first vital step today,’ she said, before Madeline could speak. ‘You’ve put your hand up, and admitted you need help. Tell me, how are you feeling?’
‘A little hungry,’ Madeline said.
‘That’s good,’ Janine said. ‘Hungry for more. Hungry for success. Hungry to overcome the hurdles in your life.’
‘I could do with a sandwich,’ Madeline said.
Janine leaned forwards. ‘And therein lies the crux. A mystery package, a surprise, a step into the unknown. Your life has become bland, unfocused, and today you have come to me for a reset. Tell me, Ms. Fellow, if you could choose any sandwich right now, what would you choose?’
Madeline frowned. She’d been expecting deeper questions. ‘I’d probably be good with cheese and pickle,’ she said.
‘Blandness and spice,’ Janine said. ‘My god, reading you is like reading a comic book. You’re as shallow as a puddle, Ms. Fellow.’ She leaned forwards a little more, until it looked like she might fall right off her chair. ‘How about we go about establishing some depth?’
‘Ah … depth?’
‘Let me see if I can read you, fortuneteller like.’ Janine narrowed her eyes. ‘You were a middling student. You got average grades. You did a little bullying, but not enough to get truly accepted into the bullying crowd, while not being bullied enough to be part of the good old losers’ club. You were so middle of the road that you’d walk down the central line on the way home. My god, people like you disgust me.’
‘Really?’
‘You’ve done nothing, have you? Nothing at all in your life.’
Janine seemed to be getting a little hot under the collar. Madeline tried to shrink back a little, wishing the cushions might fold around to protect her.
‘Ah, I’ve been overseas—’
‘But you were never really there, were you? Your mind was always right here, in Brentwell, craving for the resolutions you could only find in this very room—’
Janine slid off the seat, caught herself, and got back on. Her cheeks were flushed, a line of sweat under her brow.
‘I’m not sure—’
‘Exactly!’ Janine thumped the armrest hard enough to make the chair shake. ‘And that, Ms. Fellow, is the root cause of everything. Let me tell you a story. I used to be just like you: weak, unfocused, treading water, drifting through life.’
