like the sound glass makes

Nadia smiles and shakes her head. “Look, I have this theory,” she begins, “that you have to weed through the donkeys to get to your ogre.” Bad analogy? No, she’d just had a lonely weekend cartoon marathon. “So you go on a couple bad dates, then– wait. Did you really climb through the window?”

“Wasn’t donkey a good husband to dragon, though?” She’s got her head tilted as she asks that. But then the subject somewhat changes, so she covers her face and laughs some. “Yeah, I couldn’t go through the front door. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings or something.” Which is dumb. She probably did hurt his feelings by leaving. But she does not think of that. That’s not how her brain works. 

———————

“Who’s fault is that?” Ari retorts back childishly. “I moved out here to spend more time with you and Rory, and we haven’t had a proper chat in ages!”

Ari knows full well that Claudia has been busy taking care of her, Rory, and the bakery, but she was always honest about her feelings with Cloud even when they were a bit irrational. Ari can never stay mad at her anyways, even if Ari has been itching to go shopping with her sister or just bad mouth their mum over some tea.

Her small pout and frown relaxes back into a smile as she huffs, “But yeah, we should spend more time together – like I could even come bake with you at your store or something. I won’t burn down your kitchen… probably.” She grins at the reference to giving their sweet mémé a heart attack when they tried to bake without her during those summers in France as kids.

“Probably?” Claudia scoffs, before playfully elbowing Ari in the ribs. This feels like old time, the two of them, joking around alone, no one to interrupt them. “Alright, we can bake together. I wouldn’t mind it. It would be like “Bring your sister to work day” or some shite.” Softly, she laughs, rolling her eyes soon after. 

“You flatter me too much.” Ev sighs, but makes no real effort to hide that she’s exceedingly pleased with Cloud’s praise. It’s a true relief to hear that she has no real cause for concern, that the music-lovers will begin to arrive eventually, and that the revamped store shows real promise.

“I think I’m just freaking out that people won’t like it now that it’s under new management but I think you’re right.” Ev bumps Claudia’s hip back. “Should we wait a little longer for the music-seekers to arrive or close up a little early for lunch today? I know it’s probably irresponsible, but I think I deserve breadsticks.”

“You shouldn’t think I’m right, Evie -- you know know it.” She arched her eyebrow and pointed at Ev, before letting out a laugh. “We can order breadsticks, then come back, if that’s what you want? That way we can see what’s going on in this place. I mean, have you had a right and proper look around, yet?” 

   “Hey, he’s nice! He used to let his younger brother borrow his ID to buy us liquor when we were sixteen.” Jude pauses. “Okay, so maybe that’s not a shining example of his moral fiber, but he’s very … nice. Besides, he asked me to introduce you.”

   She sighs, and swipes one of Claudia’s cherry pastries. “I’ve only been back a week and a half, Cloud. And I’m very new at this. You’ve got to give me more time before I find your other half.” She takes a bite of the pastry, then gestures with it. “What about that record shop girl? I saw you making eyes at her.“

--------

“That honestly gives him a few more brownie points. I like a badass from time-to-time. The thing is, he was a bad conversationalist and we had nothing in common. Plus, he never shut up about himself.” Claudia waves her hand down at the ground after speaking.

“I don’t need another half. I’m happy being single, really. I just get tired of Ari and everyone else pestering me about my lack of dating life.” She laughs at the next few words to leave Jude’s mouth. “Oh, God. No, no, no -- Ev is my best friend. I look at her the way I do because she means the world to me. I don’t see her that way. But I heard a lot of people assume I do, but small area and all and everyone gets bored.” 

__ 

“Thanks for the warning,” Ada grinned. “I was really hoping to try out my new supplies but ruining them on their first run seems like a real waste of time,” she grabbed at the baby’s breath laying atop the glass counter and carefully placed it in spaces between the roses–not too much, if they’d not asked for a bouquet of baby’s breath, after all. “Oh–yeah, the book–it’s by my–” she trailed off for a minute. “Just an old friend, really–I hear it’s getting all the big buzz and I thought I might give it a whirl. Plus I’m a little curious to see if I’m in it, if I’m honest.”

