Page 111 of The Last Second Chance
“You can sleep as late as you want tomorrow and your boyfriend will murder anyone who tries to drag you out of bed early.”
Eyes closed, Joey let the corners of her lips curl up.Boyfriend. Last night hadn’t been just a beautiful, terrifying dream after all.
“Come on, let’s try out the twelve-person shower together.” He dragged her out from under the tangle of sheets and pillows and guided her into the bathroom.
“You know what this marble mausoleum doesn’t have?” she grumbled. “A damn coffeemaker.”
“I’ll get you coffee after the shower,” Jax promised, twisting the faucets to release a steamy stream of water from both showerheads. “Come on. You’ll feel better when you’re awake.”
“Still don’t see why we have to start getting ready so early,” Joey muttered. But she ducked her head under the gentle flow from the rain showerhead.
“You can use these, too, if you want,” Jax said, demonstrating how to turn on the wall of jets.
“Maybe this isn’t so bad,” Joey admitted grudgingly as the pulsing water hit her full force. And when Jax came up behind her, wet and hard, she decided it might actually have been worth getting out of bed for.
After some sudsy fun, Joey contemplated crawling back into bed to bask in the post-lovemaking bliss, until Jax tossed a pair of jeans at her and a t-shirt.
“Where are we going?” she asked, digging through her bag for a bra.
“We’re going to get you coffee and a dress.”
Joey grudgingly dried her hair and pulled on clothes and flip-flops. Jax marched her through the lobby and out the glass front of the hotel. Outside the doors of their hotel, it was another sunny Southern California day with temperatures in the high fifties and not a foot of snow to be seen anywhere. They started down the block on a quest for coffee that Joey felt strongly should have been readily available in their room.
“How far do you Californians travel for coffee?” she muttered, letting Jax pull her along.
“As far as we have to. In this case, half a block,” he said pointing at the café and juice bar sign in front of them.
“I’m not drinking any of that juice crap,” Joey warned him.
“Strictly caffeine for us, Jojo,” Jax told her, holding the glass door open for her.
She stepped inside the bright space. It reminded her of OJs by Julia in Blue Moon with its décor, but this place was overflowing with people. Some were in workout gear, others in suits, a few were wearing jeans that cost more than her mortgage. One woman had a tiny dog in her very large purse. The only things all the customers had in common was the fact that they all wore their sunglasses indoors and they were all on their cellphones.
“This place is weird,” Joey whispered to Jax.
“Yeah, but the coffee is good,” he winked, he ran his hand down her back.
“I feel like we should put our sunglasses back on and call each other.”
Jax rubbed the tension out of her shoulders. “Just pretend you’re observing a new horse for any odd behaviors in quarantine.”
“Oh, I’m observing the hell out of some odd behaviors,” she said, nodding at the woman in front of them dropping f-bombs on a conference call.
The baristas were completely unfazed by the weirdness of it all. They called out orders like mochachino non-fat whip and hemp milk green goodness over the dull roar of everyone else’s preoccupation.
By the time they got to the front of the line, Joey wasn’t sure if the staff was even speaking English anymore.
“Welcome to Zia’s what may I serve you today?” the wan, six-foot-tall blonde with nose ring asked.
“Uh, coffee? With sugar?” Joey tried.
“We have a Sulawesi, a Tanzania Peaberry, a Guatemalan reserve, a Costa Rica Helsar—”
“Oh my God. Just a regular coffee with sugar.”
“For your choice of sweetener we have demarara, Stevia, natural sugar cane…”
Joey looked at Jax in panic.
