Page 50 of My Infatuation with Isabella

Bella shimmies shoulders with the woman next to me before taking her ticket. She twirls again and bumps straight into me. “Sorry, sir. I?”

The words freeze on her lips when she sees me. The chaos and commotion continue around us, but we remain motionless.

“Hi,” I say, the greeting drowned out by the noise.

She uses about five seconds to pull herself together before she cocks an eyebrow up at me. “Should I feel flattered that you’re stalking me now?”

I’m still mad as hell, so mad that just being in such close proximity causes my jaw to tighten. Yet despite my stormy mood, the arrogance in that question makes me crack a smile.

“I have better things to do with my time.” I nod my head toward Francesca and Helen. “I’m here with Fran.”

“Oh, and she’s with Helen. Helen’s a regular.” If that comment affected her, it doesn’t show because she simply smiles and holds out her hand. “Ticket?”

I give her my ticket, and she continues dancing around the room, collecting them. After giving Tommy the stack of tickets, she climbs up on the chair again. Mocha madness is a full thirty minutes of non-stop fun and games. Literally. She calls people up to do a sing-along. She plays musical statues for two songs. These are grown adults freezing when the music stops and laughing their asses off when someone gets eliminated. It’s hilarious. For the last six minutes, she even has a general knowledge quiz, and a lady named Agnes wins free cappuccinos for a week and a spa day.

I see the objective of mocha madness. The baristas work furiously in the background to make all those orders, but everyone is so entertained they don’t even notice that they’ve just waited half an hour for a cup of coffee. I should take some tips because this could come in handy at the restaurant, especially on Saturdays, when it’s packed.

“So, tomorrow is our last day,” Bella announces after Agnes collects her prize. “Tommy and I are moving on to greener pastures.” A resoundingawwwfills the room followed by randomwe love you’s andwe’re gonna miss you guys. “Our hair color signifies this new chapter in our lives. It’s the brand colors of our new employer, but this is not goodbye. From the first of April, you can listen to us on KRXM weekdays from twelve to three. I want to hear from all of you. Please call in and show us some love.”

“I’m definitely tuning in,” a guy yells from the back.

“Thank you, Patrick. Now, who wants to choose the first song for tomorrow? We need to go out with a bang!”

“I know who,” Tommy shouts. “Pam! You’ve been quiet today. Where are you, babe?”

Pam throws her hand up in the air. “I’m here.”

“Guys, if you don’t know,” Tommy says, “Pam was the only customer to join Izzy the very first time we had mocha madness, so I think it’s only fitting that she chooses the last song.”

Pam gives it a moment’s thought. “The Macarena.”

“The what?” Tommy takes out his phone to search for it. “This song is a hundred years old. I think it came out before we were born.”

“But the moves are easy enough for everyone to learn.”

“Okay,” Bella says. “That’s good enough for me. You heard that, everyone? Tomorrow, we’ll do the Macarena! If you don’t know the moves, learn them.”

That gets a final round of cheers. She hops off the chair and almost every person she passes pulls her in for a hug as she makes her way to the payment counter. She walks around the glass food display cabinet, currently housing all kinds of pies, cupcakes, and other confectionaries, and stops in front of the cash register. People start paying and collecting their orders, and the crowd slowly thins out.

“Wow!” Fran says, walking back to me. “Well, that was a lot of fun. Thanks, Helen. I’m glad we listened to you. Is it weird that I’m sad tomorrow is their last day, when this is the first time I’ve been here?”

Helen giggles as we shuffle forward in the queue. It’s not much of a queue anymore. There’s only one person in front of us now and one more person behind us. “I’m sad too. I come here at least twice a week, so it’s just not going to be the same when they leave.”

The lady in front of us pays, and I step forward, coming face to face with my ex again. The ex I snuck out of the house to see a few weeks ago, and I still haven’t told my wife about it. The ex I almost stripped naked in a matter of minutes. The ex who resurrected a whole army of undead feelings, and I’m slowly losing the battle happening inside me because I can’t get her out of my head. The guilt I feel over the entire situation is eating me even more now because my wife is right next to me...and she doesn’t know a thing.

Fran doesn’t even knowthisis my ex. She’s only aware that I dated a girl named Bella many years ago. She doesn’t know any details because I didn’t want to talk about any of it. She’s never seen a picture, and even if she did, Bella looks completely different now with this short, funky cut.

“Hi,” Bella greets with a wide smile.

“Hi,” Fran replies, glancing at her nametag, “Izzy. That was the most fun I’ve had in ages. You really have a way with the crowd.”

“Doesn’t she?” Tommy steps up beside Isabella, slides his arm around her neck, and slaps a kiss on her temple. “You were great today.” He reaches his other arm across the counter to shake my hand. “What’s up, Dylan? Long time, no see.”

Fran glances between the two of us. “You know each other?”

“Oh, yeah. Dylan and I go way back.”

I’m grateful that he doesn’t give any more information than that. Instead, he gives me an awkward glance and discreetly whispers something in Bella’s ear.

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