There was some kind of reshuffling after Audrey had gone on her impromptu leave. Because of that, Audrey was to work at the bakery even if she wasn't a professional, her work was simple, and all she had to do was sell to the customers.
That was pretty much all she did as she clocked out at her usual time, on her way out, Audrey realized that she wasn't going to follow the same routine, she wasn't going to visit her mother shortly before she resumed at the restaurant, nor was she going to leave the restaurant early to see her mother.
However, that day, she decided to visit the graves of her parents. Audrey took deep breaths before she entered the cemetery, she hadn't gone there since her mother was buried because the pain was too much, however that day, she really wanted to.
Audrey stared at the intricate designs on the gates, and flowers, it was weird to see flower designs on the gate of the cemetery, Audrey found the place beautiful, calm and silent, the perfect atmosphere to grieve.
Audrey's parents weren't rich enough to secure graves beside each other, they were unaware that they would die before their time. Audrey went to her father's grave first, she had a heart-to-heart conversation with him after cleaning his tombstone. Before Audrey could even leave her father's grave, she was already in tears.
Her mother's grave was different from the rest around it, the other graves had lots and lots of flowers on them, but her mother's grave only had one flower, which was dead now, the one she'd left about three weeks ago.
Audrey didn't even know where to start the conversation, she just sat in silence till she said, " mom…(sob)..i..i.. I m..miss..y..youu(sob)", Audrey said almost choking on her words.
When she calmed down and she checked the time, "ohh shoot, I'm late", Audrey said realizing that the time had been far spent. She dashed out of the cemetery to the restaurant cleaning her tear-stained cheeks and carelessly stepping on flowers.
Prisca and her mother didn't even expect Audrey, so they were rather shocked to see her panting beside a widely opened door, " I'm late!!!", Audrey said in between heavy breaths, "we weren't even expecting you dear!", Prisca's mother said still stunned by her appearance at the restaurant.
The restaurant wasn't really full which allowed Prisca and her mother to give Audrey a mediocre welcome greeting, " I honestly didn't expect you here", Prisca said releasing Audrey from the bear hug she formerly wrapped her in, "well you know, I have to get back to my life!", " Okay then, have the hospital called ?", "yeah, they might give me a deadline soon, the bills won't pay themselves", Audrey said dropping her bag and getting her apron. Prisca's mother offered Audrey a meal in the house, she looked so frail, she even thought she could fall at any minute, however, she was shocked to see Audrey going about as she usually did.
The rest of the day went by quickly, some of the customers gushing over Audrey's return, they heard that she lost her mother shortly after her father, so it was no wonder they shared their condolences. Prisca kept looking at Audrey and hesitating, somehow this caught Audrey's attention.
"You better say it before I smack you", Audrey said, noticing that Prisca wasn't ready to stop fidgeting, " well, you know you just started recovering from the loss of your parents… it's just that I have this job, you know my friend who usually tells me about the jobs!", Prisca said.
Audrey didn't say anything for a while, she was thinking about how good the opportunity came when she needed it the most. When Audrey didn't say anything, Prisca knew she shouldn't have said anything, she shouldn't have been selfish because she didn't want to go alone, however, the next minute, Audrey asked, "are you coming too?, " y y yes I am", Prisca said elated that Audrey didn't take it the wrong way.
Just then, a large number of students came in, the girls couldn't gist on duty, so they both decided to talk later.