tell me beautiful lies...

“A bathrobe, huh? I hope they come out with something on underneath.” Now that wouldn’t be a pretty sight. Granted, Rhett wasn’t really one to judge that sort of thing. If someone wanted to go out and do their thing like that, then he’d let them be. Still a bit off, of course, but it didn’t affect him directly. “You still give them service? Does a robe count as proper attire? Like they say no shoes no shirt no service… but what would someone even consider a robe?” Why was he even bothering to ask this, though?

“I don’t mind, honestly. I mean, you’re clearly in need of help. Everyone around here is. So I don’t mind stepping up and lending a hand.” He assured her, stepping in further. “Just tell me where to start. I promise to be careful. It’s better with both of us anyway. That way if anything does go wrong, the other can help or at least call for help.”

“I hope so too. I have luckily never been able to find out if they do or not — It’s always securely tied,” she said with a light laugh. She really didn’t mind so much anymore. She had gotten used to it somehow, and he was no harm, not really. Maybe he sometimes kept a customer from staying longer, or from going in in the first place, but the regulars always came back. “I mean... It probably doesn’t count as proper attire no, but we’re not so strict here. We were not so strict here, I should say.” It had always been about the people for her, not the business or the money. She just liked meeting people from all over.

Adelaide smiled at the sandy haired man, looking up at him only to see total sincerity in his eyes and in the words he spoke. “That means a lot to me, thank you. Umm... I think I’m just... We can just have a quick look around and see what’s salvageable, and then we should probably get out of here. Just to be safe?” She definitely couldn’t forgive herself if something bad happened to a kind stranger because she had allowed him to help walk around the ruins of the cafe.

Ben lifted his shoulders in a shrug, a gentle laugh escaping him as he did. “Guess there’s no real way of knowing, we’re stuck here, whether we like it or not,” he responded, his smile genuine as he looked her way. “Sitting ducks.” He could tell she was a little uncomfortable, but there really wasn’t all that much that could be done. It really wasn’t what he wanted from his day, considering all that had been going on, getting stuck in a lift was the very last thing he wanted when he had so much to do. ”It’s nice to meet you, too, Adelaide.”

Adelaide laughed softly and nodded agreeable. “Yeah, you’re right. But hey... At least we’re not totally alone, right?” At least to her that meant something to her, even if it were a little awkward. “Sitting ducks,” she repeated with a grin and a quiet, but sincere laugh while she nodded her head in confirmation. “So, uh... Are you working on a movie here in Atlanta?” She asked finally. She wasn’t good when it came to following gossip or reading tabloids, so she really wouldn’t know.

“You haven’t seen me 365 days year, you don’t know,” Jace mused with a playful smile as they made their way out of her cafe again. It made him sad, seeing it like this, but it would be fine eventually, it would all get sorted out — he had faith in Adelaide, he knew exactly what she was capable of. “I know that. I always know that.” A nod, and then he flashed her a smile. “Alright, good, now we just need to figure out where to go to get it.”

“Oh I still know. I know you well enough to dare make that statement,” Adelaide said and smiled her usual dimpled smile. Maybe it would be different if she were his sibling and they lived together, but still. As far as people went, Jace was one of the very best and she knew it. “I have a good idea,” she said. “We should go to my place. I will bake something while we catch up. What do you think?”

Bella looked up and smiled, chuckling. “Don’t worry about me, girl. I’m fine. I’ll find another place to get my mocha latte for the moment. You’re sweet, though. I’m sure things will work themselves out. They usually do in these circumstances. Just hope for that.” She sighed, trying to even convince herself as she said it out loud. “It reminds me of this quote I read. People thought God was punishing New Orleans, you know, for the bad hurricane? But actually, others thought God was protecting New Orleans, because the flood gates didn’t completely break and if they had, a lot more people died. It just shows — sometimes we can’t explain things.” She shrugged. “Nice to meet you too. Aww, and I hope one day I can meet your daughte.r. That’s super cool that she gets to grow up in a plac elike this. She must love it here.” 

