Chapter Fifteen
Vi would gladly watch Gabriella absorb herself in a coffee spill for the full five minutes she had left on her lunch break.
But it was rush hour at Cozy Grotto Café, and Arthur Pineclaw, the owner’s chimera boyfriend, could only stand there with a cloth for so long, waiting for Gabriella to stop examining the spill.
Apparently, it had artistic merit. Vi wished she would quit taking pictures and let Arthur clean it up already.
“I can come back later if you want more time with the spill,” Arthur offered cheerily, flashing his literal movie-star smile at them.
Arthur had grown up in Claw Haven, moved away to become a world-famous actor, and then moved back after falling back in love with his high school girlfriend, Emma, who owned Cozy Grotto Café.
Now he worked there for nine months of the year.
His customer-service skills were immaculate.
Gabriella shushed him. She had crouched down to photograph the spill from the right angle. The spill was all over her bagel, courtesy of Hazel, one of the human waitresses, who was having a hard time adjusting to the job.
“I can also get you a new bagel,” Arthur continued. “Here at Cozy Grotto Café, we value customer service over everything. Isn’t that right, babe?”
He turned to shoot Emma a thumbs-up. Emma smiled back from behind the counter in between frothing milk and running to take the next customer’s order.
For Emma, this was actually a big step. Before Arthur moved back, she had been the grumpiest business owner in town, maybe with the exception of Chester.
Now she was actively smiling at people and not yelling at Hazel, who kept spilling drinks and taking the wrong change and making a plethora of other mistakes that made Vi privately vow to never hire her at Sweethelm Books.
“I think we’re okay,” Vi told Arthur as Gabriella bent lower to examine the spill. “Maybe a napkin?”
“Coming right up,” said Arthur happily. He whipped out napkins from his apron and presented them to her with a flourish. They were preautographed, Vi noticed as she took a wad of them. Tourists still showed up every day to get their photos taken with him.
Vi held the napkins out to Gabriella. “Gabs? Are we cleaning this up or are you getting inspired?”
Gabriella grunted, not moving from her crouched position as she continued to snap photos.
“I’ll take that as inspired,” Vi said, dropping the napkins in the middle of the table. “They’re there when you want them.”
“You can’t stop inspiration,” Arthur continued, shaking out his lustrous mane and beaming at Gabriella.
“I heard you have an art exhibition coming up next month! That’s great.
If there’s one thing I think Claw Haven should have more of, it’s the arts.
You can bet I’ll be there! Can I do anything with the plate to help you get into the artist’s headspace? ”
“I think we’re fine,” Vi said again. “Emma’s waving at you.”
Arthur turned to see Emma waving wildly at him from behind the counter.
“Hazel broke another cup,” Emma said through clenched teeth. “Could you grab a broom?”
Hazel, the human who had spilled someone else’s coffee over Gabriella’s lunch, looked at them miserably from behind the coffee machine. “I’m still really sorry about that spill!”
“We’re fine,” Vi assured her.
Arthur hurried off for a broom. Vi turned back to her sister, who was finally straightening in her seat and tucking her phone away.
“I want to create something liquid,” Gabriella announced. “Or with the illusion of liquidity, anyhow.”
“Great,” Vi said. She checked her phone. Just a few minutes until she had to get back to the bookshop. “Can I clean it up now?”
Gabriella nodded, looking around the café distractedly.
Vi took the wad of napkins and started dabbing at the spill. She left the bagel untouched; if Gabriella still wanted it, she could pick around the damp bits.
“Christopher!” Gabriella yelled suddenly.
Vi jumped. Gabriella leaped out of her seat, her voluminous hair bouncing as she stared across the café at yet another chimera, a non-movie-star one this time, the mayor of Claw Haven, who was waving politely from the other side of the café.
“I need to go talk to the mayor,” Gabriella said. “How much time do you have?”
Vi checked her phone again. “Two minutes.”
“I will be so fast,” Gabriella promised. Then she darted through the crowded café toward Christopher.
Vi wiped the rest of the coffee spill off the table. Then she started stacking their plates—years of waitressing in high school had drilled the habit into her, especially during lunch hours when the staff didn’t have time to stack them.
Emma arrived at her table, her short hair frazzled and her apron stained. “Hey. I know I said you only needed to do one quiz night this week, but Daisy’s still getting over that cold, and I don’t trust Hazel to operate a PowerPoint. Can you do it?”
