Chapter Eleven
Becca parked her beetle outside of MoonBeans and headed in. She smoothed her short denim wrap dress down with her hands as she walked. Normally, she’d have put on jeans and a nice top for work; but, she felt like wearing something a little bit prettier that day.
The bells overhead jingled their warning song as Becca entered the coffee shop. She wanted something extra-large and extra chocolate-y to drink that day. It was a beautiful day outside; the sun was out and birds were chirping their happy songs in the trees, and Becca was in a great mood. A day that good must be accentuated with a decadent drink.
Becca wound her way through the shelves of various knickknacks and coffee mugs on sale, running her hand over the tops of the smooth ceramic, and headed for the ordering counter. “Hey, April,” she said, a wide smile spreading across her face.
April Bennett was Jessie’s best friend since forever and a barista at MoonBeans. Becca didn’t know her while growing up in Snowy Ridge but after hanging out with April for a few girls’ nights, she completely adored her. April was a super fun girl with a hilarious personality. And she was an unapologetic player, as she referred to herself. Becca found her fascinating. April always had a plethora of men around her and she never seemed to date just one guy. She kept a rotation of many boyfriends and she loved it. She figured men did it all the time so why shouldn’t she? And she was always straight up with the men in her life. They knew she wasn’t about to be tied down and if they wanted something more than a fun time with her then she told them they should look elsewhere. Becca, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. She liked to have fun, too, but she was a relationship kind of girl. At times she tried to make herself date around just to get out there, but she found it hard to do. She wanted a one-on-one relationship with someone special. Someone who would be there for her whenever she needed him and someone she’d do the same for. She was such a commitment kind of girl. Too bad her ex-husband hadn’t been the same way.
“Hey, you! Whatcha drinking today?”
“Hmm.” Becca’s eyes widened as she took in the menu over April’s head. “I don’t know. I want something super decadent and yummy. I’m celebrating.”
“Ooh, what are you celebrating?”
“Not feeling crappy for once,” Becca said with a laugh and April joined in.
“Gotcha,” April replied. “Okay, want me to pick something out for you? An April special?’
Becca nodded. “Would you? That would be great.”
“Sure, go have a seat and I’ll bring it out to you.”
“Great. A to-go cup though, okay? I’ve got to get to work.”
“No problem, babe. It’s going to knock your socks off.” April went to work behind the espresso machine, flipping switches and turning levers. A hiss came from the steaming wand.
Becca walked over to a small table near the stone fireplace. It wasn’t on in this heat of course but it was still pretty to look at and in the evenings the baristas would sometimes light candles in the hearth. There was a guy, probably in his early twenties, sitting at the table closest to the pickup counter pretending to be doing something on his phone; but, really, he was checking out April. It was pretty obvious. Becca thought most guys were obvious when they were checking a girl out and wondered if any of them ever realized what they looked like; or, maybe they did and they just didn’t care. April was gorgeous, though, so she couldn’t blame him. She was long and lean and had big dark eyes and a thick mass of black wavy curls. She was like the flesh and bones version of Princess Jasmine. And bonus, she always smelled like coffee. She looked like she should be in movies or somewhere much more fabulous than behind a counter of a coffee shop in a small town. But at the same time, it was hard to imagine MoonBeans without her.
There were two moms perched in over-stuffed chairs near Becca’s table with their tiny babies on the floor in front of them, sitting in car carriers. Both babies were asleep and the moms were leaned in toward each other in a deep conversation. Becca looked over the women and guessed they were probably about her age. Maybe a bit older. She couldn’t even begin to imagine herself with a baby right now at twenty-six years old. Sure, she and Todd had talked about having kids at one point but she never went off the pill. In the back of her mind, she probably always knew it wasn’t going to work out with him and that she didn’t want to be tied down to a man she’d eventually have to have fifty-fifty custody with. Staying on birth control was one of the smartest things she’d ever done.
“All right, Becca, get ready for this masterpiece,” April called out.
Becca turned away from the babies and watched April as she walked toward her, holding a drink on a small tray.
“No. Way,” Becca said. She eyed the masterpiece heading toward her and actually salivated. It looked like heaven.
“It's a triple chocolate iced mocha with chocolate whip cream, chocolate syrup drizzle, and chocolate shavings on top,” April explained, setting it down on the table in front of Becca.
There was also a small chocolate chip cookie perched on the glass edge like someone else might place a lemon on a water glass. It was perfection and Becca didn’t know how she’d drink anything else ever again. Except that it probably had to be like, eight hundred calories, so she couldn’t actually make it a habit. But she sure was going to enjoy this one.
“You spoil me, April. This looks so, so good!”
April beamed. You could tell she really loved what she did.
Here,” she said, handing Becca a lid. “I couldn’t put the lid on. You’ll have to drink some of it first before you go.”
“Happily! Thanks so much, April!”
“You’re welcome, hon’. Have a good day at work.” April gave a small wave and headed back toward the counter.
“You too,” Becca called after her. April rocked. Becca couldn’t wait to try the coffee drink but first, a picture.
Becca pulled out her phone and snapped a shot of the luscious looking drink April had made her. She knew her followers would drool over it and be filled with envy. She uploaded it to Instagram with the caption, “It pays to be friends with the barista!” #coffeelove #baristabud.” And then she took a sip of the heavenly concoction and closed her eyes. It was pure bliss. She had never had such a divine coffee drink. It really was going to be an amazing day.
