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Rody got through his first week without incident, besides the nightmares. Every night he still tried to get a hold of Manon, his girlfriend, to not result. Vincent had watched as his motivation started waning by the time the week was over. “Is everything alright Rody? You seem down about something.” Vincent asked after the last guest headed out. Even if he rarely showed it Vincent cared about his employees.
“My girlfriend has not been answering my calls. I think something happened to her but I am unable to confirm it either way.” Rody responded as he wiped tears out of his eyes. She was the main reason he had taken the job. It was then that Vincent recalled the young woman who paid him a visit, Rody was mentioned during the talk. Of course, there was a chance that she was merely a worried friend.
“Could you describe her for me? I just want to confirm something.” Vincent asked. At the very least it would give him an idea of what to look for.
“She has long, brown hair. She is also really happy most of the time.” Rody said, stopping himself before he went on a long tangent.
Just as Vincent thought, she was the same person who paid him a visit a few nights before Rody started the job. She had expressed concern that Rody spent so much time trying to make her happy that he failed to take care of himself. “I thought so. She stopped by shortly before you started working here, sounded pretty worried about you. In fact, she told me that you focus on her a lot more than yourself, made sure she got to her car safely afterwards.” Vincent said almost to himself.
Rody’s face dropped. At that point there was no telling if anything happened or if he was worried over nothing. “Anyways have I done good enough to keep working? Something just feels right about it. I will try to not bother you about my problems; they are not yours to solve.” Rody asked glancing towards the dining area of the restaurant. It was the first time he felt like he could stay for a while.
“I would say so, though it is my fault for not having anyone else. Also, I apologize for those leftovers, I am admittedly a terrible cook on account of not being able to taste anything. In the future do not be afraid to talk to me about what is going on, after the shift at least. Get some rest and I will see what I can do.” Vincent said before leaving the kitchen.
Rody attempted to clean the remaining tables but was stopped by Vincent. Not wanting to push his luck Rody left the restaurant and headed back to his apartment. It was the same as it always had been, though it felt different this time around. The large window just reminded him of his search for something that was not there, rather not that he could see. The long shift and emotions made him exhausted. Instead of trying to make something to eat he stumbled to the couch and passed out.
That night he had a different dream. He saw Manon walking away from him, getting farther no matter how fast he ran. Just as everything went dark, he bumped into Vincent who helped in the search. Before they found her Rody woke up in a cold sweat. The nightmares certainly were not helping with his energy levels.
Meanwhile Vincent waited for a response from his contacts in case they saw Manon at some time during the past week. The phone rang three times before Vincent answered. “Hello?” He asked listening to the person on the other side. He frowned when the man said he worked with the police. “Is there something wrong? I was expecting a call from someone else.” Vincent asked hoping that he was wrong about his suspicions.
“Well, the one you asked about, Manon, we found her but…” The officer responded. Vincent stopped following along as he already understood what happened and Rody had no idea. There was no telling who would want to hurt someone like her.
“Thank you for looking anyways. Looks like he had every reason to worry about this.” Vincent said before hanging up the phone. He leaned back in his chair in order to think about what to do. No matter what he did Rody was not going to take it well, not counting his performance for the shift. “I could ask Rody to come over and tell him after he arrives. That way I can keep an eye on him. Then again, he was pretty exhausted last night, not sure how he would feel about needing to come here. There are many things I could do, though none of them are really good.” Vincent said to himself.
Before Vincent could think about it longer the phone started ringing once again. “Vince is that you? I never got your number, so hopefully I got it right.” Rody asked.
“Yes, Rody. Why did you even call me?” Vincent responded, rubbing his eyes. He had no idea how Rody always managed to be full of energy early in the morning.
Rody was silent for several seconds. “Do you mind if I come over? I saw the news and I just do not trust myself to stay here alone, not about to invite you either.” Rody asked trying and failing to hide his sadness.
“Of course they did,” Vincent said and stood up from his chair, “fine, restaurant is closed for the day so I will have to let you in myself. I was hoping to tell you myself, though by the sounds of things it is a bit late for that. Even though I am not the best at this sort of thing I am willing to sit in silence or talk for a while if you want.” Rody hung up without a word leaving Vincent in silence for a while longer.
Vincent headed down to the restaurant to wait for Rody’s arrival. As he watched the sunny day quickly turned into rain and lightning. That only meant that Rody was going to arrive completely soaked, like a few days earlier. Vincent sighed and headed to the kitchen to grab a towel for Rody when he arrived. It was not much but better than doing nothing. Eventually Rody ran over to the door, covering his head with his hands. Of course, he still had no umbrella or anything with a hood at the very least. “This one is not your fault. You had no idea that it would rain, so I am not going to get upset this time around.” Vincent said as he opened the door.
As soon as Rody stepped inside Vincent walked behind him, quickly drying his hair. “You know that this is not necessary, right? Actually, do you do this for all of your employees or just me. It just feels like you are less harsh towards me than the chefs.” Rody asked looking up at Vincent.
“I am only really strict to the new chefs. Making sure they can handle themselves in an emergency is important. That chef you saw me talking to the other day almost set the kitchen on fire due to her fear and I have no excuse for what I did. I was a bit surprised when you came back the next day like nothing happened. You are certainly one of the better waiters I have seen, eventually you will have some help out there.” Vincent responded as he finished drying Rody’s hair. He led Rody to this apartment on the second floor of the building. “Go change in my bedroom, would prefer if you were in dry clothes. Go to the kitchen and enter the door to get to the hall. The room is at the far end if you take a left.” Vincent said after Rody closed the door.
Rody disappeared in the hall as Vincent waited in the living room. It was hard to get a good read on Rody as he kept his usual smile. Vincent thought he wanted to appear like nothing was wrong considering he was his boss. After a while Rody had yet to return prompting Vincent to go looking for him.
Checking the bedroom Vincent found Rody looking at something in his hand. “Rody?” Vincent asked from the doorway.
“Why do you have her locket? She always had it with her and would never just give it to someone without reason.” Rody asked not turning around.
Vincent was at a loss for words as Manon had fully trusted him with her belongings. He knew full well that she only mentioned Rody as a passing comment. The past week had shown how dedicated Rody was when given something to work towards. “I do not know. Before she left she insisted that I have it even when I turned it down. Is there something wrong with it?” Vincent responded as he tried to gauge a reaction in the dark.
“It used to be the two of us, now just her. I truly thought that we were meant to be together, guess I should have listened to her. I tried almost everything to make her happy and it was never enough.” Rody said before closing the locket and placing it back in the drawer. Vincent had no idea what to do in order to make it better. He had purposely kept to himself as such he never dealt with discovering that someone never truly loved him.
Vincent turned around and paused for just a moment. “Come out when you are ready,” Vincent said stepping out into the hall, “I am terrible at this. Still, he chose to contact me for help. There must be something he sees that I am unable to.”
Returning to the living room, Vincent turned on the tv in hopes of getting more information. It was just his luck that there was nothing pointing to a single suspect. Sighing he turned it off and just listened to the rain hitting the roof. Eventually Rody returned, his walls broken down. There was no life in his eyes and his smile could not be held any longer. Rody slowly walked to the couch, joining Vincent. Within a couple of minutes Rody leaned his head on Vincent’s shoulder, sitting in silence.