Chapter 10 #2
“Hey!” It was Skylar. Back when Kell was playing high school football, Mac Lewiston had been his coach, and Skylar was his daughter. She was stacking heart-shaped red coffee mugs on a shelf next to the espresso machine. “Look at you two. Now you can use both hands to do whatever you want!”
Kell narrowed his eyes. Skylar turned bright red.
“I mean, you know, for, like, not doing sex stuff. I mean, like, the sex. I mean–Skylar, stop talking!” she muttered to herself, turning around and disappearing into the back room, leaving Reef Matthews, the manager, gaping after her, thick eyebrows up, nose ring glimmering under the shop’s lights.
“What was that about?” he grunted at Kell. Reef had long locs with braids mixed in, more face piercings than a bad guy in a biker movie, and had broken his nose so many times, it was impossible to figure out where the bone had originally belonged.
He wore a long-sleeved red T-shirt with the words Caffeinated lovers do it with more energy and the Love You Coffee logo printed under it.
“Dunno. Can you make us four coffees?”
“Sure.”
“Two black. Dark roast. One half-caf latte for my dad.”
“I don’t drink mine black,” Rachel said.
“I’m getting one for the poor guy we’re cutting down.”
“Another heart caught in a tree?” Reef said, laughing. He looked at Rachel, then did a double take. “Well. Hello. You’re new.” A not-so-covert look at Kell asked a question he didn’t like.
Off-limits, or fair game?
Kell ignored it, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to growl at Reef and tell him to leave Rachel alone, but he had no claim here. That near-kiss yesterday was an artifact, a moment best described as foolish.
Although foolish moments like that, and the one on the couch in his D.C. apartment five years ago, had taken up most of the real estate in his mind last night.
“What’ll you have?” Reef asked, watching her carefully. Coffee people were their own unique breed. They didn’t judge you on appearance, job title, or leisure interests.
They judged you by your drink of choice.
“Double shot latte, half two percent, half almond milk,” she said quickly.
“That’s… specific,” Reef commented.
“If you had skim milk, it would be easier.”
“Hmm. You’re not new, after all.” Reef peered at her. “Oh. You’re Rachel.” His eyes cut over to Kell, the look instantly readable.
She’s taken, that look said. Something in Kell unclenched a little.
Reef considered her Kell’s.
She wasn’t, and Kell knew it, but he felt better, the rush that ran through him stronger than any caffeine.
“Am I infamous?” she joked. “What do you know about me?”
“You glued yourself to Kell, you’re trying to get Lucinda to sell out to Markstone's, and you honked at poor Randy.”
“Did someone write up a fact sheet on me that’s getting sent around?”
Reef finished making her drink and set it on the counter, grabbing a to-go tray that was alarmingly red, and fit two white cups in it with the Love You Coffee logo on them, and began pouring the black coffees.
“Naw. Nadine was in here,” Reef muttered, finishing pouring and pivoting to make what Kell assumed was his dad’s half-caf latte.
“Nadine? I think I’ve heard that name,” she inquired politely.
“Nadine Khouri. Biggest gossip in town,” Kell said. “Works with my brother at the police station.”
“A cop is the biggest gossip in town?”
Kell and Reef laughed. “Nadine’s not a cop. She’s the station admin,” Kell explained. “Older woman who knows everyone and everyone’s business.”
“Why did you say ‘poor Randy’? I had to honk to get him to leave my car alone.”
Reef gave Kell a look that said, Who’s paying for this? Kell nodded. His credit card was on file, and he reached into his wallet to throw a couple bucks in the tip jar.
That jolted Rachel out of her questions. Lifting her bag onto the counter, she began pawing through it.
“I’ll buy! You’ve done so much for me, Kell.”
Reef winked at him.
“I got it,” Kell insisted.
“I have an expense account. Consider it a way to bleed the big, bad multinational company you so thoroughly hate.”
“Next time, Rachel. You can get it next time.”
The way she lit up at his words set something warm off inside his chest. The sensation felt expansive but dangerous, as if tight quarters had opened up into generous but unexplored space.
“Deal. I’ll get it next time,” she said softly, smiling at Reef as she took a sip from her cup and moaned like she was in ecstasy.
The bell on the door jingled, and two pairs of lips walked into the coffee shop. Dressed like Deanna had been during her FaceTime call five years ago, the two – er, four – lips were a dazzling display of red sequins.
Rachel paused mid-sip, then slowly lowered her cup. Kell thanked Reef, picked up the tray of coffees, and moved out of the way so the next customer could be served.
“Have fun using your hands however you want, Kell!” Reef said with a two-finger salute and a chuckle.
“Why are people in costume?” Rachel asked, openly nosy.
