3 Lattes
THE OCTOBER WIND HAD BEEN rattling the windows of the Little Acorn all day, sending leaves flying down Main Street in angry spirals. Today the sky was that flat kind of gray that promised rain but never actually delivered. Even the blazing radiators seemed to struggle against the fall chill.
Or maybe the chill had nothing to do with the weather.
Usually, Geoff and I would run the front, and the ever-changing kitchen staff handled everything else.
The baking, the washing up. I’d chat to Geoff all day and the hours at the coffee shop sped by.
We’d tell each other anecdotes and share the gossip.
Geoff would pretend to be exhausted by the customers, and I’d get orders started before they even sat down.
It just wasn’t the same without him here.
No jokes, no laughing. Today there were long silences between me and James, and we did our best never to be in the same place at the same time.
He clearly didn’t remember our childhood kiss, and I wished I didn’t remember it either.
Jo from the library had come in on her lunch break wearing one of her amazing dresses. Today’s was turquoise, with little yellow flowers scattered all across it. “How are you, Willa?” she asked. “And tell me … is that James Parker? Hasn’t he grown up nicely?”
“Geoff broke his leg, so James is here to help out. And between you and me, I can barely get a word out of him.” I cupped my hand over my mouth as I spoke.
Jo laughed and lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Well, he’s turned out handsome, quiet or not. Oh, and speaking of handsome men, tell Lennie she should see the new stack of romances I have waiting for her.”
“Sure thing; she’ll be so excited.” Even if she wasn’t into men.
I made Jo a latte, looked at my watch, and took off my apron before my break.
Lennie hadn’t been to the library for a while.
She’d been too busy planning her next moves with Sara to check out someone else’s love story.
And she’d almost talked to Sara. Almost.
Then James seemed to appear from nowhere.
He’d taken off his checked shirt and was just wearing a gray T-shirt now.
For a second I found myself staring. At his smooth, dark skin, and how the muscles in his arms were bigger than I’d thought.
Not that I’d been thinking about his muscles before.
He looked almost cute in his apron, and the scowl that darkened his eyes was almost working in his favor.
“Are you going somewhere?” he asked me.
I smiled, thinking we might be having some staff banter at last. When the look on his face told me otherwise, I found myself stumbling over my words.
“I’m going to make myself a caramel latte and sit outside for ten minutes while I take a break.
If that’s okay with you?” I took my hair out of its ponytail and retied it for something to do with my suddenly nervous hands.
I kept thinking about cutting my hair shorter, but I always chickened out.
It was halfway down my back now, and as much as I loved the way it looked, it was getting hard to deal with.
James was staring at it as if it made him furious.
He shook his head and leaned on the counter beside me. Closer. His arm tensed, defining the muscles in it even more. I wasn’t watching, exactly, but I couldn’t help but notice.
“If I’m going to be stuck managing this place, I need to know what’s happening, I can’t have people just walking out whenever they like.”
I wasn’t “people.” I was practically family here.
“What time will you be back?” he demanded.
“I’ll be back in ten minutes, like usual.” I was smiling, also like usual, but underneath I was seriously confused and annoyed. Who did he think he was?
“Fine.”
I reached across him, toward the coffee machine, assuming he’d move out of the way. But he didn’t. “Excuse me, please.”
James sighed and moved. When he did, he brushed against me. And it shocked me that the anger in my gut didn’t ignite another fire but instead turned into something different. A flurry of butterflies, right there in my stomach.
I made my caramel latte, feeling his eyes on me the whole time. And when I finished, I grabbed my jacket, making sure to swing my ponytail on the way out the door.
I sat down in my usual seat, the same one I sat in every time I took a break, on the little wooden chair beside the table that looked out onto Main Street.
I rearranged the little vase of plastic mums on the table.
Every table had a little vase of orange, red, and yellow chrysanthemums—another one of my ideas.
They weren’t hard to find, after all—mums were everywhere this time of year.
Lining the streets, outside houses in big old flowerpots.
Joy and optimism, that was what they symbolized.
My eyes ran down Main Street as I sipped my latte.
There were the hardware store, the bakery, the drugstore, Main Street Books.
The trees that lined the streets, then opened out into the square.
I could count the stores—and practically count the massive old trees—on two hands.
This small town was all I’d ever known, and the more movies I watched set in Paris or London or Barcelona, the more I saw how much there wasn’t in Oak Falls.
