Chapter 5
Mel worked her way around Mallie’s Cafe. She greeted customers and made sure everything was in working order. It had been almost a year since Brynn had promoted her to manager. Today, Brynn was catching up on some paperwork. She glanced over at Mel and laughed.
“Is today your first time dropping Mase off at doggy daycare?” Brynn asked.
“What gave me away?” Mel chuckled.
“You keep checking the time,” Brynn said. Brynn, who had named the cafe Mallie’s after her own dog, was a bit of an expert when it came to puppy parenting.
At this point Brynn was more of a friend than just simply a manager. Mel knew that Brynn had taken her under her wing, much like a big sister might.
“Is it that obvious?” Mel asked, blushing.
“Only to people who know you. I doubt anyone else would think anything about it.”
“Do you still take Mallie to doggy daycare?” Mel asked, curious.
“Absolutely. At this point if I didn’t take her to doggy daycare Mallie would probably revolt.”
“Glad to know Mallie is a fan.”
“Jordan is Mallie’s favorite person. If I were standing on one side of the room, and Jordan was on the other side I would lose every time,” Brynn insisted.
“I think that’s true for most dogs,” Mel laughed.
As if on cue Jordan and Reese walked through the door. They each smiled and waved as they walked to their typical booth. Brynn left her seat behind the bar to go join her friends. A moment later Jordan waved Mel over. She smiled and walked towards the trio.
“I just wanted to let you know that Mase is doing great for his first day,” Jordan announced. Mel slid into the spot beside Brynn.
“That’s such a relief. I wasn’t really worried. But it is nice to hear that it’s going well,” Mel smiled.
“You’re a good dog momma,” Reese said with a warm smile.
“Enough about my dog child. Have the two of you picked a day for your wedding?” Mel asked. She saw a pink blush forming across Jordan’s cheeks.
“This one keeps walking back our dates,” Reese teased.
“I can’t help it, things are so crazy with work,” Jordan complained.
“We’ve got to get you two down the aisle. At this rate Lena and I are going to beat you,” Brynn laughed.
“Did I hear my name?” Lena asked, approaching the table. Mel had been so drawn into the conversation she hadn’t even noticed Lena come through the door.
Mel moved from her seat beside Brynn so that Lena could fill the space. Then she pulled up a chair. Lena sat beside Brynn and gave her a kiss on the lips. Mel was glad that Brynn had hired a couple of servers to take care of orders. It had left Mel free to oversee the general flow of the cafe. She wasn’t above taking orders or scrubbing a table as needed. But it was nice to get to enjoy her workdays.
Mel heard the tiny bell chime over the door and gave her standard greeting before turning around.
“Welcome to Mallie’s.” The words had just left Mel’s mouth as she turned to see who had entered. When her eye fell on Willow, Mel’s eyes widened. How had Willow managed to track her down at her job?
Mel couldn’t tear her eyes away as she watched three other women enter with Willow. One was clearly the woman who had been with Willow at the dog park. Willow glanced over to their table and caught Mel’s eyes. Mel was taken aback by just how green Willow’s eyes were. Eyes weren’t meant to be that bright. Mel thought about her own eyes, they were an unassuming blue. Mel desperately wanted to look away, but her eyes remained fixed on Willow. She watched as Willow elbowed the woman from the dog park. The woman shot Willow a hard look. Willow nodded her head, not subtly in Mel’s direction and the woman turned to look at her then looked away quickly.
Willow seemed to be committed to making their interactions as awkward as possible. Mel turned back to find her entire table staring at her. Mel could feel her cheeks turning how.
“What was that?” Brynn asked.
“What was what?” Mel returned. She desperately wanted to play things cool, but one look at her friends told her that was going to be impossible.
“The exchange of looks between you and that woman over there,” Reese answered.
“Do the two of you know one another?” Jordan asked.
“Unfortunately,” Mel groaned.
“Sounds like there’s a story there. Tell us,” Brynn demanded.
“Well for starters, her name is Willow. And she hates me,” Mel explained.
“How could anyone hate you?” Jordan demanded. There was something sweet in the firmness of the statement.
“She lives in my neighborhood. The first time we met her dog tangled us up in its leash. We ended up falling into the mud. Willow blamed me for not being still long enough for her to untangle us.”
“Wait a minute. Her dog wrapped its leash around you and she blamed you for falling?” Jordan asked incredulously.
“She did. The second time we met I was throwing a ball for Mase at the dog park. I didn’t see Willow standing beside me and accidentally knocked her down.”
“There seems to be a lot of falling in the dirt involved in this story,” Reese observed.
“There is. And every time is somehow miraculously my fault,” Mel explained.