“Because Valentine’s Day is in a week and there are lots of rehearsals and activities going on.”
“I knew your mom dressed up that time, but that was in May.”
“Yep, the Kiss Festival. This is different. Way bigger. You’re going to see loads of hearts, some lips, plenty of roses, and heart-shaped boxes of chocolates.
Guys in tuxes pretending to propose, and sometimes really proposing.
Women in red ball gowns. Girls in red party dresses and prom gowns.
Think of it as cosplay for anything and everything related to love. ”
“Does it get dirty?”
“Dirty?”
“You know. Naughty? The other kind of wicked?”
“Ah.” He laughed as they made their way outside to the truck, his phone buzzing.
Probably Dad, wondering where they were.
The coordinates Dean had given him were only ten minutes away, and they’d be on the road in a minute.
“Hang on. I’ll tell you more as we drive. That’s not a simple conversation.”
Once he got in the driver’s seat, Rachel took the coffee tray on her lap.
Buckled in and settled, he started toward the site of the stranded skydiver and took a sip of his own coffee.
Whatever Love You Coffee did to their brew, it was perfection, and Kell had never tasted anything quite like it elsewhere.
“So, naughty, huh?” he broached, and she giggled. “Sure. There are plenty of businesses around here devoted to sex. Not in town, though. The zoning board and town meeting keep it clean.”
“Clean?”
“Let’s say it’s PG-13 here.”
“Got it. But I’d imagine there are plenty of opportunities for something a little racier?”
“Oh, sure. There’s an adult bookstore and strip club right over the town line. It’s called Love You Harder.”
“It is not!”
A cackle came out of him, surprising them both. “It is. Every young guy in town wants to go there, but once you do, it’s nothing special.”
“What I’m hearing is that town officials work really hard to stay on brand and make it all about Valentine’s Day and romantic love, but keep the more erotic elements on the edge.”
“That’s a very astute, business-like way of seeing it.”
“Family friendly.”
“Oh, yes. We get a lot of families. Loads of repeat business. People come to swim in the hot springs. They might already be in love, or maybe they fall in love here. Then they get married here, have babies, and come back for vacations. Love You becomes an annual family trip. On the way up, they stop in New Hampshire at Storyland and Santa’s Village, and the Mount Washington Cog Railway.
Drive on over the state line and come here.
Plus there’s skiing and all that in the winter. ”
“I don’t know what any of those are.”
“If you lived here, you would.”
Rachel took a long sip of her drink and said nothing, leaving Kell’s words hanging out there. He certainly hadn’t meant them as an offer, but the air buzzed with new meaning.
“Such a strange mix of cheesy and genuine,” she finally said.
“What’s cheesy? You use that word a lot, but I don’t see it.”
“You don’t see how fake this all is?”
“Says the woman from L.A.”
“In L.A., people are fake. Here, the whole town is fake.”
“I don’t think of it that way. It’s my hometown. My people have been here for generations. There’s a pure heart here.”
“And you can buy it.”
“No. You can buy the merchandise, but you can’t buy the feeling in Luview, Rachel. If you don’t see that, I don’t know what to say. Love isn’t just a feeling here. It’s a way of life.”
“Then why are you still single?”
“What does that mean?”
“You’ve lived here your whole life, the child of two people who sound like they’re in love, from the way you talk about them. You’ve been steeped in love. Why aren’t you?”
“Never met the right woman.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“What does that mean?”
“Look at you.”
He looked down. “Yeah?”
“You’re beyond hot. Lumberjack hot–well, grumpy lumberjack hot. You must have women lined up, ready to wear red lace and pink thongs, ready to do your bidding.”
His eyes cut to her waist. “You still wear red lace panties?”
She whacked his shoulder. “I was making a point, Kell.”
“So was I.”
Kell turned the truck onto an unmarked dirt road, going by the GPS but also using memory. The turn was a bit sharp and Calamine yowled from the back, startling Rachel, who nearly pitched her coffee into the windshield.
“EEK!” she squealed, grabbing the coffee with both hands, then pressing one palm over her heart. “Your cat is in here?”
“Yep. Cally.”
“She’s been here the whole time?”
“Sure.”
“Does she go everywhere with you?”
“Mostly.”
“You know that’s not normal, right? Cats are homebodies.”
“Cats are like people. Different in every way. I’m her home. The truck is her home. So wherever I go in the truck, she comes.”
“What about her litter box?”
“The world is Cally’s litter box. She hops out when she needs to.”
“And food? Water?”
“Check the glovebox.”
Rachel did. A small pet water dispenser and a cat food bowl were in there.
“Wow. You shape your driving life around a cat.”