Page 67 of Good as Gold
The person behind the counter is Zara, and the first question she asks me isn’t “Can I take your order?” It’s “What are you doing at this end of town so early?”
“Do you ask all your customers that?” I scan the case to see if there are any offerings I haven’t tried yet.
“It depends on if I happened to see their cars parked by the dumpsters when I came in this morning.”
Well, shit. I was happy to ask Zara’s opinion when I was sure she’d tell me Leila’s plan was crazy. But now that I’ve agreed to help Leila, I have a few regrets about having told Zara. “Here’s the deal,” I say quietly. “We can’t talk about it. There’s no telling what will come of it.”
She pulls a face. “I suppose you have a point. Okay. I won’t tell.”
“Not asoul.”
“Not even Benito?”
I shake my head.
“Fine.” She shrugs. “You want the pretzel or the bagel? There’s smoked salmon today and chive cream cheese.”
“The pretzel.”
“You want a sassy four-year-old, too?” she says, tapping on the register screen. “Cute but argues with everything I say. Fifty percent off today.”
I snort. “Is this your way of asking me to babysit again?”
“Nope. Just venting.”
“Can I have a double espresso, too?”
“Oh, I assumed. You can swipe your card.” She moves over to the espresso machine to make my coffee. “So I don’t get any details at all?”
“Nope,” I say firmly. “Not sure what there even is to say.”
She pops out from behind the machine to give me a disbelieving stare. “Seriously? After twenty years of pining, you finally—”
“Zara.”
She sighs. “You are no fun at all.”
I believe her. One hundred percent.
* * *
Leila doesn’t ping me that night or the next day, so I shoot her a text.
How are you doing? Feeling upbeat?
I’m good! You?
Of course. Want to hang out this week? My weekend is spoken for, though.
Maybe!
That’s all I get. A “maybe.”
It’s hard not to think about her, though, and my thoughts still feel raw—as if our night together exposed all the hungriest parts of me. The desperate parts. My nightmares, too.
People say that getting naked with friends is dangerous, and now I know it’s true. I’ve never felt more naked in my life.
My family keeps me busy with their various jobs and errands, but I find myself looking for Leila everywhere. At the coffee shop. At the gas station.
