Chapter 51

After parting ways with Liam, Celeste managed to take a quick shower and change outfits in record time so she was only fifteen minutes late for work. It wasn't a good thing for her to have been late period, but the fact that she managed to get ready so fast made her happy.

After the stress from the night before, she was happy for the soothing smell of coffee and sweets that filled the air when she opened the door to the coffee shop.

There were a number of customers already inside, that didn't stop Celeste from going over where Edgar was helping out and apologizing profusely for being late.

Rather than being upset like she had expected him to be, he just laughed and brushed it off since it was her first time being.

"As long as you don't make a habit of it, I won't be upset on the odd occasion when you're a few minutes late." was what he told her with a pat on the shoulder. It wasn't like he would replace her anyways so long as Bane was still interested in her.

Once that was taken care of, Celeste wasted no time in changing outfits so that she could get on taking orders. Pepper was there that day but Brenda who was supposed to be helping out ended up calling in sick which meant that they would be short staffed for the day.

Celeste didn't mind this however as she knew it meant that the day would go by that much faster for her. She really enjoyed her job but after not getting much sleep the night before, that was all she wanted to go home and do. Her apartment seemed safe enough after she had been there that morning. Bane nor anyone else had been lurking around waiting for her return.

Which meant that it would be safe for her to go home and sleep that night, right? She hoped so at least.

The next thing that she had to focus on was taking care of all the customers who came through the door while hoping that Bane didn't end up being one of them. She still wasn't ready to face him yet.

The first part of the day went by surprisingly smoothly despite the large number of customers who had been coming through the door. Edgar ended up helping more than he usually did in order to help take the weight off his two part-timers. It wasn't an easy job, but at least most of the people who came in weren't rude to them .

"I know the both of you are about ready to take shifts so you can have your break. Before that though there's something important I wanted to remind you two about." The manager told the other two, getting their attention during a time when a lot of customers weren't going to be coming through the door.

"One of part-timers here will be coming back starting tomorrow after being gone some time in order to deal with family issues." He explained as he looked intently at the two girls.

"I know it won't be easy for some of you who know her, but try to be nice and get along since she has just been going through a lot." This was the second time that Celest had heard something about a former worker getting ready to return to the job. She was rather curious to find out what type of person this new employee would be. She hoped that she would be another one that she could get along with well.

Edgar knew that he would have to fill everyone else in later about that matter, but thought it best to let the two currently working know ahead of time so that they could prep everyone else. Celeste didn't seem to care much about the news beyond curiosity. Pepper on the other hand was evidentially not thrilled to hear this news.

"And now our little bubble of piece will be getting ready to burst tomorrow." Pepper commented once she was fairly certain that their manager wouldn't be able to hear what she was saying.

"Is she really that bad?" Celeste asked in a low tone of voice. Pepper usually came across a rather nice person who gave people more than their fair share of chances. In order for her to be upset or bothered by something, it had to have been a rather huge thing.

"I think rather than me telling you about her you should wait until tomorrow rolls around in order to be able to determine that yourself." She replied as she pushed down the coffee lever a little harsh than was necessary.

Celeste wasn't that fond of having to wait when things caught her attention. She supposed it wouldn't be too bad though to wait in order to find out who this mysterious worker was. There were a number of things after all that would be able to help keep her distracted until the next day rolled around.

She still needed to figure out where her and Liam would be eating and contact Jen to tell her what had been going on. Sleep was also calling her name more than little bit. So long as she survived the next few hours, the rest of the day would be hers to sleep as much as she wanted without interruptions.

Somehow, the rest of the day and that night rolled by without any suspicious going on. Bane never showed up at the coffee shop and no suspicious people or other things followed her home that night. It was even more quiet than it had usually been when she got to sleep. Celeste had been so tired that she ended up skipping dinner and opting to sleep early in order to have a decent breakfast the next day.

Celeste actually felt somehow amazing refreshed the next day when it came time for work. She didn't know that getting a little extra sleep could help to do such wonders for the human body. Some of the things that had been bothering her the night before weren't even on her mind any longer.

There was a tiny part of her that was even hoping that this might be the first day in recent times that she might actually have a normal if not good day for once. Even the weather was rather nice outside.

This bright disposition evaporated rather quickly however when Celeste stopped someone she had hoped not to deal with again standing inside the coffee shop and talking with the manager in a rather friendly manner.