#fazzitude

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellow,

This is New Chapter coffee house. And the fact that I haven't mentioned it before (I don't think) is sort of weird. It is the "Central Perk" of Project Gromit, if you will. 

We've always come in here to relax and be ourselves during the working day. It was always the place that Shenée would bring new team members to ease them into the team. I remember her bringing Losi here, and he talks about it still. She brought Jefe in here and I remember him mentioning "Hamilton".

"HAMILTON???" I said. 

"Oh GOD," said Shenée. "That's it now. Friends for life."

The Gift of Prophecy.

I also bring the FOBS here whenever I get the chance. Briar rarely has anything because that's just Briar. She eats her cheese and crackers at her desk and drinks water. She's like an ascetic. 

But Fazzy and Olivia both love the almond croissants in this place. LOOOOOOVE them. Consequently as I arrived this morning I got the very last croissant in the shop for Fazzy, and a hot chocolate. 

She was lovely when I saw her. She gave me a big hug and everyone raised their eyebrows at us, as they always do. I helped her with her phone and everyone raised their eyebrows at us again. 

It's nice to have that special bond with someone. Fazzy gets me and I get her and the whole "work husband" thing is just funny. We went for lunch together later in the day and chatting with her is just so easy. She takes the p*ss out of me the same way Caro and The Princess do. And I listen to her the same way I listen to them too. 

She talked a lot about her dad today. As I'm sure you know, he meant a lot to her. She told me about a trip to Belgium they'd had together and how they didn't realise you had to pay for the contents of the mini-bar until they checked out.

"We'd been emptying it into our bags every day for SNACKS," she said, laughing. 

Her memories of him are very precious and it's clear that she was very dear to him too. She talked about the night before her wedding, how he'd come to see her and just cried and cried. 

"He was happy for me, but it was surprising to see him like that," she told me.

I suppose he knew that things would never be the same. 

I asked her if it was better when Hani and Zay came along, but she sighed and said his dementia prevented him from truly appreciating them as much as she would have liked. 

She is very vulnerable and open with me. And I love that about her. 

She told me about happier times and about how much she loved it when her dad would pick her up and buy her ice cream and drive her to the beach. 

"He would just like to sit and watch me playing in the waves," she said. 

"Was this after school?" I asked. 

"No, no!" she said. "This is after work. I was in my twenties!"

This is SO Fazzy.

I told her that it's hard not to feel his presence when she talks about him, she makes him feel very real. 

"He says 'clean your room'," I told her. 

She rolled her eyes at me. 

I accused her of having "fazzitude" and she liked that. "He also wants me to take you for ice cream," I smiled. 

As it turns out, we didn't go for ice cream today. And soon it will be Ramadan. 

But I'll take her for ice cream one day soon. And in my mind I'll watch her playing in the waves.

S.