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❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
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sᴘʀᴀʏ ʟᴇᴛᴛᴜᴄᴇ ɴᴏ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ꒱


❝ I QUIT MY JOB AT THE DINER ❞

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Growing up with New York's elite society, Barron Capelwood was accustomed to the finer things in life. Being the eldest son of an affluential banker, he had inherited the family home upstate as well as their more modest (though equally well-furnished) living space that was located in the hubbub of the city. His brothers, Sam and Greg, had become roommates in the city apartment while the larger, expansive home had become solely his.

Needless to say, it was quite the surprise when he'd discovered exactly where Daly Byrne was living in the run-down apartments of Rainbow Falls. He'd known little about what had become of her after his father had forced him out of the country and had spent many nights during his months in Europe wondering about the path her life had taken. He would have never guessed, however, that the woman who'd gone from the glitz and glamor of an up-and-coming Broadway actress would end up in the dingy apartment complex. (His main guess had been that, if she had left the acting scene, she would've fallen back on her brother and hot-headed nephew for support, though he understood why she hadn't.)

Still, Barron would've preferred anything to the settlement he'd found her living in the minute his GPS had announced his arrival at his destination the first time he'd visited her home. Despite the unfortunate outward appearance and location, however, the interior hadn't been as bad as he'd feared, though it was much worse than it should have been. On his way up to the second floor, the walls had been thin enough in the other apartments that he'd heard the lives of other families' goings-on, including everything from yelling arguments to loud volume turned up on a TV.

Thankfully, Daly's apartment had maintained some semblance of decency and he could tell she'd done her best to provide a suitable upbringing for her (their) daughter regardless of the environment. He tried not to focus on the surroundings as he reconnected with the woman he'd loved but he'd noticed the conditions she was living in each visit and thought that she deserved far better than this.

He knew it wasn't her fault; she was doing the best she could with what she had, as she had always done. During the time they'd been dating, she'd told him how school had been difficult for her and couldn't keep her interest, the only thing she'd been remotely good at was the drama club extracurricular she'd signed up for in high school. This had spurred her interest in theater and she'd decided not to pursue a college degree. Instead, she'd paid for her own acting classes— as her immigrant parents didn't approve of the ups and downs of the industry— to make her way for the bright lights of Broadway. After a few difficulties all starting actresses had, she'd landed the main role of Madge Kendal in The Elephant Man and from there, her career took off.

A knock on his office door drew him from his thoughts. After he gave permission to enter, the visitor turned out to be Dolores, his assistant. She had been a wonderful find in the pool of applicants he'd had for this job; many of them had just been wanting the position for the experience or something to add to their resume. Dolores, however, had been brisk and businesslike without the simpering and easily intimidated attitude that other applicants had shown. Now, she'd been working for him for four years and he'd gladly leave the entire business to her when he was ready to retire, should she accept it (or if Juliet didn't want it.)

"Here are the forms you requested, Barron," she said, right to the point as always. The brunette placed the stack of papers on his desk.

He sighed. "Paperwork. The best part of the job."

She shrugged. "You're the one who bought the building, you're the one who's responsible for the work. Might as well accept that fact now or you shouldn't have bought it."

"I know, I know. Am I not allowed to complain? Don't I pay you for listening to my woes?" Barron asked, half-joking.

"If you give me a raise I can answer that question honestly. When are you going to tell your daughter you bought her home?"

"I was thinking tonight."

"You're going to do it tonight," she responded as she gave him a stern look. "You should have talked about it with them before you even went through with the sale."

The dark-haired man grumbled under his breath at that and pulled the stack of papers towards him. He picked up his pen to start filling out the forms. The woman gave her boss a roll of her eyes at his reluctance before she left him with the tedious task that she was very glad she did not have.

🌎🌎🌎

At dinner that night, the three Capelwoods were eating in the living room since the space that used to be the kitchen table only had two chairs for the previous sole occupants of the apartment. Barron and Daly sat on opposite sides of the couch while Juliet sat cross-legged on the floor to be at the same height as the coffee table.

