Page 188 of Finding Us

“I will. Bye.”

As I set my phone down, I notice a text from Jade.Class ends at 9:30. Meet me outside the building.

I text back.Want a coffee?

She texts,Yes! Dying for one! Ur the best husband EVER!!

I text back.I know.

I’m sure she’s either laughing or rolling her eyes at that.

“Want a refill?”

I look up and see a girl holding a coffee pot. She’s small, a few inches shorter than Jade. At first I thought she was a kid. She has short black hair that’s angled to her chin and is wearing jeans and a red t-shirt with the coffee shop logo on it.

I look down and see that she filled my coffee cup before I could even answer. “I didn’t know you guys gave refills here.”

“It’s a new thing we’re trying. You get one refill, but if you order food you get unlimited refills. We have a whole breakfast menu if you’re interested.”

“No, thanks. I just ate, but maybe some other time.”

“We have lunch, too. Do you want to see the menu?”

She seems eager to show it to me so I say, “Sure. I’ll check it out.”

She reaches in the apron that’s around her waist and hands me a menu. “The tuna salad is really good. Actually all the sandwiches are. They’re served on homemade bread. We make it here every morning. I can bring you a sample if you want to try it.”

I smile at her. “You’re quite the salesperson. Are you related to the owner?”

“No.” Her cheeks blush. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be pushy. It’s just that business has been kind of slow and if it doesn’t improve, I’ll lose my job and I really need this job.” She cringes. “Forget I said that. I shouldn’t have told you about business being slow. Dammit!” She cringes again. “And I should NOT have just cursed in front of a customer. I’m so sorry. Please don’t tell my boss.”

“I won’t. It’s fine.” I give her the menu. “Maybe I’ll stop by for lunch sometime. You sold me with the homemade bread.”

Her shoulders relax. “Do you go to Camsburg?”

“Yeah, and I need to get going. I have class soon.”

“Maybe you could tell your friends to stop by for lunch?”

“Sure, I can do that.” I don’t bother to tell her I have no friends here.

The girl walks off and I put my laptop away and get up to leave. As I’m walking out, I go past the girl as she’s cleaning one of the tables. There’s a guy in a suit talking on his phone next to her. He swings his laptop bag over his shoulder and it knocks into the girl and the tray she’s holding. The coffee cups fly off the tray and hit the floor, shattering and making a loud noise.

The guy in the suit whips around. “Can’t you see I’m trying to talk here?” He storms outside.

The girl looks like she’s about to cry as she picks up the fragments of broken cups.

I kneel down to help her. “Hey, it’s just some cups, right?”

“What are you doing?” She keeps her head down, but I see a tear running down her cheek.

“I’m just trying to help. That guy was a total ass.”

“He comes in here all the time. He works at a law firm down the street. Sometimes they meet here before work.”

“A lawyer, huh? That explains it.”

She takes a towel from her apron and sweeps the mess away from me and toward her. “I got this. Really. Get to class.”

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