Vi went through her mental schedule. She didn’t have anything going on during that second quiz night, which was a rarity. She had been meaning to finally break out that bath bomb. But bath bombs could wait.
“Sure,” Vi said.
“Great,” Emma said, rubbing a stress line between her brows. She turned back to the counter, then paused and said in a rush: “I really appreciate it. I know how busy you are. Thanks, bye.”
Vi smiled, touched. Emma really had softened since Arthur moved back to Claw Haven. Even if a lot of her kindness was rehearsed. Vi knew it was hard for her, and she also knew how much she meant it.
Emma turned to the counter again, then swore as chic LA transplant Luna Musgrove almost ran into her in her haste to get to Vi’s table.
“Luna!” Emma snapped. “Watch where you’re going!”
“Emma,” cried Luna, swooping in to kiss a bewildered Emma’s cheek. “You look beautiful! Did you try that hair gel I gave you?”
“Does it look like I’m wearing gel right now?” Emma gestured at her pixie cut, which was wild from hours of running around the café. There was even coffee in it, which wasn’t uncommon when the accident-prone Hazel was on shift.
Arthur dinged the bell behind the counter. Emma stalked off, muttering under her breath.
Luna waved merrily at her and then dropped into the seat Vi’s sister had just vacated, flashing her shiny teeth in a smile. “Vi! Just the girl I wanted to see! Remember when you said you’d totally help out if we didn’t have anyone to cover the front desk at the inn?”
“If I have time,” Vi said, already getting ready to shuffle her mental schedule.
“It’s this Saturday,” Luna said, reaching her moisturized hands over the table to grip Vi’s. “We’re either sick, visiting cousins, or on a school trip with the kids! Except Grandmother, but we don’t like making her work—her health, you know.”
“Of course,” Vi said.
Luna gasped, clasping Vi’s hands hard. “So, you’ll do it?”
Vi nodded. Luna squealed, leaning across the table to grab Vi in a brief hug and rocking her from side to side. “You’re a lifesaver, Vi Harper. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to powder my nose. Toodles!”
With that, she swanned toward the bathroom, people parting to make way for the glamorous city girl who swaggered like she belonged on the red carpet with Arthur Pineclaw.
Arthur was still behind the counter, beaming into the cameras that tourists aimed at him while Emma poured coffees and shouted for more milk.
Vi grimaced at the lunchtime din. If things got any louder, she was going to get a headache. Cozy Grotto Café might be used to this noise, but the bookstore only got this busy at Christmas.
Gabriella ran back to the table and slammed her hands down on the sticky surface. “Hey! I—ew, bad idea.” She paused to wipe her hands on her jeans, then continued excitedly: “Christopher just said we should put up posters for my exhibition! Isn’t that fantastic?”
“That’s great,” Vi said, checking her phone again: Less than one minute to go. “You can design something fun for the poster.”
“Right?” Gabriella did a little dance, even spinning on the spot before coming to an abrupt stop and gasping. “You have to help me put up the posters! We’d need to do it soon. The exhibition is only a month away and Christopher says the earlier we advertise, the better!”
“Okay,” Vi said, pulling up that damn mental schedule again. “I’ll find a time, and we can—”
Gabriella gasped again, even louder than before. “Hold that thought! I need to ask Christopher something mayor-y. Think up something cool to put on the poster while I’m gone!”
She ran off again toward Christopher, who was pulling his wings in to allow tourists to pass.
Vi watched her go, biting her tongue so she didn’t point out that Gabriella was the visual artist here, not Vi.
She went to check her phone again, wondering if she would have to wave goodbye to Gabriella while she was still busy with Christopher.
Then someone else descended on her table, and Vi pulled up a hasty smile as she spotted Lydia from book club.
“Vi,” Lydia said, leaning heavily on her purple cane in a way that suggested she was not enjoying the winter weather. “About that new vacuum—thanks again for getting Nick to drop it off, but it doesn’t work when I plug it in.”
“Oh no,” Vi said, her head throbbing as she fought the urge to tell Lydia to google a vacuum specialist. Gabriella was still talking loudly to Christopher about posters, Arthur was snapping photos with tourists, Emma was yelling about milk, and Hazel was busy breaking a plate in the corner.
Vi couldn’t stop herself from flinching at the loud noise.
She was great under pressure, but she had come here for a rest. Couldn’t she just have a peaceful lunch hour with her sister before she went back to returns and restocks and grandparents who wanted Vi to pick out books for their grandchildren despite not knowing the first thing about their reading tastes?