Chapter 10
Jax
I whistled as I walked the block from my car to the entrance of the cafe for my first official day of work. For the next few months, I would be Ethan’s assistant and would eventually move up to manager until I decided whether I was going to buy the cafe from him.
I stopped in front of the entrance and stared up at the sign which read Lavender Love Cafe. Next to the sign was the Progress Pride Flag. My heart warmed at the sight. This really felt like the perfect place for me.
“They groom kids, you know,” a voice said from behind me.
What the fuck… “Excuse me?” I turned to find a woman who appeared to be in her sixties or seventies standing much too close to me. Honestly, a woman who would say something like that could be in another state and she’d still be closer than I’d want her to be.
She pointed toward the cafe. “The men who own this cafe… they are very nice, but they are gay.” She whispered the word gay as if it were a bad word.
Really? That’s how this is going to be? I wanted to say something rude or hurtful, but decided on a much more fun route instead. “I know those two men very well. They’re going to be my uncles once I marry their super sexy niece.”
The woman ran her eyes up and down my body with her eyebrows turned in as if she was suddenly disgusted by what she saw. She huffed before turning on her heels and swiftly walking away.
The door to the cafe opened, and I turned back around to see Ethan holding it open for me and laughing. “How’d you get rid of Mrs. Mowrey so quickly? She normally sticks around much longer on Monday mornings.”
I turned to look at the woman who was now just a tiny blip. “She’s a regular?”
“Not inside the cafe, but she does stop by almost every Monday morning to warn people of the dangers of entering my cafe.”
“And you just let her?” I couldn’t hide the distaste from my voice. There was no way I would allow a woman like that to talk to my customers.
Ethan shrugged, looking a bit sheepish, almost as if he was embarrassed.
“Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do.
When she first started standing out here, I tried to call the police, but they claimed there was nothing they could do unless she was harassing the customers.
I guess calling me a groomer falls under her freedom of speech. ”
“That’s disgusting.” I sighed. This wasn’t the greatest start to the job. “Are there a lot of people like that around here?”
Ethan put his hand on my shoulder. “Most of the people who don’t agree with our lifestyle have enough dignity to at least keep it to themselves.
Things definitely get worse whenever there’s an election or some hot debate involving the LGBTQ community, but for the most part, Mrs. Mowrey is the worst of them. ”
His for the most part wasn’t helping my view of this area, but at least I had been able to get rid of one homophobe (for now, at least).
I chuckled when I thought about Mrs. Mowrey’s shocked expression in response to my words.
Maybe it was worth it just for that. Maybe.
It also kind of made me miss New York, where it seemed like half of the population was gay (or at least open to giving it a try).
Ethan removed his hand from my shoulder and looked toward the ground. “I’m sorry. I should have warned you about her. I’m sure that’s not how you wanted to start your first day.”
I put a smile on my face because I could tell he felt bad and it’s not like this was his fault. “It’s all good. I think I freaked her out, which was kind of fun, honestly.”
Ethan laughed as he held the door open for me to walk into the cafe. “Maybe you’re our secret weapon, and she’s finally gone for good.”
Unfortunately, she wasn’t. A week later, when I was excited to start my second week of work, given how well the first week went, Mrs. Mowrey was waiting outside.
This time, she had a friend with her. As soon as the two of them spotted me walking toward the cafe, Mrs. Mowrey whispered to the woman next to her, who immediately turned up her nose at me.
I was hoping her nose was turned up too high to talk to me, but once I got closer, she locked her daggers on me. Great.
A tight, obviously fake, smile pulled at her lips. “Hello there. If you don’t mind, I’d like just five minutes of your time.”
I pointed toward the cafe. “I need to get into work.”
“This won’t take long.” The woman reached into her purse and pulled out some sort of pamphlet. “I’d like to talk to you about coming to our church. We accept all kinds of people.”
How very Christian of you, I thought to myself, while trying my best not to roll my eyes at her.
I put my hands on my hips and smiled at her. “I’d love to hear what you mean by accept.”
“Of course.” The woman’s tight-lipped smile didn’t falter. “We believe everyone is made in God’s image, and therefore, we love all people.”
This would all be wonderful if I actually believed she meant what she was saying. “And how do you show that love?”
The woman handed me the pamphlet, which had the name of a church on the front, as well as a Bible verse. “By showing you the way to Heaven, of course.”
