Page 21 of Autumn at the Oak Leaf Café
I’ll pay your train fare.
‘Wow, he’s keen. Isn’t that a bit … unfair?’
Ruby rolled her eyes. ‘Off-peak return and he’ll probably use his rail card. Unfair would be an Uber from Brentwell and an AirBnB in Camden. Don’t worry, it’s just a game. I don’t even like Foo Fighters, plus I have a test on Monday. Do you have a boyfriend? I mean, a man-friend.’
Madeline chose to ignore the dig at her perceived age. ‘A boyfriend, no. I’ve been travelling for a few years. Not long enough in any one place.’
‘But if you’re back for a while, you might want one?’
‘If I do, I’ll be sure to ask you for advice.’
Ruby beamed. ‘Really? That would be awesome. I’ve never had a project before.’
With Ruby working three weekday afternoons as well as Saturdays, Madeline finally began to get a handle on things. Ruby, despite regular threats of hangovers, all night raves, and random road trips, showed up on time, made good coffee, and was great with the customers, allowing Madeline time to get the hang of the business side of things. Ruby’s presence began to attract a younger clientele, with the café suddenly becoming popular as an afternoon haunt for student types who’d sit in the window seats drinking maple and walnut lattes while poring over thick textbooks of biology and geography. And even when they had a prolonged week of mid-September rain, the café stayed comfortably busy, enough that Madeline felt she was making a success of the place without being run off her feet.
By the end of September, nearly a month after Madeline had taken over from Angela, the café was running like a well-oiled machine. A newly regular crowd was slowly growing, and people greeted Madeline with an easy familiarity she had thought she would never achieve. Hazel, too, having doubled in size over the last three weeks, had become popular, and slotted neatly into being the café cat, greeting customers from a chair by the door, occasionally wandering among the tables to give legs a comforting rub, even climbing into a couple of laps, particularly those of people who came alone, and had a certain loneliness about them as they sat in the window, peering out at Sycamore Park as the leaves slowly began to change. Some, whose faces had harboured a longing, a sadness, started to leave with smiles, and Madeline, got the sense that what she was doing for them was far more than serving coffee.
On October the first, Ruby showed up with bright orange hair.
‘It’s seasonal,’ she told Madeline, who looked up from the counter and raised an eyebrow as Ruby took off her jacket and hung it up behind the door. ‘October Orange. Like, that’s actually the name of the colour dye they use.’
‘So what was the last one?’
‘September Sky. Although I’d had it all summer.’
‘And in winter, what do you usually use?’
‘Winter White. Although it makes me look like I’ve got a snowball on my head so I usually add a few streaks.’
Madeline nodded. ‘As you do.’
‘Is it okay if I get off a little early this afternoon? I have to dump my boyfriend.’
‘Really? That’s too bad.’
‘He’s outstayed his welcome.’ Ruby shrugged. ‘It happens. For our second date gift he bought me a CD.’ Ruby spread her hands. ‘I mean, how old does he think I am? Forty?’
‘What CD was it? Maybe you could donate it to the café?’
‘Boyband Number Ones of the 2000s.’
‘Wow, I bet that’s a thrill a minute.’
‘He’s trying to tame me. Wants to set me adrift in a sea of blandness. He might as well put a collar around my neck and throw me in a cage in Brentwell Zoo.’
‘Brentwell doesn’t have a zoo.’
‘Exactly. My very existence will be compromised.’
‘He’s probably a nice boy, though. You know, safe. Can’t you give him a second chance?’
Ruby stared at her. ‘Say you’re pushing forward to an inswinger, it pitches on middle, then cuts away and just kisses your off-bail, you’re still out, aren’t you? You didn’t need to have your stumps shattered by an inswinging yorker, because out is out, isn’t it? Even just a little bit out is still out.’
Madeline just stared at her. ‘Were you just talking about a sport? Because all I heard was something-something-something-something.’
Ruby rolled her eyes. ‘Cricket? You’re not a fan? I play for Milton Road in the Brentwell Evening League,’ she said.
‘You … play … cricket?’
