Page 9 of Tangled Threads Of Fate

I strolled into work five minutes early, just so I didn’t have to look at Bob. My stomach was roiling, but luckily for me, my morning sickness had decided that it wanted to strike every day at six p.m. At least by then I was home from work, and I was no longer deluding myself that I had bad food, or a gastro bug, or whatever the hell else my brain had come up with to justify the fact I’d been puking for two weeks straight.

Nope, it was straight up morning sickness.

I smiled tightly at Tammy as she bustled around, doing the opening checklist. Picking up my apron, I got to work too. I needed the distraction. Too soon, the store was open, and the steady stream of coffee drinkers didn’t stop until one. We all rotated out to have our lunch breaks, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat anyway.

I was hanging out back at the machines as Tammy made coffee, and the new girl Priya was working the window. “Tammy, did I give my number to anyone while we were at Camila’s farewell? The night is a little fuzzy.”

Tammy frowned, pouring a hazelnut shot for a mocha. “I don’t know about your number, but you were dancing with a cute guy there for a while. Tall and built.”

Yeah, I remembered that guy. I also remembered when he’d wandered to the next girl. “Hmm, I see.”

Tammy stopped what she was doing, giving me a frown. “Is someone harassing you?”

I wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. “No, nothing like that. Trying to piece some things together, is all. I didn’t disappear or anything at the end of the night?”

She shrugged. “You went to pee, but that’s about it. You were gone for ages, but when you came back, you just grinned and said the lines were long.”

I didn’t remember that, but taking a pee wasn’t exactly something that stuck in your brain. It must have been then, not that it mattered. That horse had bolted. The ship had sailed. The tadpole had turned into a frog. Three frogs.

I didn’t get time to talk much more as lunch finished, and I was relieving Priya again. “Someone just ordered a pup cup for their tarantula.” She visibly shuddered, and I tilted my head.

“Wouldn’t a spider be lactose intolerant?” We got some weird customers, and a tarantula wasn’t even the strangest thing I’d seen in the window.

Priya rolled her eyes. “He ordered it with almond milk.” She hightailed it back to the breakroom, and I didn’t blame her.

It was a day for weird customers. I had a guy whose husky tried to jump through the window to kiss me. Followed by a woman who wanted me to measure exactly how much milk was in her latte—eight and a half ounces, not a single drop more—and gave it back to me twice, until I made Tammy come over with a measuring jug so she could watch the pour.

That backed us up, meaning we had to hustle to clear the line. When someone ordered an extra-large caramel macchiato with cherry syrup and chocolate whip, I was about ready to reach through the window and shake them if they were another prank order.

The car that pulled up was hot pink. It seemed to have chia seeds growing in heart-shaped chunks on the doors. I decided that the disgusting order probably wasn’t a prank. This lady looked like she’d love an unholy combination of flavors.

“Caramel macchiato with cherry syrup and chocolate whip?”

The woman just stared at me. Her hair was in a beehive on the top of her head. Her eyelashes were fake, and her red lipstick was a touch too orange for her skin tone and bleeding up through the wrinkles around her mouth.

I cleared my throat. “Uh, that’s $6.90, thanks. Cash or card?”

“You should go to Crete.”

I stared blankly at her. It was too late in the day for this shit. “Pardon?”

“You should go to Crete if you want to survive. Amourgeles. They’ll come for you soon.”

Her voice was monotone, and her eyes… They were freaking me out. It was like storm clouds were moving across her irises. The lights coming off her were intense, and I squinted as they hurt my head. “What do you mean?” I breathed.

“If you want the children to survive, go to Amourgeles. If you stay, you’ll die.”

I swallowed hard. “Ma’am, I don’t have any children.”

Her eyes snapped to my face then, and they were an eerie pearlescent. “Crete. Only they can help you.” Then she blinked slowly, and when she opened her eyes again, they were a deep brown. “Did you say $6.90? Have the prices gone up?” She handed me a handful of money, and I took it on instinct.

My eye twitched, my heart now thundering in my chest. “Uh, yeah. Sorry. Management, you know?” I fell into the natural excuse I gave anytime someone whined about the prices. I gave her back her change as Tammy appeared with the drink.

When I turned back to the lady, she was regarding me silently, her eyes the normal color but the golden lights jumping around her still extra strong. Man, I was losing it. I thrust the drink at her, hoping she’d disappear and I could just write the whole exchange off as another crackpot weirdo.

And I’d met a few. You couldn’t live in a city this long without meeting a few kooks. There was a guy who walked through the drive-thru once a month, even though it was against the law, because he insisted he was on his flying horse.

In the end, we just served him, because who was I to argue with invisible winged horses?

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