13. Sawyer
We walkedin as Mel and Cherry were finishing up morning prep.
“You’re here before nine.” Mel stopped mid-rolling the silverware in her hands.
“I’m here before nine.”
“You’re never here before nine.”
“Well, today, I am.”
“Hi, Lucy!” Cherry said cheerfully, rounding the counter to hug her.
Once they released themselves from their hug, I led Lucy over to the bar. One hand on the small of her back, I pulled out the stool with the other. “You sit here, I’ll get you some coffee.”
“I heard you make the best coffee around.”
Mel swung a bar towel over one shoulder and playfully swiped the imaginary dust off the other. Lucy was doing exactly what Mel loved—someone was telling her how amazing and perfect she is at everything she does. “Yeah, well… Some people would like to disagree with that statement.”
“I’m sorry that I don’t want to go into cardiac arrest by the time that I’m forty,” I teased as I poured coffee in a to-go cup.
I slid it across the bar towards Lucy. I crouched down, under the counter and pulled out every option I had to offer from the fridge. I hugged five different milk options in my arms and dropped them between us. “I don’t know what you like, so here’s all of them.”
But when I looked up from the cartons, Lucy’s eyes were lined red.
“Fuck. What did I say?”
She stopped a tear from falling before it even left her eye socket and sat up straight. She let out a faint, broken snicker. “Nothing, I’m okay.” She grabbed the oat milk and mixed it into her coffee. She snapped the lid on. “Do you have a pen and paper? We are going to have to write down our objectives for today.”
All at once, Cherry, Mel, and I swiped out ordering pads from beside the register or underneath the bar. We tossed them out in front of her, with an array of pens to follow. We had plenty of pens and paper here.
“Perfect,” she perked up.
After she completed noting something down, she would strike a strong line beneath it. Some even received three lines with stars doodled on the side. She wrote like she was running out of time. After only a quick minute, she hopped up off the stool. Swiping her hat off the bar, she threw it back on top of her head.
“All done.” She turned to me. “Ready to go?”
I pulled the pad from her hand and looked over today’s agenda. “Looks doable,” I said as I tucked it into my back pocket. “Let’s get going.”
Lucy walked out ahead of me, giving both Mel and Cherry a wave in passing. “Thanks for the coffee!” she said cheerfully.
Before I reached the door, Mel interjected by pushing a firm hand on my chest.
If a scowl from a raven-haired girl could kill, I’d be dead.
“Do me a favor?”
“Okay,” I stood at attention, mocking her authoritative tone.
“Don’t say anything dumb, don’t do anything dumb. Don’t. Be. Dumb.”
I pulled her head inwards and kissed the top of her head. “I don’t plan on it.”
Mel, my voice of reason.
I met Lucy outside on the porch where she was leaning against the railing, both elbows propped up as she looked out over the lake. She took a sip of coffee before facing me, “This might be my favorite coffee ever.”