Over the past month of working under Gabe at Justin's Best Waffles, Goldwyn had come to appreciate his assistant manager's running mouth. It was especially helpful when, like then, Goldwyn didn't particularly want to be left to his own thoughts.
"So naturally I asked how she ate her lemons, and would you believe this: she doesn't even take the skin off of them! She just cuts them up! And I'm thinking- what? Why would you do that? You can do so much with the skin; I personally like to candy 'em but to each their own. She just eats them fucking raw. You think you know a person, huh?" Gabe continued without taking a breath, "I mean- we've lived together for how long? Years! Years, now, and she eats her lemons one slice at a time."
"Well how do you eat lemons?" Goldwyn asked, preparing it wasn't ridiculous to eat lemons at all.
"Peeled and whole, duh. The only way you should, really. Candy the peels for later and-! My mouth is already watering." Gabe slung himself over the service window. "Perfection." Goldwyn scrubbed a little harder at a particularly vivid berry stain. "...so, what's up, Goldilocks?"
"Hm?"
"You're usually off on that game when there's so much dead time, not competing for the Employee of the Month award-- which we don't have, and if we did it would be mine of course. So, what's up?" Goldwyn froze.
"Just- personal stuff," he admitted.
"Mhm..." Gabe's torso was fully on the kitchen side of the counter, now, and his hips were about to cross the divide.
"Family. You know how it-"
"WhAAA!" Goldwyn was cut off by a screech as Gabe tumbled headfirst onto the kitchen floor.
"Pfft-" Goldwyn held a soapy hand to his mouth in attempt to stiffle his laughter. Boss. He had to remember Gabe was his boss, so instead of laughing or scolding the foolish man, Goldwyn crossed the kitchen to help him up.
"Urk- gotta stop doing that," Gabe huffed once he was back on his feet. It was, in fact the third time he'd fallen into the kitchen during Goldwyn's short employment. Goldwyn would have to tell his sister-
Oh, right. No sister no story.
"Are you hurt?" Goldwyn asked, prompting Gabe to look down at himself.
"Nope!" When Gabe looked back up, his smile quickly turned into a frown. "Hey c'mon, it happened again!"
"What?"
"You're all mopey. Listen- just tell me what's going down so we can work on it, yeah?" What was Gabe, his therapist? Not that Goldwyn could afford the copay for one, but still.
"It's not really any of your business." With hope, the issue would be resolved quickly anyway. The police would find his missing sister and she would be back before Goldwyn knew it. If they didn't find her... then Goldwyn just had to find her himself. Gabe pouted.
"Sure it is! I'm in charge of employee efficiency and all that, yeah?" Goldwyn froze. Employee efficiency. Was Gabe threatening to give him less hours- fire him- if Goldwyn didn't shape up? He needed that job especially if Margaret wasn't able to get her place back once she returned.
"Uh-"
"Not in- ugh! Not in a scary way, stupid. It's just- I want it to be my business. I want to help." Help how, Goldwyn did not ask. Instead he turned the offer over in hsi mind.
With every minute that passed the chances of finding Margaret dwindled-- not that she wouldn't somehow turn up in two years, like some of the missing persons cases Goldwyn had been researching since her disappearance-- and at some point Goldwyn would need to pay things. He eyed Gabe, looking past the brown eyes attempting to recreate a puppy-dog look and instead at the clean blue and white sneakers Gabe had on. Last week, Gabe had dragged Goldwyn to the comic store after their shift and had insisted on buying him the first five volumes of a series Goldwyn admitted he'd never read. Gabe, approximately as young as Goldwyn, had money. Besides, a small part of Goldwyn wanted to get the drama off his chest.
"My older sister is missing," Goldwyn admitted, a little quieter than he meant to.
"Margaret? Like- missing missing?" Goldwyn nodded, a little shocked that Gabe had remembered the name of his sister. "Missing, MIA, police on the scene?"
"Our apartment got searched, yeah." Just that morning, actually, when Margaret hadn't come home or texted him for approximately twenty hours. Goldwyn hadn't slept through the night.
"Damn," Gabe breathed out, "damn. You gonna find her, though?"
"Of course. Most found people are found within the first seventy-two hours." Which would be up in about- Goldwyn checked the kitchen clock- forty-seven hours. The first day was up.
"No, I mean-" Gabe frowned- "are you gonna find her?"
"...what?" That was a job for the police, because God knew they weren't about to bust the multiple houses in the neighborhood with fireworks. Goldwyn wasn't some kind of junior detective, he wasn't just going to go looking for his sister unless it was clear that was the only option.
"I mean- three days, yeah? And you're the expert on your sister."
"Well I-" Goldwyn was inturrupted by the bell above the front door ringing.
"Just think about it, yeah?" Gabe asked, already heading out to seat the customer and leaving Goldwyn alone in the kitchen.
Forty-seven hours. Most people were found in the first day, more in the second, and after the third... after the third Goldwyn didn't have a back-up plan.
He'd give the police another day.