Page 13 of Real Forever
For some reason he couldn’t name or understand, it made Jake angry.
9
Madison
“Good morning, Louis. Morning, Doug.”Madison greeted the regular coffee crowd with a smile as the bell above the door chimed her arrival.
Louis gave her a half nod while Doug set his newspaper down. “Good morning, Madison. How are you today, young lady?”
Madison grinned. Doug called every woman under the age of about fifty ‘young lady.’ “I’m good. The wind out there is sure chilly though, isn’t it?” She shook the cold from the collar of her jacket. “I hate to say it, but it’s feeling more like winter and less like fall every day.”
Doug leaned back in his chair and shifted his toothpick to the side of his mouth. “Yep. Can’t imagine we’ll get more than another week, two at the most, before the snow flies.”
Madison scanned the handful of tables, smiled at Tabitha, who smiled back from behind her teacup, and noted a pile of crumbs under the table in the east corner. She’d grab the vacuum once the coffee crowd cleared out.
“Aggie in the kitchen?” Madison asked no one in particular.
“She better be,” Louis grumbled. “Ordered my damn breakfast ages ago.”
Agatha’s was a fixture of Snowbrook. Coffee shop, restaurant, gas station, and corner store, all jammed into one crowded little shop, right on the highway. There was even a small greenhouse out back where Agatha sold nursery plants in the spring and Christmas trees in the winter. Agatha had run the place for as long as Madison could remember, and the folks in town supported it as often as they could. Snowbrook was tiny, with few local businesses, so they were grateful for a place to pick up their essentials without having to drive to Silver Creek or another nearby town.
With a population of around 600, Snowbrook didn’t qualify as a town at all, but a village. Maisie had picked up this tidbit some time ago and loved to correct anyone who mistakenly called it a town.
Madison swung the door open to the kitchen and was hit by the sound of sizzling bacon and familiar smell of kitchen grease. “Good morning, Agatha.”
“Good morning, dear.” Agatha was flipping eggs on the grill. “Do me a favor hun, and grab the pancake batter from the cooler?”
“Sure.” Madison threw her cardigan over the back of Agatha’s office chair and pulled her hair into a ponytail as she walked to the back cooler.
“Here you go,” Madison said, setting the jug of batter down on the counter. “I’m going to get started on the inventory order for Thursday, okay?”
Madison started working at Agatha’s in high school, part time after school. Madison’s dad was a vehicle mechanic at his own shop in town and had provided well enough for her and Lauren, but by the time they were teenagers, he expected them to earn their own spending money. Now, ten years later, Madison knew the business as well as Agatha did.
“Wait,” Agatha said. “Come here for a minute.” Agatha gave Madison a once over. “Did you eat breakfast this morning?”
Madison tilted her head and smiled at Agatha.
“I’m fine. You worry too much, Ag.”
“That’s not what I asked. I asked you if you’d eaten yet today. And don’t you try to bullshit me, young lady. I can tell.” Agatha narrowed her eyes.
Madison laughed. “Ok, fine. You got me. No, I haven’t eaten.”
“Thank you.” Agatha handed her the plate of bacon and eggs she’d taken off the grill. “Sit. Eat,” Agatha commanded, pointing at the office chair.
“Is this Louis’s breakfast? He’s complaining out there already.”
Agatha dismissed her with a wave of her hand. “That buzzard can wait. He’s got nowhere to be.”
When Lauren and Madison’s father died, Agatha told Madison to take all the time off she needed and to call whenever she was ready to come back to work. But after a month or so had passed, Madison couldn’t remember exactly how long, Agatha showed up at the home Madison had still shared with her father to check on her. Agatha found her on the floor of her father’s bedroom, curled up on a pile of his clothes. She hadn’t showered in days and wasn’t eating or sleeping. Agatha had gotten down on the floor with her, curled up behind her, and held her while she sobbed. Then she stood Madison up and took her to the kitchen, where she washed her hair in the sink and made her a bowl of soup. Neither woman spoke; they didn’t need to. But Agatha was family after.
“Here comes Cliff,” Madison said, watching through the window as a white haired man pulled into the parking lot on a riding lawn mower. Cliff had lost his license years ago, by a combination of whiskey and old age, but the local police didn’t bother him as long as he stuck to driving lawn mowers and golf carts.
Agatha tisked. “That old coot was in here yesterday yammering on and on about deer hunting season coming up, and how he was going to get a five point buck this year. Can you imagine? His senile ass can hardly see from here to the coffee pot.”
Madison chuckled. Agatha and Cliff were always at each other. Cliff loved to get on Agatha’s nerves, and he was damn efficient at it too, after all these years. Madison had pondered whether Cliff had a bit of a crush on Agatha, and some days she even thought Agatha might feel the same way, but it would be a snowy day in hell before either of them would admit it.
Madison stood up. “I’m going to get to work. Thank you for breakfast, Agatha. It was delicious, as always.” She walked her empty plate to the sink and popped her apron on before heading out to bring Cliff his usual black coffee and check on the other customers in the cafe.
