Page 3 of The Hampton Beach Café 3
"Uh...Yes, thanks," Alex said, stepping away from Frances and dropping his hands to his sides. "I'm glad you're both alright. I just didn't know you were down here."
She could see some color glowing on his cheeks, and Frances wondered if Lucinda knew the effect she had on people.
"Come on in," Frances said. "And thank you for the offer, but there will be no next time. I'm getting a motion sensor light and a security camera out there."
Nodding, Alex followed her into the kitchen and took a seat on one of the shiny silver stools that stood in front of the main preparation counter.
"Absolutely no next time, but if anything happens, you know you can call me––both of you?"
Lucinda leaned her weight onto one elbow as she reached across the metal counter to pinch Alex's cheek.
"Aww, that's sweet, honey," she said. "We'll get a big red 'Damsels in Distress' button."
She winked at him as he swatted her hand away.
"If it helps, think of me as the damsel in distress," Alex said. "I will be extremely distressed if you don't tell me. You're doing us all a favor by calling me straight away and then we won't have to deal with me the next day. Deal?"
The coffees Lucinda pushed towards them smelled incredible––if she ever wanted to do something other than be a world-class business coach in international demand, she would make one heck of a barista.
"Fine, deal," Frances said, clinking her coffee mug against his. "Now, we need a double bake of both cakes and an extra tray of the blueberry and white chocolate muffins. Kennedy is coming by and she wants to take a sample of what we make to the council meeting."
Alex gave a cartoonish double take. "Wait, what? Kennedy is taking our goods to a council meeting? Why? And don't avoid the topic––what did the police say?"
With a shrug, Frances sipped her coffee.
"Probably kids who didn't realize the place wasn't empty anymore. They caught teenagers drinking beer in here every couple of months when it was empty," she explained. "And yes, she is taking a selection of our menu for the council to try, a donation from us, of course."
"Ah...that makes more sense," Alex said. “I can't imagine her buying anything with her own money. As for the kids...we didn't find any beer cans or anything when we were cleaning this place up...or am I wrong?"
"No, you're not wrong," Lucinda chimed in. "About the beer cans or the fact that Kennedy Pine is a cheapskate. She thinks she can lord it over us just because she's on the permit committee."
Standing, Alex yawned as he stretched his arms high over his head and made eye contact with Frances. He wasn't going to have this discussion with Lucinda again, Frances could tell.
"She kind of can, though," Lucinda said. "We need the business permit, the liquor license, and overall the local authorities have the power to close businesses down for pretty much any reason if they can justify it––you know this."
Lucinda waved her hands like she was shooing something away from her. "Yeah yeah. I know. Come on, let's stop being so negative. We need to get the bad vibes out of here and the baking vibes in."
With that topic closed––apparently––Lucinda flicked open her music app and hit play on her Bakers In The Morning playlist.
Regardless of the fitful night of sleep she had gone through, waking up every hour thinking she could hear someone breaking in, and the stress of the last two months, and Lucinda's straight up refusal to talk about her confession last week, Frances couldn't help but smile as Lucinda danced towards Alex as he tried to resist laughing.
***
"You want to come with me to check in with Luca?" Alex asked. "Since he messed up renting those jet skis to that group of teenagers who were clearly going to be unsupervised, I've just been spending a couple of minutes with him every evening to go over what happened in the day. Then we can go to dinner, my treat?"
Frances blinked heavily. She was tired but it was only...she checked her watch––six o'clock!
"I shouldn't. We aren't closed technically...just not really letting people in until the liquor license kicks in so we can clean and stuff..."
She gestured around the empty café knowing full well it was hardly a compelling argument.
"Luce can hold the fort for half an hour. Then Vincent will get here and set the bar up. Come on. It's the middle of the week––it'll be a quiet one."
Lucinda emerged from the kitchen. "Go on, go. I'm going to reorganize the book exchange––we got three copies of the local history book donated today. If this continues, we'll have to start a full library in the spare room."
"You sure you're alright...on your own?"
"Yes! I have my phone. Vin will be here soon..."