After their previous topic of conversation had faded and left them in silence for a few minutes, Barron cleared his throat. "So, I have some. . . exciting news to share with both of you."

Daly looked up from cutting her chicken to give him an curious look. "Is there something interesting happening with the bank?"

He snorted. "I wish, but no. It's more of a, well, personal investment."

"Are you buying a home closer to Philadelphia?" Juliet guessed.

"Sort of." He acknowledged with a nod. "I bought this one."

The two redheads stared at him with shock. He shifted in his seat. "I just thought that since I'm visiting here more often and my family lives here, you deserve a better place to live. I'll bring in someone to remodel the whole place and fix it from the ground up."

"You bought our apartment?" Daly demanded finally. Her tone was the opposite of pleased.

Barron frowned. "Well, yes. I had to in order to be able to rebuild it. You can't like it how it is, do you?"

"What about everyone that lives here?" Juliet asked with concern. "Many of them can't afford another place to live."

"We'll give them another place to live until the building's finished," he explained quickly, "then we'll move them back in and charge the same rate they currently pay."

"We'll?" Daly repeated incredulously, "we'll? I think the correct contraction to use is I'll because neither I nor my daughter were allowed to have input to this beforehand."

He winced as Dolores' words of warning and constant nagging to tell them hit home. "Look, I kept meaning to tell you but there never seemed to be a good time. I'm sorry I waited so late but what would it have changed?"

"Oh, I don't know," the woman exclaimed as she threw up her hands in exasperation. "Maybe it's important to let the people who are living here know a big decision is being made without their input to give them time to plan? You're telling me that from the time you had this outlandish idea until now that there was no way to say 'hey, I'm thinking about demolishing your daughter's childhood home, what do you think about that?'"

"Daly—"

"Don't interrupt me, I'm not finished," she snapped, "I know you're used to getting your way and having everything handed to you on a silver spoon but maybe— just maybe— did you think that some people were proud to have worked so hard to own the place they do? Did you even think for a second about asking for my opinion? The answer is no, and I'll tell you what," she added, pointing a finger at him. "The next time there's a big decision that affects me and my daughter, I won't ask what you think about it in advance, I'll just do it. You can't just sweep in here after being gone for fifteen years and expect us to be okay with whatever you decide! I've been making my own choices—"

Juliet watched with wide eyes as, well, her parents argued for the first time in front of her. A part of her was morbidly fascinated by the disagreement, somewhat awed by the fact that there was actually someone her mother could argue with besides her. She'd inherited her mother's stereotypical redheaded temper and when they clashed; it was either positively volatile or icy cold with no in between. She'd never seen her mother's anger turned on someone else and the result was rather fascinating.

As for the matter at hand, she didn't feel particularly insulted at the premade decision. She was worried about the other tenants in the building but as long as they were taken care of, she was fine with a rebuild of Rainbow Falls. It was pretty much a dump. The only other concern she had was how it would affect the trailer park, since increasing the worth of the surrounding area would make it more desirable for other realtors, and then they might start looking at the neighborhood across the parking lot.

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Monday finally arrived and her mother's temper had abated somewhat, though Daly still grumbled under her breath as she did chores around the apartment. Juliet was looking forward to going to school to take a break from the residual tension in the home and to tell Cory and Shawn the changes that would be happening (because unlike Barron, she didn't wait until the last minute.) Before she could share her story, though, Cory had started ranting to them about the problems he was facing at home and how he was worried he was going to end up poor. Juliet rolled her eyes as he finished: "and that's the whole sad mess I find myself in."

"Wow! And to think you were my only rich friend," Shawn said.

She made a mental note to tell him everything she'd learned about her father as Cory corrected him. "Comfortable, never rich."

"Indoor plumbing? Rich."

"Hardly," the redhead put in, "we have indoor plumbing but it freezes in the winter and the tap water tastes stale in the summer."

"Well, whatever we are, we're not anymore. You know, I never realized how easy I had it."

"You had it easy, alright," Shawn agreed, "you, with your breakfasts in the morning, your lunches in the afternoon, your dinners at night. Eaters! You're eaters!"

