Chapter 15 #2
"Sounds like it scrambled his heart."
"Yeah." Colleen sighed and sipped her coffee. "That, too."
"Hey." Reef, the manager, was standing beside their table with two taster cups in his hands. "I need victims."
"Victims?"
"I mean, test subjects."
"For what?" Colleen asked, instantly suspicious.
"We're trying out a new drink."
"You already have the best drink in town." Rachel said, smoothly. "My Love Bomb."
Reef's mouth set into a firm line. "Just because you were the first person to order that drink doesn't make it yours."
"Yes, it does."
"No, it doesn't."
"Yes, it does."
"No, it–" He held up one finger. "I am not arguing with you, Rachel. We’re testing some new drinks. Skylar wants more than her own opinion before we add things to the menu."
"I think that's fair." Rachel said. "You're doing proper product testing, focus groups, all of that."
"No." Reef scowled at her. "We're just asking you two."
"Fine." Colleen took the taster cup out of his hand. "Is that a new tat?"
She pointed to a red streak on his wrist and he pulled the cuff of his shirt down.
"Yeah." He obviously didn't want to talk about it.
As she raised the taster cup to her mouth, her nose explored the drink.
"Coffee, cinnamon, ginger, and something deeper. Is that… cardamom?"
"Just try it. I'll tell you what's in it after you taste it."
"How about I'll taste it after you tell me what's in it." Rachel replied.
All she got in return was a glare.
Colleen took a tentative sip, her taste buds dancing as the flavors her nose had detected hit her tongue, along with a rich creaminess.
"Mmm," she said, "This is amazing."
"What do you taste?" he asked.
"Like I said, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom. A little burnt sugar?" she probed.
"That has to be coconut cream," Rachel said, but he shook his head. "MCT oil?"
"And something peppery," Colleen added.
"You got almost all of it right. You're missing the black seed oil."
"What's black seed oil?" Rachel asked. "I thought I was up to date on coffeehouse culture. Every time we go back home to L.A., I make sure I go to the trendiest places."
"Why do you have to go to the trendiest places there when you can come here?" Reef shot back.
"It's got more bite than I expect when I drink a cup of coffee."
"That's the black seed oil. It's black cumin, ground up just the tiniest bit. Some people like their Mexican mochas with the cayenne pepper giving that little extra jolt when it hits your tonsils. This is similar, but without the after spice."
"What are you calling this?"
"Electric Chai."
"Ooh," Rachel said, "I like it."
"All right, then." He turned to Skylar, who was racking mugs, and gave her a thumbs up. She jumped up and down, squealing, clapping her hands, pressing her palms up against the air like she was dancing in the middle of a nightclub.
Colleen drank more of her coffee as her mind went back to her problem. An unsettled feeling grew in her. Rachel knew about the cabin? Her mom had told her about the kiss at town hall? Word was going to spread soon.
Sure, Deanna and Rachel were a closed loop, but if they knew, it meant Kylie knew. And her dad. Now the whole family was aware of her and Moore, and all it would take was one misstep before Nadine Khouri was practically announcing it during Town Meeting.
"Great," Reef said. "Now we can take the Love Bomb off the menu and put the Electric Chai on there."
"What?" Rachel shouted. “You can’t remove my Love Bomb!”
“Watch me.”
“It’s your most popular drink!”
“No,” he said calmly, seeming to enjoy the conflict. “It’s your favorite drink. Big difference.”
“Everyone I know tells me they come here and get it and love it!”
“That’s not everyone in town, Rachel.”
One corner of Reef’s firmly set mouth twitched, a tell.
He was messing with her.
“Reef, the Love Bomb is worth keeping.”
He scratched his chin. “Maybe we could just rename it.”
“Why would you do that?”
“How about we call it the ‘Don’t Tell Me How to Run My Business’?”
Deflated, Rachel took in a deep breath, regrouping.
“I’m not trying to tell you how to run your business.”
His snort would have made a rhinoceros jealous.
“I just think there’s room for two original drinks on the menu! Why don’t you have a contest?”
“Contest?” Skylar piped up from behind Reef, evidently eavesdropping.
“Put out two tip bowls. One labeled Electric Chai and the other labeled Love Bomb. Let customers decide by tipping. It’s win-win. You find out which drink is more popular, and I’ll bet tipping increases.”
Skylar’s eyes were huge. “Or we could do a fundraising drive for Mel’s animal sanctuary!”
Reef seemed to like that idea more.
Probably because it didn’t come from Rachel.
“Yeah,” He said slowly. “Let’s do that.”
“I’ll make the signs!” Skylar was artistic, with the ability to hand-draw fonts like no one else.
The front door suddenly filled with a gaggle of college girls, probably up from Portland. Reef nodded and left them, Rachel looking smug.
