Chapter Two
Cypress
Pick me up at seven.
My mate’s text had come right before I was on my way to meet her at her place of business.
Zephyr usually left for the day around three after starting before dawn, already longer than I thought she should work, but my mate’s success and her pleasure in running her business made it impossible for me to push the issue.
At least as long as her health did not suffer, I would support her and do what I could to make sure the rest of her life ran smoothly.
At seven, an hour later than the business usually closed, I stood on the darkened sidewalk watching her dart from station to station, keeping things moving, and helping the last few customers.
Zephyr was as capable as always, and her staff seemed to be doing fine, but the shop itself was a disaster.
The trash cans overflowed and every table needed clearing.
Even the floor had patches where sticky, milky drinks had spilled and not been cleaned up. What on earth?
Confused, I pushed the door open and stepped inside.
“Cypress, could you stay there and lock up after each customer?”
“Sure. It’s well after closing time.” I opened the door for two ladies holding their cardboard cups, and muttering something about not being able to get an apple something.
“Come back tomorrow,” called Sam after them. “Ask for me, and your drinks will be on the house.”
For the next ten minutes or so, I let people out and made sure nobody else came in.
A few tries, but I had flipped the sign and just pointed to it with a smile and a shrug.
When the last person left, also unhappy that they hadn’t gotten that apple thing, I finally leaned against the door and took in the totality of the scene.
“What went on here? Was there some kind of a flash mob?” I thought those involved dancing, but maybe the mob had been on the way back from a flash.
“No.” Zephyr came out from behind the counter and wrapped her arms around me. “Sorry to keep you so late. We had quite an exciting afternoon and evening, as you can probably tell.” The staff still present were clearing tables and stuffing garbage in big white plastic bags. “Eliza took us viral.”
“She did?” I wasn’t so out of things that I didn’t know what it meant. “What for?”
“She invented a drink and put it up on social media and we got flooded with customers.” I was so excited, I could barely stand it.
“I just had to order everything. When we ran out of the ingredients for the one drink, they took our other fall specialties then anything we had. We are out of just about everything.”
“Mate, you finally started making use of the website and social media we had set up for you?” It had been a few months, and she just hadn’t had time. I didn’t have all the information it would require or I’d have done it for her. “It’s paying off.”
Her cheeks flamed. “No, it was Eliza’s social media, but she says she has only a few followers, so we’re not sure how it got out.
But”—before I could interrupt, she raised a hand—“I realize the value of it now and am going to assign people to help out making posts and updating the site. Sam even said she knew how to do YouTube and TikTok and has ideas for there.”
“That’s great. You are doing very well, but it couldn’t hurt to have a few more ways to keep things moving.”
“Like merch.” She winked at me. “I know I’ve always fought it, but what happened today made me wonder why I didn’t like the idea. Why shouldn’t we have hats and T-shirts and mugs?”
“I don’t think you were strictly fighting it as much as not having time for it. I know you didn’t want to take up my time, either, but why don’t we compromise and work on it together.”
She rested her head on my chest. “I don’t deserve you.”
“Probably not. I am pretty awesome, but for now it’s almost time to get to our dinner. I postponed it as late as I could, but if we don’t leave soon, I will have to cancel.”
“I’m so sorry.” She looked around the shop and wrinkled her nose. “Everyone, we’re all tired, so why don’t we lock up and take care of it in the morning. If you’re not scheduled for then and you’d like the extra hours, meet me here at five.”
They all agreed, for which I was grateful and would be giving them a bonus, and, as soon as my lovely mate changed clothes, off we went for what I hoped would be a beautiful evening. I’d kept a lot of it a secret, but it was a very special occasion and I was happy to help Zephyr celebrate it.