CHAPTER 7
“Hey,” India said again and stood just inside the door.
“Can I help you find a new romance? You couldn’t have finished the first one since I saw you this morning,” she said.
“No,” India replied, laughing a little. “I just… I guess I came here to browse.”
“In the middle of your workday?”
“I’m taking a break,” India replied.
“Okay,” she said, nodding. “Need help finding where to browse, maybe?”
“That old man grunted at me.”
India hooked a thumb in the direction of the door.
Maisie laughed and said, “Mr. Barnard grunts at everyone.”
“Why, exactly?” India asked as she walked over to the counter.
“Well, he’s an old man. I think they just do that. But if I had to guess, there’s more to it than that.”
“Like what?”
“I think he had a crush on my grams.”
“Crush?”
“Maybe more.” Maisie shrugged a shoulder.
“He used to come in every single day, six days a week. And had we been open on Sundays, I think he would’ve come in after church, dressed in his Sunday best.” She smiled.
“Whenever Grams was working in the front, he would grab a book off the closest table, make a special order, or pick one up. When she was in the back, he’d skip right over the counter and make his way through the aisles. ”
“That’s sort of sweet,” India said with a smile.
“It was, yeah. She wasn’t interested, though. She never moved on from Gramps.”
“It’s cute that you call them that; Grams and Gramps.”
“What do you call your grandparents?”
“Well, nothing now. They’re all gone. I used to call them Grandmother and Grandfather, though.”
“Grandmother and Grandfather? Not even Grandma and Grandpa?”
“Formal family,” India said, tilting her head.
“Families can be formal? How does that work?”
The door swung open, and a customer walked in.
“One sec,” she said to India. “Hi. How can I help you?”
“Bathroom?” the woman asked.
“In the back on the left,” Maisie replied.
The woman nodded and walked in that direction.
“Does that happen a lot?” India asked.
“Honestly, not as much anymore. The store moving in next door helped. Most people pee there now, I’d imagine. But it used to happen all the time since your lobby doesn’t let people use the bathroom.”
“Security thing,” India offered in explanation.
“Back to the family thing. What is a formal family?”
India sighed and said, “You dress up for most dinners, which you eat in the formal dining room and usually have the staff prepare, deliver, and clean up. No elbows on the table. You call your parents ‘Mother’ and ‘Father’ when in certain company; never ‘Mommy’ and ‘Daddy,’ even when you’re young.
You attend certain society events. It’s all very cliché. ”
“And that was your family?”
“Still is. I just don’t always participate. And I cook for myself now, so I can put my elbows wherever I want.”
Maisie laughed and said, “So, you wanted to browse?”
“I guess I just wanted to get out of the office. I had lunch with–” India stopped. “My brother. It didn’t go well. But then, I was getting back to the office, and in the lobby, I found my ex-girlfriend with her new girlfriend, and I just needed to turn around and take a breath.”
“Oh. Your ex-girlfriend works for Southern?”
“So does her new girlfriend,” India revealed. “It’s been interesting recently.”
“I’d say so. Is that how you met? Through work?”
“Yeah. Finley is in IT. I’m in business development. We met, and we’ve been on and off ever since. Recently, she told me we were off for good, and I reacted poorly.” India stepped back. “I’m sorry. This is all really personal, and I’m at your place of business, just dropping this on you.”
“No, it’s okay,” Maisie replied. “I asked. And I’m not exactly busy. Aside from Lainey, there’s one other person in here with us, and she’s in the bathroom, so I’ve got the time. What do you mean you reacted poorly?”
“I thought we’d get back together how we always do, so I made advances, which she turned down, and I’m still a little embarrassed by it all.”
“Is her new girlfriend a bitch, at least?” Maisie joked.
“I wish. Molly is actually really great. I liked her before she started dating my ex, and I still do.”
“Wait. Molly, who works at Southern Roastery? Molly in HR?”
“Yes, how did you–”
“She’s been in here a bunch. Not recently, now that I think about it, but she used to come in, like, once every few weeks.”
“She’s probably busy with Finley.”