“Hah. He really doesn’t understand how much I’m helping him make more money.”
“Money isn’t the only reason people are in business here.”
An O of surprise was all Rachel could muster, and Colleen burst out laughing.
“Making money is the reason people go into business! Otherwise, they’d just be someone’s employee.”
“I’m someone’s employee. Nothing ‘just’ or lesser about that.”
“I didn’t mean it that way!”
Taking a deep breath, Colleen fought the irritation inside her. Being defensive was her instinctive response whenever something Rachel said seemed demeaning. Was it fair? No. Was it Rachel’s fault? Absolutely not.
But was it real and something Colleen needed to manage inside herself?
Yes.
“You’re right. I’m being oversensitive.”
Surprise filled Rachel’s eyes. “You are?”
“I need help.”
“Anything! How can I help you?”
“I need to know how you know when to leave home.”
A slow blink. The closing of her mouth. The scrape of her fingernail against the table. Small details like these were what Colleen observed in Rachel as seconds ticked by, time meaningless. The words had been spoken, said aloud, unable to be walked back.
“What?” Rachel gasped. “You want to leave Luview?”
“Shhhhh,” Colleen hissed, pulling Rachel’s hand. “Don’t spill all my secrets!”
“But why?”
“I don’t want to leave. And if I do, it won’t be for long. Doc Blythe put this crazy idea in my head.”
“Crazy enough to make you leave? You just helped buy the camp with the whole family!”
“And I would keep my place there. That’s forever.”
Rachel’s relief was palpable.
“Thank goodness! Deanna would lose it if you ever left.”
“I’ve been thinking. A lot. Doc said I’d make a good nurse practitioner or even a physician assistant. And I can’t get that kind of education here.”
“Oh! So this is about your career!”
“Mostly.”
“What about Moore?”
“What about him?”
“If you two are together, does he support your leaving town?”
“We’re not together together. We’re just… undefined.”
“Sounds pretty defined to me. You’re sleeping with him.”
“But we’re still hiding. And then there’s that whole Third Date Colleen nonsense. Plus, my ovaries have an expiration date, you know?”
“That’s… a lot to unpack right there, Colleen.”
“My life feels like there’s too much to unpack.”
“Is this about the accident?”
“Huh?” As if called forth by a spell, her shoulder began to ache.
“You’re reflecting and re-evaluating your life? Lots of people do it after a near-death experience.”
The words near-death experience evoked images of soft light, mystical beings, and peaceful music. None of that had happened to her in the icy pond where Moore saved her.
She suddenly felt a little cheated.
“Near death, huh? Hadn’t thought of it that way. I didn’t hear angels sing or tell myself to turn away from the light.”
Expecting laughter, Colleen was surprised when Rachel leaned forward, serious, and said, “You’ve been through a lot. Both of you.”
“You mean Moore?”
“Kell told me how destroyed the truck was. How it felt when he and Luke came upon it. How they expected to find your bodies in the water. The sheer panic of thinking you were both dead. The walk to the cabin, and then how, uh…”
“How they actually found us.”
“Right.”
“We were definitely wet,” Colleen joked, laughter bubbling up from her belly as Rachel made a confused face, then reacted.
“Oh, geez.”
“Sorry. Dark humor.”
“You need to think these things through. Add in the fact that Moore won’t go public with your relationship, and you must be reeling.”
“Hold on. Moore and I both made the decision, together, not to go public. For Jordy’s sake.”
Rachel took a big gulp of her coffee.
“I understand. There’s no one right choice here. But why hold your life back at a time when you just got a second chance at it?”
“Because Jordy might–”
“Jordy is fifteen. He’s already decided to move here, right? That’s what Deanna told me.”
“Yes.”
“Then what are you two waiting for? Tell him. Then you can be free.” Rachel studied her. “Or maybe you do want to leave? Go study and try out a life away from Luview?”
“I want Moore,” Colleen said firmly.
“That’s what I mean! You deserve more. And maybe you’ll find more out there, in the big world beyond the town line.”
“Moore is right here.”
Rachel scowled, then her eyebrows went up.
“Aha! I think we’re having a ‘Who’s on first?’ moment. When you said ‘I want more,’ you were using his name. Not m-o-r-e.”
“Right. Oh! Then that’s what you meant when you–”
As they both began to giggle at the misunderstanding, Rachel suddenly did a double take, looking out the window.
Mel Chassi, the local animal sanctuary operator, was walking an old yellow Lab on a service dog harness.
With a parrot riding on its back.
Wearing a red snow vest.
Slowly, surreptitiously, Rachel took out her phone and snapped photos.
“This is going to be so quaint and quirky for the town website!” she gushed.
“What on earth is Mel up to now?” Colleen muttered as Mel caught her eye and changed direction, entering the coffee shop.