"Shawn, they put the food in front of me," Cory protested.

"That's okay, Cor. You're my friend and I'm gonna teach you how to be poor."

"Would you?"

"Well, it's not going to be easy. You come from a world of many pants."

"They put the pants in front of me!" the curly-haired boy objected, "now, don't turn your back on me."

"Okay, Cory. You sound sincere. Let me ask you one question. When was the last time you slept inside?" Shawn asked.

"Last night."

He threw his hands up in exasperation and exclaimed, "I can't work with you!" as he walked away.

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Juliet and Shawn entered Chubbie's together and made their way downstairs to the restaurant where they saw Cory sitting at a table by himself. The dark-haired boy made his way over to their friend and demanded, "what are you doing?"

Cory jumped, startled, and turned to look at the pair. "Jules! Shawn! You're here. I thought you'd be doing your little puppet show downtown which always brings in the cash."

"Julie wanted to talk about something," Shawn said, his tone changing as he eyed the boy's food. "I said, what are you doing?"

"It's not mine. I found it. It's not like I paid for it."

"I said what are you doing?" he repeated.

"I'm eating meat!" Cory exclaimed, caving.

"You disgust me, man."

"But I like meat. It's my parents' fault, Shawn. They raised me. They gave me an allowance," Cory explained.

"Cory, Cory, Cory. My dear, sweet Cory," Shawn started, "there's no shame. There's three types of people in this world. People like you, who always manage to get by. People like me that are lucky enough to have people like you in their lives, and people like Julie, who are smarter than both of us and will do better than we ever will."

"Thanks, man," Cory said, "you want a half? Jules?"

"That would be a quarter, Cor," the redhead corrected him.

"See? Exactly what I meant," Shawn pointed to her with a nod before he took half of the sandwich. "It's how the poor survive." 

Using Cory's knife, he cut the sandwich half into quarters before he handed it to the girl. Once the food was finished, Cory stood. "Here Jules, you can have the table to talk to Shawn. I'll see you guys later."

🌎🌎🌎

Barron joined Daly and Juliet for dinner on Saturday as was their new tradition. Unusually, though, his presence rose some of the tensions in the apartment and made the atmosphere rather uncomfortable as her mother plated up food. When she brought the plates over to the living room, she placed Juliet's in front of her gently and Barron's was set down with far more force than necessary, clueing him in on the fact that she was still unhappy with him.

They began eating, the only sound being the scrape of utensils against plates in the silence. After they had a few moments to eat, Daly spoke suddenly: "I've made my decision."

The other two Capelwoods turned their attention to her. Juliet watched her mother with wide eyes as she froze with her fork halfway to her mouth. Barron cleared his throat. "You— you have. About what?"

"I quit my job at the diner."

"You— you have," Barron repeated cautiously, fearing that she wasn't finished. He was correct.

"I've decided to take a few classes at the community college nearby to see if I can appreciate them more than I did when I was younger," Daly continued in a conversational tone. "I think it would be a good idea to get some type of degree and apply for a different job so I can better support my daughter as she gets older."

The only thing Juliet could think to say was: "so we're not moving?"

The red-haired woman turned to look at the younger girl, surprised at the obvious relief that filled her voice. "Well, we will when your father destroys—"

"Rebuilds," he corrected her, earning a sharp glare in response.

"—destroys our home, but other than that, no. Why did you think we would?" she sounded genuinely confused.

"Well, since we have to move for a bit in the first place and you said your decision would affect both of us, I just thought that we might move back to New York or something. . ."

Daly's expression softened and she placed her utensils on the plate before she stood and joined her daughter on the floor to hug her comfortingly. "Oh, darling, no. The acting boat sailed as soon as I had you. I have no interest in going back to Broadway now. I'm sorry I had you so concerned; I would never want to pull you away from your friends if I could help it. Certainly not because I'm being petty."

Juliet relaxed against her mother as the weight of worry lifted slightly and she mumbled, "thanks, mom."

[written mar. 2021]
[edited may 2022]