Casey nodded, “Yeah, there was a guy named Thomas, he stayed with her. Helped keep her calm until I was out. Honestly, I don’t know how to thank him enough for that.” he said, shaking his head softly at the thought. “It really did look worse then it was I think. I mean it wasn’t pleasant to be stuck, but … honestly, I just have a few cuts and bruises.” he added, not wanting her to worry when it wasn’t necessary. “I hope so too. He says he is, but he always kind of tries to act tough with me. He doesn’t really like it when I go all protective.”

“Oh that’s so good. It just goes to show that there are still a lot of good people left in the world, you know? And I’m sure he knows how grateful you are for his help that night,” she said and smiled, hoping she seemed reassuring. “Sometimes the shock and the sight is the worst thing, right? I’m so glad that was the case, because I’m sure it could’ve been a lot worse,” she said, trying not to imagine what could have happened to Casey. “Well, you just tell him that that’s what brothers do. Mine are the same, so over protective, but the best really.”

“Well, if you insist.” Santi replies with a nod, offering Adelaide a smile. “Probably. There’s not much you can do until things dry out a bit anyways, right? No use in upsetting yourself.” Turning, he moves back onto the sidewalk, waiting for the brunette to follow. “I’m sure we can find an open place somewhere.” 

“Oh I do.” She smiled and nodded. Just having someone there actually made her feel better and less alone in the mess that was the cafe now. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s just so strange seeing it like this, you know?” She looked around one last time before following Santiago out onto the street. “There are a few open towards Downtown, I remember. We could try there?”

Noah nodded, “I’m sure it’ll be covered. I mean, I think this kind of thing usually is.” he said carefully, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Well, thank you. I’ve been very glad that everyone I know seems to be alright too. I mean, a few people did get hurt, but … everybody made it out. Which is good, really good, with a storm like this.” he said softly. “But even so, I know that it would … hurt, to see it like this. But you can rebuild it, right? I mean, I know that I’ll be looking forward to that. I’m sure all of your customers will.” he said with another small smile. 

“Yeah, I hope so.” It had always been Christopher who took care of the business side of things in New York, and Adelaide had to admit it had been hard to navigate it herself after he passed away — The insurance part of things for the cafe had been drawn up with the help from her brother and her parents, which now made her feel silly. She should have known about those things, or at least tried to understand it before something like this happened. “Yeah, I think we were all lucky that no one was killed. It could’ve been so much worse, even though it didn’t really seem like it in the moment, you know?” His kind words put a smile on her lips and Adelaide nodded. She would rebuild this place with her bare hands if she needed to, especially for people like Noah — The customers she had come to see as friends. “Thank you for saying that Noah, that means a lot. I promise I will definitely rebuild it.”

“You don’t know a Sharon? That sucks. I know a Sharon– she’s a single mother who used to live next door and liked to invite me in to help her move around her stuff. But I always knew she just loved to watch me because everyone knows I’m quite the catch.” He says with a comical wink. Of course he leaves out the detail where he actually slept with her every time her kids were out to school. What can he say, older women get to teach him new interesting stuff so how could he decline? “What sucks is that she never gave me any free apple pies like you do. I would kill for a pie right now. All this stress is just making me hungry.”

“Yeah, no matter how I said I hated this place in the past…this place is my home after all. It’s hard to see it like this.” She sighed. The blonde never usually stayed in Atlanta long enough before travelling for another competition, but still, she loved coming to a place she called home. “At least you still have a roof over your head, right?” Adelaide of all people deserved a piece of good news like this, especially when her café unfortunately got mixed up in the middle of the storm. “My place is fine, the roof probably needs to be repaired, but I can still stay at home.” At the mention of her family, she couldn’t help but pause for a moment before answering. “Yeah, they’re fine. They weren’t in Atlanta when the storm came, but I don’t think they’ll come back anytime soon anyway.” The truth was, her father was too busy in DC with his job to return to the city unless he had a reason to. “Oh, that’s good. I heard Virginia Highlands didn’t come out so bad after the storm. And yeah, I was. It was nice to stay comfortable during the storm, to say the least. But I could’ve done with stocking up my fridge during the past few days.”