“Oh, sorry,” Maisie said.
“It’s okay. I’m good now.”
“So, it was a while ago, then?”
“Not really,” India said. “Weeks, not months.”
Maisie nodded because she’d gotten her answer. India had just gotten out of what sounded like a complicated relationship with someone whom she still wasn’t over. It dampened her mood a bit, but she reminded herself that it wasn’t as if someone like India would go for someone like her anyway.
“I’m good, though,” India repeated. “Really. I wasn’t at first, but I think that was more because I didn’t want to be alone, and Finley was familiar. You know how that goes.”
“Not really.”
“Just that it gets hard to let go of something when you think about having to start over. We tried for years. She knows everything about me. I know everything about her. It’s kind of like that old blanket you keep over your sofa.
You could buy a new one that might be warmer or bigger or softer, but when you put it over your legs, it wouldn’t feel the same as the old one you’ve put over those legs for years; even though it might have holes in it or has been washed a thousand times and is falling apart. ”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Maisie replied as the woman who had just used her bathroom walked out the door.
“Hey, can I maybe grab you a coffee? Finley and Molly should be back upstairs by now, and I could use a pick-me-up. I don’t have another meeting, so I can bring it back here,” India offered.
“I’d like a coffee,” Lainey said from the center aisle.
“Lainey!”
“What do you want?” India asked her.
“Iced coffee. Large. Maybe add a little vanilla?”
“Sure.” India chuckled. “Maisie?”
“You don’t have to bring us coffee.”
“I want to. Caramel latte and a peanut butter cookie?”
“Sure, I guess.”
“Lainey, peanut butter cookie?”
“Hell, yeah,” Lainey replied.
“Great. I’ll be right back,” India said with a determined look on her face.
Then, she turned and left the shop. Maisie smiled because the pretty woman she had a crush on, after only meeting her the day before, was going to bring her coffee and a cookie.
The pretty woman she had a crush on had remembered her coffee order.
Maisie looked up at Lainey, who was suddenly standing where India had been just moments before.
She must have zoned out because she had no idea how Lainey had gotten there so quickly.
“You like her.”
“What?”
“You like her. That’s India, right?”
“Yes, that’s India. And I don’t like her.”
“Yes, you do. I remember what you look like when you like someone. For a while, that someone was me.”
“You know too much about me. We shouldn’t be friends anymore,” she joked.
“It goes both ways. Act like you’ve never told Paige anything embarrassing about me before.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she replied, stacking the Chapter I heard her say something about an ex-girlfriend.”
“You were eavesdropping?” she asked.
“It’s a small store, Maise. Kind of hard not to overhear things when there’s no one else in here.”
“Can you just get back to work? I’m not paying you to give me a hard time.”
“Yeah. Yeah,” Lainey replied and made her way back to the center aisle.
“Hey?”
“Yeah?” Lainey asked.
“She might not be over her ex.”
“She said she was good. I heard that part, too.”
“What if she’s not?”
“You can ask her.”
“That’s obvious.”
“Ask her out, I mean. If she says no, either she’s not interested in you or she’s not over her ex, but at least you’d know. You haven’t been on a date in forever. It’s worth a shot.”
“Can you make yourself scarce when she comes back?” Maisie asked.
“Sure.”
Lainey winked at her before she headed toward the back office just as the door opened and India walked through.
“Okay. I’ve got a large vanilla iced coffee, a large caramel latte, two peanut butter cookies, and a peach tea.”
“Peach tea?”
“I thought if Sarah was here, she’d like it, and if not, I would drink it.”
“She’s not. Off today,” Maisie replied.
“All mine, then,” India said as she set a travel container with the drinks and a brown bag on the counter.
“I thought you wanted coffee.”
“Just caffeine.” India took the tea and looked around. “Where’s Lainey?”
“Back office.”
“Should I take this back to her?”
“No, I’ll give it to her in a minute,” she replied. “She’s… on the phone… with her doctor. She’s got a… rash.”
“Oh,” India said, scrunching up her nose and looking down the center aisle as if she could see the fake rash from there.
