Page 127 of Keepsake
“Sure,” I’d said. But what I should have said was, “Sure, if you have all the right parts.”
Two hours later I had the thing going, but I spent another couple of hours calling HVAC companies to try to get someone to look at the air conditioner behind the building, because I was pretty sure a faulty capacitor had caused the problem in the first place.
After fetching a lot of ice for Audrey and Zara, Griff had left me at the coffee shop. “You’re doing important work here, man,” he’d said. “If it gets late in the day, I’ll just see you tomorrow, okay?
“Yep! Later.”
I liked tinkering with systems, and I loved fixing things for my friends. When we’d arrived, Zara had been pacing the cafe, her copper-haired one-year-old in her arms, a worried look on her face.
Even after Zara’s mother had arrived to take little Nicole off her hands, her mood didn’t improve until I got the refrigerators humming.
“You are a prince among men,” Zara gushed then. But I had to break it to her that her troubles might not be over unless the AC unit was fixed.
“We’ll be fine,” Audrey had insisted. “And we really appreciate all you did for us today. And on your birthday! Let me give you a treat.”
“After I make these calls,” I’d insisted. Tomorrow was supposed to be a scorcher and I didn’t want them turning the AC back on until I found somebody look at it.
By four thirty I’d found a repairman who’d help them first thing tomorrow. After I’d washed most of the grease out from under my fingernails, Audrey sat me down at a cafe table with a plate of cookies. And Zara made me one of her famous lattes. It was served in a bowl, with a swirl of cinnamon on top.
Heaven on earth, I swear.
I texted Griff to let him know what I’d accomplished, and he replied with an offer of dinner.I’ll see you tomorrow, I told him.Lark has something planned for tonight.
I’ll bet she does, was Griff’s snarky comment. It came with a wink emoji.Go home to your girl.
Okay, I’m heading home soon. See you tomorrow.The old me would have rushed back to the farm for an hour of fence repair instead of enjoying a moment here in the cafe. I still loved working for Griff, but I didn’t need to work the longest hours or stay the latest to prove that I cared.
He already knew.
I was so busy with these thoughts that I almost missed an interesting customer in the coffee shop.
Audrey was tidying up while Zara served the day’s last few caffeine junkies. A man I didn’t recognize walked in and began to glance around the place. People did that, because the interior of The Busy Bean was quirky. The posts and beams had been painted with a chalkboard surface onto which Audrey and Zara had written some of their favorite quotes. The furniture was homey but mismatched and upholstered in bright colors.
I didn’t form an opinion of the unfamiliar customer until I glimpsed Zara’s expression. She and the newcomer were face to face, but she’d gone white as a sheet.
“Hey, no way!” the guy said, his back to me. “I’m back in town, and I looked for you at the Mountain Goat. Didn’t know you worked here now. We should exchange numbers.”
Zara stared at him for a long beat. Her mouth had fallen open. “Do you…have a b-business card?” she’d finally asked.
Zara’s freaked-out expression was so unlike her that I took a closer look at the man. He was a big, muscular guy in jeans and a faded T-shirt. On his feet he wore hiking boots. That was pretty much all I could tell about him from the back. Except for one detail that really set him apart from the other men I knew around here.
His hair was a very distinctive shade of coppery red.
I wasn’t the only one who noticed, either. Audrey stood a few feet away from Zara, a sponge in one hand and a startled look on her face.
The red-haired man dug a wallet out of his back pocket and fished out a card, which he handed to Zara. She took it, then mumbled an excuse of some kind.
Then she fled the room.
Audrey recovered. “What can I get you?” she asked the stranger.
But the man had turned to watch the door where Zara had just disappeared, a frown settling over his features. “Um, a coffee. Black. Thanks,” he said.
Two minutes later he was gone.
Audrey came around the counter and plunked herself into the chair in front of me. “That was…”
“Really odd,” I said, finishing her sentence. Then we both laughed.