“Are you comfortable with her and her friends being here? Because I can ask them to leave if you’re not comfortable,” Brynn said. Mel watched as Lena gave Brynn’s hand a squeeze.
“No, don’t do that. I think as long as we stay in separate corners we’ll be fine,” Mel smiled.
“Okay. But you say the word and she’s gone,” Brynn directed. Mel shot her a sweet smile.
“I have to ask. Is there something else going on between you two?” Lena was always good at cutting straight through the nonsense into the heart of the matter.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Mel said, hoping to put an end to the conversation before it began. She should have known better.
“Well, for starters the two of you looked at each other like you wanted to devour one another,” Reese suggested. She smiled unassumingly at Mel.
“I think that’s just Willow’s murder stare. I’m not sure whether she eats her victims after,” Mel laughed.
“Oh, it wasn’t just Willow. The two of you were giving each other major bedroom eyes,” Reese chuckled. Mel drew back as if struck.
“There’s no way in this whole world that I could ever be interested in someone like Willow,” Mel announced.
Too late she realized that Willow was walking past them on her way to the bathroom. Mel met Willow’s eyes again, but Willow quickly looked away. Shit . What was worse was that everyone at the table had borne witness to the moment. Brynn gave her a pat on the shoulder.
“See what I mean? There’s no way for us to even be friends, when we keep having these disastrous interactions,” Mel explained.
“You can always choose to have a less disastrous interaction,” Jordan suggested.
“How would I go about doing that?” Mel asked.
“That’s easy, you go make peace with her,” Reese grinned.
“Why? I think it’s pretty clear that Willow doesn’t want peace.” Mel folded her arms across her chest.
“No one here is going to force you to make amends with someone. But this could be an opportunity to at least clear the air. I mean you’re both adults.” Reese offered her a reassuring smile. Mel swallowed a retort about not being sure that Willow was an adult.
“And if she still chooses to be unkind I promise I’m more intimidating than she is,” Jordan grinned.
Mel had no doubts that Jordan would be more than competent at any battle of wills she was thrown into. Mel took a moment to imagine what it must feel like to be on Jordan’s bad side. The thought made her shiver.
“I guess it is a little silly that two adult women can’t find a way to interact as adults,” Mel groaned.
“That’s the spirit,” Brynn encouraged.
Mel stood and straightened her outfit before walking to the bathroom. When she opened the door Willow was at the sink. She looked surprised to see her.
“Hey, can we talk for a minute?” Mel asked.
“Sure. Though I’m not sure why. Since there’s no way you could ever be interested in me,” Willow retorted. Mel recoiled at the feeling of having her own words levied against her.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Mel insisted.
“Good,” Willow said almost too confidently.
Mel was almost ready to give up on the conversation. What was she even doing here? Not everyone had to be her friend or like her. Why was she so drawn to this woman who wanted nothing to do with her? These were for sure questions she needed to ask her therapist.
This close Willow was undeniably beautiful. Gorgeous in a way that was almost painful to look at. But Mel couldn’t look away. In her chest her heart beat faster than it should. She realized that this was the first time she’d ever been this close to Willow, without her yelling. Mel took a steadying breath, and the scent of Willow’s lavender perfume filled her nose. It wasn’t fair that this woman’s appearance had such an effect on her. Mel took in the perfect cupid’s bow of Willow’s lips. Willow’s shirt rose just enough to show the perfectly smooth pale skin of her stomach. From this distance Mel could pick up the exact shade of green in Willow’s eyes. Willow’s eyes were green like the trees in a forest after a fresh rain. Mel closed her eyes for a moment, she had to get a grip on herself. Mel sighed out loud as she decided to try one last time to make peace.
“I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’d like it if we could start over,” Mel suggested. She purposefully softened her tone.
She studied Willow’s face. Mel was afraid that Willow would be gearing up for a verbal assault. Instead, Willow breathed in and heaved a large sigh.
“Yeah, we could try that,” Willow said with some reluctance.
“That’s a start,” Mel smiled.
“But we’re not friends,” Willow stated.
“Of course not. Just acquaintances that don’t hate each other,” Mel offered with a smile. If she wasn’t mistaken Mel saw the unmistakable beginnings of a smile form at the corners of Willow’s mouth.
“Exactly. Acquaintances that don’t hate one another,” Willow nodded. This time the woman offered her a small smile.
“I’ll let you get back to your friends,” Mel smiled. She pulled open the door to the bathroom then turned back.
“Maybe we’ll bump into each other soon,” Mel laughed.
“Too soon,” Willow said with a raised eyebrow. Her face was straight but Mel could see the crinkle at the corners of her mouth.
It wasn’t the start of a lifetime friendship. But it would do. They were on speaking terms which was already an improvement. Mel moved back to her table in undeniably high spirits.