“That’s not true.” Maisie shook her head. “She’d kill me if she thought I let you leave thinking that.”
“She doesn’t have a rash?” India asked.
“She might, but I wouldn’t know about it. Paige might.”
“Who’s Paige?”
“Lainey’s girlfriend.”
India took a long drink of her peach iced tea through the straw, and those brown eyes bore into Maisie’s, making her suddenly very nervous.
“So, do you have any plans tonight?” Maisie asked.
India shook her head, still with the straw in her mouth, making drinking through a straw look sexy.
“Um… There’s this dive seafood place I was going to go to.
They have great food, but it’s a hole-in-the-wall place.
Literally, it’s a hole in the wall. You order there and eat as you go, or they have picnic tables sometimes.
Do you maybe want to grab some cheap seafood and eat it at a picnic table where there may or may not be bird poop?
” Maisie shook her head while she laughed.
“I’m making this sound awful, I know, but it’s good food, at least. Super chill. ”
“Your kind of place?” India asked.
“Super chill?”
India nodded.
“I’m a pretty chill girl, yeah.” Maisie smiled.
“Is this a date?”
Maisie cleared her throat and said, “Yeah, it would be a date.”
India bit her lower lip and asked, “What about this? I’ll pick you up at your place and take you to a nice restaurant where we can order an amazing bottle of wine and the chef’s tasting menu.
I can get us a reservation. There’s also a new play I’ve been dying to check out that just opened.
I can make a few calls and get us some good tickets. ”
Maisie’s eyes widened. So, India was interested in going out with her, but she wanted to go to a fancy restaurant and then to some play after?
“Um… I might not be able to afford that. The restaurant, I mean. I don’t know how expensive the play would be.”
“My treat,” India said. “If it’s a first date, I don’t want to sit at some picnic table, possibly on bird poop, while I eat seafood. I don’t think me getting sick from bad shrimp is a great way to end the night.”
“Why would you get sick?” Maisie asked.
“It’s a dive, you said.”
“It’s a locally-owned restaurant that could use a little TLC, yes, but the food is good. They have that sign hanging up outside from the board of health. They have an A. It’s safe to eat there, and I’ve never gotten sick. Neither has Lainey nor Paige, for that matter.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult the place. I just thought it would be nice to go to a great restaurant where we could sit and talk, have a waiter bring us the food, and have some music playing in the background.”
“We could sit and talk at the other place, too. That was kind of the idea.”
“I’m not much of a hole-in-the-wall person, Maisie. It’s not really my thing. Sorry.”
“Fancy restaurants aren’t really my thing,” Maisie said and motioned to her clothes. “You’ve seen how I’m dressed. This is how I dress pretty much all the time. I wouldn’t even fit in wherever you want to go.”
“I wouldn’t exactly fit in where you want to go,” India argued. “I don’t like my heels to go into the grass or mud, and I’m guessing those picnic tables are–”
“You know what? You’re right.” Maisie shook her head. “Just forget about it.”
“Maisie, if you want to go out, we can. I promise, the restaurant will be fine. I’ll even skip the tasting menu. We can order whatever you want.”
“A dive; that’s what I wanted. It’s fine, though. Forget I asked.” She waved India off. “Thank you for the coffee and the cookies. It really was very nice of you. I’ll give this one to Lainey.” She pointed to Lainey’s iced coffee. “But I think I’ll keep both cookies. I could really use them.”
“Hey, what just happened here?” India asked her. “You asked me out, but now, you don’t want to go because I wanted to take you to a nice restaurant? That’s a bad thing?”
“I think we’re just really different, and this conversation made that clear. I mean, my family isn’t formal. Yours is. Not sure where we go from here.”
“We can talk about it, at least,” India suggested.
The door opened, and a man and a woman walked in.
“Bathroom?” Maisie guessed.
“Yes, please,” the woman replied.
“Back, on the left.” Maisie pointed. “I should get back to work,” she told India.
“Yeah, okay. Sure, I guess,” India replied, looking confused, but she left the shop all the same.