“So anyway,” she continues, “the deal with Joe was that if even one person ordered Vienna for three days straight, it could stay on the menu. And you did.” Her eyes twinkle as she claps her hands. “If you wouldn’t have walked in the café that day, it wouldn’t have been part of the menu, and I might not still be working there.” She smiles, causing her eyes to crinkle.
“I am glad t-to be of s-service.” I playfully tip my head to the side, but my playful smile drops when my goddamn heart skips a beat when she blushes.
2
VIENNA
I cut the two basil leaves in half so that, together, they make a perfect heart.
“No one needs that, Vienna.”
I look up to find Joe leaning over the counter. His belly, covered in his white chef shirt, touches the counter, and his gray eyebrows arch as he almost glares at the take-out container in front of me.
I arrange the three cherry tomatoes over the noodles before closing the box.
“Food is an art, and I’m an artist.” I fold my arms over my chest.
“But this is a café, and I pay you to make coffee. Do all this in your free time, or else I’ll have to replace you.”
I’m not concerned by his threat, though not because this job isn’t important to me. It is—in fact, now more than ever. I need to pay Zane. I know he’s given his address for the bill.
My swollen wrist is better today. I twist my arm one more time when Joe asks, “How’s your hand? Do you need a break?”
I shake my head.
“Vi! Come to the front!”
Joe looks up when my best friend Ivy dashes into the kitchen.
When she sees our boss, her fast steps come to a halt before she tiptoes closer to me. She looks up at Joe before mumbling, “Someone wants to order Vienna.”
My pulse quickens as I glance at her beaming face. She nods silently, telling me he’s here.
“There’s only one person who orders that coffee,” Joe says. “Why are you so excited?”
My heart skitters at its highest pace. Joe doesn’t know that one person happens to be the highlight of my day at Steamy Beans. That one person is the reason I spend thirty minutes every morning debating which lipstick and which hairstyle should be paired with my white café T-shirt.
“He doesn’t even order any lunch. Maybe I should scrap that coffee if he doesn’t order lunch once a week,” Joe continues to grumble.
“You cannot do that!”
“Why not? I’m the owner. I can do anything.” Joe gives me a look before turning around and grabbing the weekly supply list.
“But we had a deal.” I try to get his attention, standing before him.
He only lifts his gaze for a second. “And that coffee stayed on the menu for three months. If you want this to continue, get that suit to buy lunch.”
I want to shake him and make him listen, when again he goes back to inspecting that stupid list.
“Vi, let’s go.” Ivy pulls me out of the kitchen. “Otherwise, your husband will leave.”
“Shh! He’ll hear you.”
“So the nurse can call him that, but not me?” She wiggles her eyebrows as we walk to the front.
I’m preaching to my brain to stay cool when Ivy waves at my fake husband. This girl!
As every other day, he’s dressed in a suit, a gray one with a deep violet tie neatly tied around his neck. He smiles as I approach him, my heart pounding. “Hi.”