Dessert and Realizations

I was about to lose it on her when I stopped myself, I took a step back and realized that losing it on my niece twice in one day wouldn’t be a good thing, even if it wasn’t the same one.

“Cassie can we please not talk about this right now?” I asked her as I pumped the knob on the paper towel machine.

But I guess Cassie didn’t want to talk about it later, she stepped into the bathroom, letting the door close behind her before she spoke again. “I hate you, you know that? I used to think you were so cool and the best aunt ever but lately you have been nothing but mean and hurtful to everyone.” She looked so close to tears, I just wanted to hug her but when I made a move towards her, she screamed at me not to come near her.

“Cassie!” I stared at her. “We are in a public place, if you want to scream and yell at me I suggest you wait until we are in the car or at home. Now come on let’s go back to the table before the girls get worried.”

She didn’t say anything else to me as she spun on her heel and stormed out the bathroom door. I stayed behind for a moment, trying to not let her words get to me. She’s upset, I tried to reason. She’s probably getting crap at school and needs someone to take it out on and I would be the right one to take it out on, I am the problem. But you’ll get her home and you’ll talk to her, she’ll feel better and probably sorry she said she hated you? I sighed; I hope she really didn’t mean that.

Everyone seemed to be looking at me as I made the walk from the bathroom to the table that my nieces were sitting at. They were almost finished their supper and I was just starting mine. Once Natalie was done, she grabbed the little table tent with the desserts listed on it, she studied it for a while before turning to me. “Aunt Anna, can I have dessert still?”

I had just put the last bit of my burger into my mouth so I just nodded instead of saying anything. Natalie grinned, “Ok, can I have a strawberry sundae?”

Nodding slowly, I swallowed the bite I had in my mouth, “Sure you can Nat,” I glanced across the table at Lindsay and Cassie, “Do you two want anything?”

“I would like the brownie supreme,” Lindsay said eagerly.

I nodded, and then turned to Cassie. At first I thought she was going to ignore me but she didn’t, she held out her hand for the dessert menu and then studied it for a moment before mumbling that she wanted the Apple Waffle Bowl.

Once I got the waitresses attention I ordered the desserts that the girls wanted and a Mixed Berry Crumble for myself.

Conversation was all about the different desserts as we waited for the waitress to bring them to us, once we had them in our hands, all conversation ceased.

The girls didn’t want to stick around the restaurant after we were done with dessert, so I went to pay as they all went out to the car. When I got to the car, I noticed that Cassie wasn’t in there. “Where’s your sister?” I asked the other two as I frantically looked around the parking lot.

“In Uncle Jordan’s truck,” Natalie pointed to Jordan’s truck, which I kind of missed when I looked around.

“Oh,” I looked at Lindsay. “Could you go tell your sister to come on?”

Lindsay gave me a funny look, “Aunt Anna, I’m already locked in.” She glanced at Natalie and then back at me, “If I get out, she’ll take my spot. I want to sit in the front,” she stated as she stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest.

My heart fell as I realized that I was going to have to go over there and get her, if I didn’t she’d stay there as long as she could, just to spite me. Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly, I hadn’t seen or spoke to Jordan since that morning so I was really nervous about how he would act when he saw me.

I don’t know how I managed to do it, I didn’t want to do it, but I some how put one foot in front of the other and made my way over to the passenger side of Jordan’s truck. I started to lift my hand to knock on the window when it started to roll down.

“Hello Anna!” Bella exclaimed when she had the window all the way down. “I guess you are here for your niece.” She gave me this look that seemed like she wanted me to get her out of there as soon as I could. I was honestly surprised to see Bella sitting there, when Jordan told her what happened between us, she swore up and down that she wasn’t having anything to do with either one of us anymore.

“Yes,” I looked pass Bella into the back of Jordan’s truck where my niece was sitting as she tried to pretend I wasn’t there.

“You know you are still welcome at my house Jordan,” she smiled at him. “Even if someone is being stupid, you can still come over and hang out.”

I tried not to show how much her comment bugged me, “Cassie it’s time to go, your sisters want to stop at the movie store before we go home.”

She ignored me, “So when will you come out Jordan?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jordan look in my direction before he replied. “I don’t think I’ll be out anytime soon Cassie.”

Cassie slumped back into the seat, “That’s so not fair,” she pouted. Finally looking in my direction, she yelled, “Why do you have to ruin everything!?!?”

Before I could reply, Jordan swung his door open, jumping out to tug the back door open for Cassie. “Come on, get out,” he told her.

I raced around to the other side, not sure what Jordan was about to do but knowing that his tone meant he was upset.

“But Jordan,” Cassie whined as she slid out, “I don’t want to be around her, I hate her!” She turned to me, “I hate you!”

Jordan slammed the back door closed and spun around, “You don’t mean that Cassie!”

“I do,” Cassie told him. “She’s mean and selfish,” she glared at me. “You make me sick!”

“Enough!” Jordan snapped at her. “You really need to think about what you are saying, you have no idea what even happened! If you did, you wouldn’t be talking to Anna like that!”

Cassie grabbed his arm, “I know she hurt you and isn’t talking to you.”

Jordan laughed, “Then you certainly don’t know anything Cass. Yes Anna isn’t talking to me but it’s my own damn fault! If I would’ve given her the space she wanted, we would still be friends and she would still be with Josh.”

Cassie gasped, slowly she turned towards me. “It’s all connected? Coach Baker’s miserable behavior and Jordan not coming around?”

Both Jordan and I nodded at the same time. Cassie went white, “I thought…” she trailed off as she tried to come to grips with what seemed to be surprising news to her. “I didn’t know…I thought…”

“What did you think Cassie?”

“I thought Coach Baker was just upset because his mom was in the hospital, I didn’t…Aunt Anna?”

“Josh’s mom is in the hospital?” I felt so sick when I heard that. “What happened to her? Is she ok?”