“Sometimes a little distance makes things clearer, right?” She smiled. People’s perception of things were always subject to change, and Adelaide couldn’t blame Madeline for changing her mind when it came to Atlanta — Like she said, it was home. “Yeah, I’m very grateful for that. I don’t know if Maia would have been able to understand coming home to a ruined house. I don’t even wanna bring her down here honestly...” It was too dangerous anyway. “I’m glad your place is still standing too, minus the roof of course. Hopefully your insurance covers it? Which reminds me I definitely have to call my insurance company to work something out,” she said and sighed. She wasn’t good when it came to the business side of things — That had always been Christopher’s domain before he passed. “Oh, I’m glad they’re okay. I’m guessing your dad is keeping busy in D.C.?” Adelaide looked up, a smile filtering onto her lips kindly. “Oh no, did you go hungry? You should come to dinner at my place one of these days — You know how much I love to feed people,” she joked, even though it was true. She liked to try out new recipes on her friends.

Casey took in a careful breath, “It could have been a lot worse then it was. We definitely got lucky. Abby saw when I was stuck under it … it really scared her, I had that she had to see that.” he said, shaking his head softly. “Yeah, yeah, I’m alright. Just cuts and bruises, really.” he said, not wanting her to worry about him. There were enough people to worry about and the minor injuries he had from his drunken adventure weren’t worth the trouble. “Oh, good. I’m so glad that it worked out alright for you guys.” he said, honestly relieved. “I will, but I think we’re going to be alright. I just hope Jace is really as okay about losing everything as he seems to be.”

It chilled Adelaide to the bone just imagining what they had been through during the storm — How the fear alone must have been almost unbearable, and then having to deal with everything else on top of it? It was awful. “Yeah... That can’t have been easy for her, I’m sorry. I’m glad that she gets to see you now though, you know? So she can see you’re okay, and that you can overcome something like that.” Some people might say there was a lesson learned in there, but Adelaide would much rather it had been avoided completely. No child should see their parents in situations like that. “Yeah, I’m glad too,” she said, trying not to think about the state of the cafe though. It was completely ruined. “I guess maybe he just... Needs a little time to let it sink in. I hope he will be okay though, that all of you will be.”

The wheels in her head were already spinning whilst the other woman went on to explain her situation, insurance and all. While Gemma had zero professional experience to back up her ideas, she did know a thing or two about pulling off events. “What about a fundraiser?” It blurted from her mouth without hesitation, just barely avoiding cutting off the brunette as she finished up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt but— have you considered holding a fundraiser?” Her policy would help cover the cost to get her up and running again, but help from her loyal customers might get the job done sooner. “It wouldn’t even necessarily have to be something big, but I know the Botanical Gardens has little pop up events with featured chefs of the day. You might be able to work something out there.” Of course, that was assuming the local attraction would be up and running itself soon, but it was something to consider. “It would give you a place to start serving people again, and the customers could leave donations to go towards your re-opening.”

“A fundraiser?” Adelaide repeated the words and thought about it. It would be awfully selfish of her to do that since she had more than enough money to cover the restoration, even if the insurance didn’t cover anything — She had the money from the sale of the NYC restaurant, and from her book sales, but... It was a really good idea. “You know what, I think that would be great. Not for me though, but for the other business owners affected by this, you know? I mean... I’m lucky that I could make it without the cafe if I needed to, but I know a lot of these people, the other private business owners, and they really rely on the day-to-day work.” She smiled now, optimistic and loving this idea, especially when the other brunette elaborated and shared ideas with her. “That would be amazing. I do already miss the interactions with the customers, so maybe this could really work? We could raise money for the other businesses so they can rebuild.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t do that, Adelaide. Thank you. It’ll be fine, I’m still looking but the search has only begun.” To say that he would have expected the kind offer from Adelaide would have been an understatement for sure- Jason hadn’t been around here long enough to deserve the offer, and it would be too rude to accept, certainly. Despite the times, it genuinely made him rather happy to know that the respect was mutual and even if he moved to a different part of the neighbourhood, he’d hope they would stay in touch. 