Without really thinking, I opened that email again.
The one from the attorney. The probably scam.
I let my eyes settle on the $25,000 for a few seconds before I came to my senses, closed the tab, and opened the group chat instead.
Nobody had written anything this morning. Were my friends even awake?
Me: I have news …
Weirdly, I was trying to think of a reason to talk about James. James, whose arms kept flashing in my mind.
Me: Carter Blake is back. He dropped into the coffee shop yesterday
Krista: WHAT?!
Avery: I think I just got heart palpitations
Lennie: I was hoping you wouldn’t tell them Will
Lennie: Please don’t make us go and watch him play some stupid sport again
Me: He said I had cute hair. And asked me if I still ran track …
Krista: Oh my God you lucky bitch
Avery: We can’t be friends anymore Will.
Avery: Sorry.
Avery: Willa Taylor has been removed from the group chat …
Me: And …
Avery: There’s an AND? Are you trying to give me a heart attack Taylor?
Me: Geoff broke his leg ? so his son is helping out. And he’s kind of hot. Kind of a jerk though
Krista: So we’ve just been sleeping and Will is in town picking up all the guys? This is NOT okay!
Avery: Anyone in the mood for a pumpkin spice latte?
Lennie: Me
Krista: Me
Me: Don’t be too loud. Or too happy. Geoff’s son seems allergic to joy
Krista: But he’s hot?
Avery: See you soon Wills x
I checked my watch and saw I’d been out here for nine minutes. Inside, I could see James rushing through the coffee shop with three cups. It wasn’t even that busy, but he was making it look like I’d left him to feed the masses.
“Slacking, Willa Taylor?” I looked up to see Carter again, with that smile.
I turned my phone over as if he could somehow read my chat with my friends.
“Just having a break. I thought you had midterms to study for?” I was so proud of myself for being able to speak like a normal person this time.
Maybe being around James all morning had given me some thicker skin.
I picked up my mug to bring inside, while Carter just stood there watching.
He was wearing navy sweatpants today, ones that hung low on his hips, with his Penn State sweatshirt. He really was looking good …
“So what do you think about the Kissing Tree?”
Okay, now I felt flustered.
“It’s sad. Not that I ever used it,” I admitted, then wished I would disappear.
“Never?” Carter’s eyes widened in shock. “I thought guys would be lining up to kiss you there.” That smile.
“Well, I mean, I did kiss someone before, but I didn’t go to the tree or anything …” I babbled, wishing I’d cut my break even shorter.
“Good to know,” Carter said. His eyes twinkled with amusement.
“So, how’s Piper?” I blurted out. Carter and Piper were homecoming king and queen like two years running. They were perfect together.
“Oh, we broke up,” Carter said. “Different schools and all. She’s at Princeton now.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” I said. Not that I meant it. “Piper was lovely.”
“I think she still probably is. She’s not dead or anything,” he joked, while I felt my cheeks get hot.
“Are you coming back sometime today or were you just here for the morning shift?” a voice snapped.
James was halfway out the door, glaring at me. He glanced at Carter, then looked for my reply.
“Sorry, Carter, I’ve got to go, my break’s just about finished …”
“I guess I better get going too, my nan’s in the nursing home and I want to get there before lunchtime, or they’ll try to make me join the entertainment. Catch you later?” Carter waved, smiled, and left me standing there staring after him, trying not to drool.
Back inside, the coffee shop was getting busy. And as much as James tried to pretend that he had everything under control, I could tell by the tight set of his jaw, and his brown eyes that wouldn’t settle, that the Little Acorn was stressing him out.
And I don’t think it helped that Lennie, Krista, and Avery walked through the door and took over the place.
Lennie was dressed like some psychedelic rainbow.
Pink hat, purple jacket, green cargo pants, and eyes that darted around the coffee shop, no doubt looking for James.
Krista wasn’t much more subtle. She was tall, with bright blond hair that her sister dyed for her every six weeks, and was always wearing something that glittered or sparkled.
Today it was her gold rhinestone sneakers.
What Avery lacked in outrageous fashion sense, she made up for by being the loudest of all of us. By a mile.
“We’ve come to save you!” Avery boomed as she walked in the door.
“Hey, Will, I’d like a large latte?” Lennie leaned on the counter and fluttered her black lashes.