Page 18 of Second Chance Fate

Taylor couldn’t help but grin thinking about it as she scanned the rest of the room. The only other customer was a woman curled up in the corner of one of the couches with a green drink that, if she had to guess, was matcha and a Kindle. If she could trade places with anyone in there, it would be that woman. She didn’t look like she had a care in the world. Of course, there was no way for Taylor to know if that was the case or not, but she loved people-watching and making up stories of what those people’s lives might be.

“Can I help you?”

The question snapped Taylor out of her daydreaming. She blinked as she turned her head toward the counter. When she opened her eyes, Audrey Wells was looking at her with a welcoming, warm smile.

Taylor didn’t need to look at her name tag to know who she was. She knew all about the Wells sisters. The four of them were born and raised in Los Angeles but vacationed in the quaint mountain town in the summers. When they first opened, only two of the four lived in town: Audrey and Viv. But as of a year or so ago, all four of the sisters were now residents. Oh, and the reason the theme of the coffee shop was Old Hollywood was because the sisters were all named after starlets from that era: Audrey, Ava, Vivien, and Grace.

“Hi, yes, I was actually here about the job.” Taylor motioned behind her back to the window as she walked up to the counter.

When she lowered her arm, she realized her hand was shaking. She hadn’t felt nervous before she walked in, at least not nervous about applying for a job. She wasn’t sure where these jitters were coming from now.

“Oh, okay. Great! Did you fill out an application online?”

“No.” Taylor shook her head. “I didn’t know…I just thought when I saw the sign…it’s been a while…”

Shut up, Taylor. She could hear herself blowing this. The last job she applied for was at Owen’s school. Before that, she worked at the university bookstore during her freshman year of college.

“Okay, no problem,” Audrey assured her as she picked up an iPad. “What is your phone number?”

Taylor gave Audrey her number, knowing that she was most likely not going to be hearing from her. She assumed she would tell her she’d keep it on file and let her know if anything came up. But that’s not what happened.

“Well, thank—” Just as Taylor was in the process of thanking Audrey for her time she heard her phone ding. Her entire body tensed, thinking it was Owen. She grabbed it from her purse and saw it was a text from a number she didn’t have saved with a link.

“That is a link to an online application,” Audrey explained. “If you have time now, you can grab a seat on the couch, or wherever you’re comfortable, and once you fill it out, we can chat.”

Taylor was so surprised she wasn’t getting the brush-off; it took her a second to process what she was hearing.

“Or, if now’s not a good time, we can—” Audrey began, but Taylor cut her off.

“No,” she quickly corrected her. “I mean, yes, now’s a good time. Great, actually. Yes, thanks.”

“Can I get you something to drink?” Audrey offered.

“Oh, um…” Taylor was still feeling the effects of sleeping past her alarm, and if she was going to have an interview now, then she needed to be sharp. “Can I get an iced honey almond milk double espresso?”

“Absolutely.”

Taylor pulled out her card, but Audrey put her hand up, insisting, “It’s on the house.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind?—”

“I’m sure.”

“Thank you.” Taylor felt tears begin to fill her lower lids, just like they had when Manny gave her two rolls of quarters. She wasn’t sure why she was getting so emotional again. Maybe it was because she was worried about Owen, and it was coming out. Or maybe it was because she just wasn’t used to people being genuinely nice to her with no ulterior motive. Yeah, it was probably the latter.

Taylor waited at the end of the counter for her drink, thanked Audrey again once it was ready, and then settled on the couch that would offer them the greatest amount of privacy. As she filled out the application, most of it was straightforward, but she didn’t mark the box that gave consent to run a background check on her. If they did that, it might flag her name in a system that would alert her ex. He had an ankle monitor on, but that wouldn’t stop him.

Living this way was not sustainable. She knew she couldn’t be scared of Martin Watts for the rest of her life, but he had shown up and shot someone just to find out where she was, so she didn’t think she was being dramatic or overly paranoid.

Once she pressed send on the application, Taylor wondered if she’d just blown it by making herself seem like she had something to hide.

Before she slid into full Second Guess Panic Mode, Audrey walked over and joined her. “Okay, great. Let’s see what we’ve got.” Audrey looked down at the iPad and scrolled through it.

Taylor watched as she scanned down the pages.

“So your name is Rebecca, but you go by your last name, Taylor?”

As of eight months ago…

---