Becca took a few more sips of her coffee as she watched the moms still deep in conversation. Both were sporting loose graphic tee-shirts and yoga pants but the one with the bobbing blonde ponytail looked like she was now crying. Poor thing, Becca thought to herself. She must be having a bad day. Feeling a bit like she was imposing on the two moms, Becca attached the lid onto her yummy drink and headed for work.
“Hey, Fran!” Becca called out as she walked into Novel Idea.
Fran was balanced on a ladder in the big glass window facing Main Street, trying to hang a paper Mache airplane from the ceiling. She was re-doing the window display with a theme all about travelling to different vacation spots. She had a map of the world with various vacation guides on the shelves near the area they belonged with. She even had a mannequin wearing a giant floppy hat and reading a book while sitting in a beach chair. There was a cooler next to it stacked high with beach reads.
“Hey, Becca.” Fran grunted as she reached higher.
“Do you need some help up there?” Becca called. She wasn’t sure how much help she’d be since Fran was a good five inches taller than her, but she couldn’t help but worry about her being an older woman up on a ladder like that. She didn’t want her to accidentally fall off and get hurt
Fran grunted again. “No, I think I’ve got it.” She stretched even higher and finally slipped the paperclip holding the airplane’s string under the ceiling tile. “There.” She pulled back and examined her work.
“Well, it looks great,” Becca said. It made her want to pick up one of the guides and leaf through it. Becca couldn’t remember the last time she went on a vacation. Was it her honeymoon?
Fran climbed down the ladder and put her hands on her hips, her eyes roaming over the display she’d just completed. “It did turn out better than I thought.”
“You certainly have a talent for it.”
“Thanks,” Fran replied. “It’s funny, I usually don’t have an eye for decorating. I’ve always struggled with trying to decorate my home. But these displays come easier to me.”
“Probably because you have such a love for books,” Becca said.
“Yeah, maybe.” Fran nodded and then turned toward Becca. “Now that you’re here, I’m going to take a break. I need a coffee refuel. Keep an eye on the register and you can pick up where you left off with the weeding project.”
“Will do.” Becca tucked her purse behind the register and surveyed the store while Fran escaped into the back breakroom. There was only a few patrons in the shop and they were settled in their chairs, reading. Guess I’ll get to work, Becca thought.
Becca hummed to herself as she packed up a stack of books to donate. When books sat too long and didn’t sell, they occasionally weeded them out to make room for newer books. They were a used book store but being the only book store in town, they did a good amount of business. Sometimes they even got newer books; books that had only been released a month or two before. It seemed amazing to Becca how many people ordered new books on Amazon, or some other book retailor web site, and then would donate them to the store as soon as they finished reading them. It showed her how much people in the small town truly loved their local book store. Fran would even ask the avid readers to write a post-it sized review that she could hang near the book. Just like how employees in the bigger chain stores would recommend a book, Fran posted recommendations from the neighborhood.
Becca thought about Cooper and their dinner the night before as she worked. It had gone much better than she had hoped. Not that she had gone over to his home with big intentions for the meal, aside from wanting to do something really nice to thank Cooper for all that he’d done for her. And she’d accomplished that; the food tasted great and she felt like she managed to make it special for him. But she also ended up really enjoying herself. Cooper was so sweet and smart and interesting. Not to mention, absurdly good-looking. She couldn’t figure out how he had remained single all this time. When they were sitting close together on his couch, she couldn’t help but take in every feature of his face: his strong jaw with the sexy short beard and goatee, his dark eyes and the lines underneath that indicated to her that he was such a hard worker, his thick brown hair that she could smell he’d recently washed with a citrus scented shampoo, and his soft lips that she couldn’t tear her eyes from or stop thinking about what they would have felt like to have pressed against hers. He even had the cutest wrinkle lines across his forehead. Becca could tell he was a worrier. He felt a great deal of responsibility for his brothers’ well-being and happiness. She could tell he was the kind of person who put himself last. And that he was very kind and thoughtful of others; one would only have to look at the amazing kindness he’d shown her, a total stranger, to know what a good-hearted person he was. They had talked for hours without any lulls in the conversation. And she was so touched when he had opened up to her and about his mom and his childhood. She was only sad that she really didn’t have any reason to get together with him again; unless, she could think of something. Because one thing she had walked away with that night was that she definitely wanted to spend more time with Cooper Stone.
Becca’s whole outlook felt different the last couple of days. She was busy working a lot between the two jobs and her social life had perked up a bit. She didn’t want to return to sitting home alone with Netflix. She wanted more fun and more adventure. A fleeting thought went through Becca’s head: she wondered how many people liked the picture she’d posted of her coffee drink. And then she thought to herself, Who even cares? She wasn’t going to bother to look. She had things to do.
After she’d finished her break, Fran rolled a cart of books out from the back room toward Becca. “Here’s what I want you to re-do the display with once you’ve finished weeding.”
“Thanks, Fran.”
Fran studied her. “You look awfully nice today. I like your dress.”
“Thanks,” she said again.
“You should wear that to the summer solstice dance on Saturday night.”
Becca looked down at her dress and then back at Fran. “You think?”
“It’s very flattering. Did you plan on going?”
Becca hadn’t decided yet if she was going to the dance; but, now she was thinking, why not? It might be fun and Luci had said they could go together. But Becca wouldn’t wear that particular dress. She knew she had another one hanging in her closet that would fit the bill even better. “You know what,” she said to Fran, “I think I will go to the dance.”
“Good, I’ll see you there, then. I wouldn’t miss it myself.”