“That’s probably the best thing to do for the both of us. Staying around Midtown isn’t making either of us any happier.” Sort of like that mulling around in a break-up period- bad analogy, but sticking around in their broken places wasn’t going to better the situation. “I don’t think there’s anywhere opened here. We could take a cab elsewhere though, my treat?” 

“Are you sure?” She asked, her eyes raising to catch his. “I mean... Either way, the offer still stands in case you don’t find anything,” she promised him, sealing it with a nod of her head. She couldn’t bear the thought of him not having anywhere to go, or him having to jump from couch to couch until something opened up. She knew it was hard to find a new place to stay these days, because pretty much all of Midtown was trying to do exactly that — At the same time. 

With a heavy sigh, she looked around the almost unrecognisable place one last time and nodded. “You’re right — Staying here just makes it all a little worse.” She knew from experience that even when wallowing seemed like a good idea, it usually wasn’t. “Yes, let’s do that,” she nodded, smiling up at him before they turned around towards the door. “Oh and Jason—” she reached out her hand and touched his elbow for his attention. “Thank you.”

      While Alaric could clearly tell that the woman was upset with the destruction of her business; he returned the smile when she gave it to him. “You’re welcome, ma’am.” Politeness runs in his family and his mother would turn in her grave if she saw her son disrespect anyone— especially a woman. Giving her a moment of piece, he directed his gaze elsewhere before he looked back at her when she answered his question. “I know this might not be helpful at the moment, but…” He stepped forward, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll have this place back in no time, of course.” Maybe he sounded a bit optimistic that moment, but it looked like she needed it. “You have insurance to cover this, right?”

Adelaide thought she wanted to be alone, but she had to admit the distraction of someone else’s presence was needed — It made the current situation, and location, seem less pertinent somehow, or at least it lessened the pressure on her chest that made her feel like bursting into tears was a good idea. “Actually,” she said and looked back at the man again with a kind smile filtering onto her lips for a brief second. “It kind of does help, because... I do really want it back up and running again soon, it’s... It feels strange and wrong to have it like this,” she said. It was named after her daughter after all, and it just broke her heart to see it like this. “Thank you for saying it,” she added and looked back at him again, listening to his question. “Yes I — I think so. I’m not sure of the details regarding natural disasters, but I would think it’s covered... Sorry I’m rambling so much, I — I haven’t even introduced myself,” she said and shook her head, ashamed of herself and her lacking manners. “I’m Adelaide, it’s nice to meet you. You made it through the storm alright, I hope?”

“Yeah, I guess it doesn’t really matter either way…What’s done is unfortunately done. Can’t go back. Can only move forward and hope that we can fix all of this by winter. If not there’s gonna be a lot of cold people out here, and the process would just take longer.” It was the truth. He’d read up enough about the aftermath of storms to know this would take a while. Much longer than they probably thought. But he could only hope for the best. “How much of the cafe is damaged?” He dared to ask. He knew it was her livelihood. Had stopped in plenty of times to have some of her cooking. But he wasn’t sure how long it would be before her could partake in something as simple as that again. “I’m glad you two are safe. I’m thankful Addie was out of here too. God knows I would have been panicked if I had come home to hear she’d braved this alone…I’m sorry you and Maia had to go through that.” But her house was okay, and Dakota couldn’t same the same for much others so he figured that was something to be grateful for. “If they get a team together for the cafe, I’ll definitely help.” He didn’t have to say that he meant his word for her to understand that he did. Because it was honest. It was all he could be, raw and vulnerable as he was since losing Addie.

“Well, I’m grateful that you make it so good. I wouldn’t be able to deal with my mornings without it.” Bella admitted, chuckling. “I’m sure it will all come back together. Right now, it’s just kind of crazy, but—I’m sure a lot of other people will help you out, too. It’s a great place.” She nodded. “Aw, that’s nice of you. It’s okay, I’m staying at a hotel and also with my best friend on and off. I’ll be good. Sometimes it’s good to restart – let a storm take over and wash away all of the bad. It’s just a shame that it washed away some good, too.” Bella continued to help clean up some things, the best she could. “I’m Bella, by the way. Bella Lacroix. Do you own this place by yourself or?”