“And what’s the way to Heaven?”
“You must follow God’s word.”
“To love others as He loved us? Help the poor? Care for children in need?”
Somehow this was what caused the woman’s smile to falter. Of course.
“Those are all important, but God is also very clear about certain lifestyles being unacceptable.”
I nodded as if I actually believed the bullshit she was spreading. “Yes. Of course. Lifestyles like murdering and stealing and judging others. Preaching hate instead of love. Those types of lifestyles, correct?”
“A sin is a sin in God’s eyes. They are all equal, including homosexuality.”
There it is.
I waved the packet in the air. “Thank you. You’ve given me so much to consider. I’ll be sure to discuss this with my girlfriend tonight. We always love having deep conversations like this while we’re lying naked in bed after having really amazing lesbian sex.”
The woman’s eyes went as wide as saucers. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that you should respect your elders?”
I was so distracted by this woman, I hadn’t even noticed that the cafe door had opened and Ethan was now standing outside with us. I jumped in surprise when he put his hand on my shoulder.
“My niece is very respectful to her elders. And everyone else for that matter. I’ll remind you two that we get what we give. If you feel as though you’re being disrespected, maybe you should take a look at yourselves and figure out why that is.”
“Well, I…” The woman looked toward Mrs. Mowrey, who just stared back at her. After a moment, the woman focused her attention back on me and Ethan. “I’ll pray for you. Have a nice day.”
“You have a nice day too.” Ethan waved at them as they walked away. “If you need a drink or a tasty treat, be sure to come inside. We'd be happy to take care of you.”
Ethan chuckled as he held the door open for me. Once we were inside, I laughed along with him. “They’re insane.”
Ethan shrugged. “They mean well.”
Excuse me? What the hell? “The fuck they do. Women like that are the worst type of people.”
Ethan shrugged again. “I honestly feel bad for them. That has to be a miserable way to live your life. The worst part is, I truly think they believe they are doing the right thing. They just have a very skewed reality of what wrong and right is.”
“Very skewed. How are there people like that in your generation but then also people like you?”
Ethan put both hands in the air. “Whoa now. How old do you think I am? Those women are at least ten years older than me.”
“Oops. Sorry.” I giggled into my hand. I really was awful at discerning ages.
“All good, kid.” Ethan playfully slapped my back. “But really, you asked how I deal with it, and this is how.” He pointed toward the door. “For every person like them, there are at least two to three people like Tim.”
“Tim? Who is that?”
Ethan’s smile sparkled. “You’ll see.”
***
The rest of the week passed by nicely, with no more run-ins with homophobic idiots disguised as Christians.
Even without seeing Mrs. Mowrey and her friend again, they were taking up way too much of my brain.
I could have talked to Carter about it, but I didn’t want to upset her.
I wanted to protect her from homophobia like that.
I just wished I could erase it from my own mind and that it didn’t cause such a sour taste toward this town.
I really did love Ethan’s cafe, but it was hard to be happy with it when I was focused on the negative.
As if my prayers had been answered, that Saturday, a group of rowdy teenagers walked into the cafe. “How can I help you?” I asked the first guy to walk up to the register, who appeared to be the ringleader of this crazy group. I smiled, because he honestly reminded me so much of myself at that age.
The guy leaned down onto the table. “You must be new here. Do you go to Pittsgrove High?”
I laughed out loud. “Wow. You might be my new favorite customer. I’m just a little too old to still be in high school.”
“So, college?” The way his eyes sparkled told me this guy knew exactly what he was doing.
“Your name isn’t Tim, is it?”
The guy’s smile grew. “So, you’ve heard about me.”
I smiled back at him and leaned onto the counter as well. “I guess you could say that Ethan warned me about you.”
Tim waved a hand at me. “Don’t listen to a word he says. I’m magnificent, and I help keep this place in business.”
“So, do you go to school at Pittsgrove High?”
Tim shook his head. “No. We go to North Shore High. It’s about an hour from here.”
Wow. Quite the trip. “No cafes in North Shore?”
“Not like this one.” Tim pointed back at his friends. “This is our safe space. We feel like we can more fully be ourselves here than anywhere else.” He leaned in close to whisper to me. “Especially because some of my friends still aren’t out to their parents.”