-----

“You can always go tomorrow. I heard that it isn’t going to rain then,” Claudia expresses with a half-hearted smile, picking up a nearby rose to smell and hold. She will pay for it because she’s not an animal, so she hopes that it won’t be an issue to Ada. “That would be really cool if you were in it. I’ve always wanted to be in someone’s book, whether it was for a good reason or a bad. It seems exciting, you know?” She sniffs at the rose and sighs. “Do you think they have a reason to write about you? Like did they interview you or something?” 

__ 

Lottie lets out a hearty laugh, “surely that’s a waste of a good pastry, no? Did their Granny’s never tell them,” she takes a deep breath in, places one hand on her hip and points a finger vaugely in Claudia’s direction “Eat that up now! Think of all the poor starving children in the world who haven’t a bite and you with a big plate in front of you!’” If I pulled that shit visiting Granny Moore as a wee one she’d hang my arse from the Christmas tree,” Charlotte chuckles. “As for not losing my mind,” she shrugs, “hard to lose something you don’t have,” There’s a quick pause hanging in the air before Charlotte laughs, “Nah, I leave and say a quick prayer to St. Anthony on my walk home every night to find it. Another lesson from Granny Moore: You may leave the Church but the habits stay with you. Don’t tell her I left, of course. Woman’s in her 90s now and she’d kill me if she knew I don’t go to Church on Sunday anymore. Haven’t stepped in one in years–afraid if I do I’ll burst into flames.”

-----

The laughter that leaves her mouth is louder than she expected and rare, but it can’t be helped. “Apparently not,” she states after she catches her breath, sniffing soon after. “I get what you mean, though. My grandmother used an hourglass with sand pouring out to show me how many children went starving each second. She said that if I didn’t eat all of the food off my plate that I’d be betraying them. Which, I think, isn’t the type of thing that you tell children. But grandma’s really don’t care about those type of things, do they? They just want to make a point.” She runs her hand through her hair. There’s a moment where she’s about to talk again, but then she ends up laughing, instead. “Anyone ever tell you you’re hilarious, lot?” she asks. “But that makes sense. Though, I can’t say all that much about you not going to church, because I haven’t been to any religious facility in so so so many ages.” 

place: sweet william’s bakery

Claudia rubs at her temples, a frown on her face as she stares down a row of baked goods. “Ugh, I can’t believe you’d set me up on a blind date with someone that booor-ing,” she says with dramatics, picking up her head in order to make eye-contact. “It was so bad that I had to sneak out of the bathroom window just to get away from them. What in the bloody hell were you thinking?”

—————

Ari wrinkled her brows in confusion when the movie cut off abruptly. She stuffed her mouth with popcorn and began munching. Her mouth full, she replied, “Rude, but okay. What about?” 

She shifted her body to face her sister instead of the tv screen. “I hope you know that you came out to me about your sexuality many, many years ago. You don’t need to do it every time you think another label suits you better. I’ll always be proud of you no matter what label you choose down the road. I guess if you want to tell me anyway, that’s fine too.”

Claudia’s face scrunches into a frown and then she sighs, shoulders rising and falling dramatically as she does. Sometimes Arabella says things that make her want to face palm or cover her face, and right now, is one of those ‘sometimes’ moments. “No,” she says defensively, “I was going to say that we needed to spend more time together, you little punk.” She pats Arabella’s shoulder before she turns to face her, even though he sister cannot see her. “We haven’t spent time together in what feels like millions of years. I miss you, even though we live together.” 

Rory was at his friend’s house for the evening, so it was just Claudia and Ari in their house. It was weird without him there, since Claudia was used to his presence and ramblings. However, Claudia was thankful for these moments where her son was away. Him being absent meant she had her sister all to herself and that they’d get the opportunity to bond without interruptions. They rarely got to do that anymore, so she took any chance she got to be alone with her sister.

Keeping that in mind, Claudia planned to make the best of her Arabella Time. She had put on Arabella’s favorite movie and made some popcorn for her to eat. And, while Claudia had described parts of the film to Arabella by this point, she was ready to talk to her -- like really talk to her. So instead of describing the film, she stopped and changed the subject.

“Talk to me. I’m getting bored. I’ve watched this movie so many times, and by now I bet you know all the words.” There was nothing bitter in her tone. It was a neutral, with no hint of negativity at all.