Page 88 of Hot Summer Nights

“Hey B, I’m going to take my break now.” She says before Roman and I can get a word out.

My ears perk up that she’s taking a break.Maybe we can get her to take her break with us,I think as I watch her take her apron off and hang it up. Before I can ask her to sit with us though, she’s moving down the hallway and out of our sight. We both stare after her and I don’t know if I should laugh at our clever girl for getting away without talking to us, or disappointed because we didn’t get to talk to her.

I look over at Roman who is staring at the hallway that she disappeared down with a frown. He meets my eyes and we both turn back to the other barista.

“Where does that door lead to?” I ask.

The other barista looks us over before she answers us.

“What do you want with Aspen?” She asks.

“To take her out.” I answer easily.

“Aspen, she’s, well she’s got enough going on in her life. She doesn’t need any more trouble or heartbreak and you two have that written all over you.”

“What’s going on with Aspen?” Roman asks abruptly.

Roman has always had a knight in shining armor, hero complex and as soon as she said that Aspen was in trouble, I knew that he was hooked.

“She just has enough to worry about without adding either of you guys to the mix,” She says dismissively.

“We’re not trying to cause her any trouble. We just wanted to take her out. Show her a good time, you know?”

Her coworker studies us for a minute before she finally answers.

“The hallway leads to the door to the alley,” she says. “Head around the building and down the alley, there’s a space after the dumpsters where we take our breaks.”

“Thank you!” I say gratefully as we grab our coffees and the bag of food and head out the door.

We jog around the edge of the building and down the alley, slowing to a walk as we get to the dumpster. There she is, sitting on an overturned milk crate, texting on her phone. She looks up at the sound of our footsteps and I see her shoot a glare towards the back door, probably figuring out that her friend was the one who told us where she was.

“Hey, Kitten.” I say cheerily as I take the empty milk crate on one side of her.

Roman leans against the wall, sipping his coffee as he watches her.

“You didn’t come last night.” I say, “We really did miss you.”

“Yeah, I was busy.” She says as she tucks her phone back into her pocket.

“How about tonight?” I ask.

“I have plans.” She says, avoiding eye contact.

She pushes herself off her milk crate and heads to the back door. Roman straightens from the wall.

“Your friend, she said that you were in some kind of trouble.” He says and I can see the worry for her in his eyes.

“I’m fine.” She says as she tugs the back door open.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Kitten.” I call as she steps inside.

I see her steps pause as she walks back inside and I smile. We’re starting to break down her walls.

I stand from my own crate and we walk back down the alley and to our car. Roman passes the muffin over the seat to Jack and we drive to work in silence.

“There’s something different about her.” He says.

“I know. We need to get her to agree to go out with us so that we can figure out what it is.” I say.

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