It was a rare, slow day at the coffee shop. That meant I had to listen to more of Alice’s ramblings with further inappropriate questions. I looked out the front window, almost longingly, as if willing a hoard of customers to storm the place.

“I wonder if Hunter will come in again today,” Alice whispered with a glint in her eye.

I looked at my co-worker with flushed cheeks. Alice smirked, but I wasn’t going to even hint at what I did last night. I couldn’t believe I actually fantasized about him.

“Oh,” Alice said with a smirk. She leaned in closer, “Told you there was no way you weren’t interested in such fine ass man like him.”

“He is not what I would call a fine man,” I shot back.

I knew exactly what Alice meant, but I was determined to stick to my guns. In my book, a "fine man" was a decent, hard-working young man with morals and respect. I didn't think of a man being "fine" the way Alice did, which I decided was synonymous with ‘I'd fuck him’. I wondered if she really did have such a thriving life in that department or if it was just a desperate fantasy from growing up in a place like Vail.

“Oh, please,” Alice grumbled. She leaned back against the wall. Her hair, all tight and springy curls, smashed into it. “I can’t believe that out of all the people outside of this stuck-up hellhole I got someone so… Closed-minded as a co-worker.”

“I am not closed-minded!”

“Oh, you’re not? Okay, then, why don’t you tell me once and for all what life is really like on the other side of the tracks?”

I let out a long sigh and rolled my eyes, “I don’t know what it means here in Vail, but the expression ‘life on the other side of the tracks’ is not a good thing anywhere else. It’s not something you want to know about. That is usually an expression reserved for people like prostitutes, thieves, and drugies." I paused and turned to look into Alice's gray eyes. "Look, life in Boone, North Carolina is more like life in the slow lane than anything else.”

She heaved a breath, her deep caramel skin tone shining as the light from the window caught it. "You've just got to have some juicy stories, Cass. Somewhere, at some point in time, something had to have happened. It's not like you grew up in boring Vail!" 

Just then, a smirking blond guy walked up to the counter. I instantly recognized him as Hunter’s friend. I nonchalantly looked around for Hunter, but he was nowhere to be seen.

 

“If you're looking for something juicy, I've got it for you…” he told Alice with a goofy grin.

I watched her scrunch up her face and respond with a forceful, “yea, no.”

He shrugged it off, “Your loss, but I doubt Miss Priss here has anything better for you to sink your teeth into.”

That was when I saw Hunter get up from the bar by the coffee shop window. I didn’t know how I never notice them before. Sure, he was wearing a beanie and turned the other way, but his tall muscular frame was still recognizable. He walked over to the counter. His eyes were trained on me even as he asked his friend, “Cal, are you harassing the staff?”

Cal shrugged and gave Alice another smirk before turning to Hunter and stepping away from the counter. I couldn’t figure out if Hunter really was trying to reel his friend in or if he was trying to make some sort of impression. I cleared my throat and looked away toward the front door. Even as I made sure not to look at him, I wondered how long he had been there. Neither I, nor Alice rang them up, so that meant they had to have come in during the opening shift. It didn’t matter. I chastised myself for thinking about it so much.

“Oh, crap. I’m late,” Cal said as he looked at his watch.

“Late?”

“Yeah,” he smiled, “I’m going to watch a movie. Look, NotCat is on a REAL leash in the alleyway just outside. He had to go to the bathroom.”

“Never going to let that go, are you?”

"Would you? A bunch of uptight, rich people who make a fuss about an old, half-blind dog not being on a damn leash. Or as they like to put it— ‘restrained’."

“He seemed just fine-” Hunter started.

“NotCat doesn’t really have a choice, now does he?”

“A choice? Cal,” he chuckled, “It’s not like he even knows what-”

“Oh, just shut it. I like and trust him. I hate that these people made me put him on a leash. Accept it.”

“I think you’re the one who needs to do some acceptance about your dog actually being on a leash for once.”

“It’s not just once. It’s for the rest of his days.” Cal looked up to the ceiling as if he were reminiscing long lost memories.

Hunter rolled his eyes, “Don’t be so dramatic.”

“I’m not being dramatic! Anyway,” Cal pressed him impatiently, “Just be careful with him, okay? He’s been slipping out of the collar.”

“All right, all right. Go to your movie and don’t worry. I’ll take care of him.”

Right after Cal left the shop, Hunter turned to ask for a refill in a to-go cup. He smiled, seeing that Alice and I had watched the entire exchange about the dog. I expected Alice to ring him up since she was so infatuated with him, but she didn’t.

“Oh! Oh my gosh, the muffins! In the oven! I’ve got to…” Alice said suddenly before rushing into the kitchen and completely out of sight.

That left me staring at Hunter who was looking back at me with an amused grin. My cheeks flushed red as a few images of my fantasy from last night flashed in my mind. I tried hard to push the dirty thoughts to the back of my mind. The last thing I wanted to think about was what he looked like naked. I tried to remind myself that he was the type to high-five Cal and make some vulgar joke if he found out I fantasized about him the night before. I rang him up, but was so preoccupied with not thinking about what was making my cheeks burn that I rung up his refill wrong.

“It’s, uh, it’s actually a White Mocha Americano refill,” he gently corrected me.

My cheeks grew even redder. I was already starting to get flustered. Thank God, my hand wasn’t shaking when I reached across the counter to take his money. “I will not be asking for your name this time. I’d like to save us both the embarrassment.” I said as I pushed the cash register drawer closed.

Hunter smirked, clearly unable to help himself. “That’s a shame because I have an even better one than yesterday. I thought about it just for you and, by the way, I wasn’t the one embarrassed yesterday.”

My eyes narrowed as my face turned in to a mini scowl. He could clearly see my irritation.

“Do I uhh,” he held up his empty coffee cup in the air, “Mocha you crazy?”

I rolled my eyes and turned my back on him to refill his drink. I tried my hardest to hold back the smile that started to spread across my cheeks from his corny joke. Luckily, I was turned around so he couldn’t see it. I didn’t need to repeat his order under my breath like I usually did. If the embarrassment of ringing him up incorrectly wasn’t enough to drill the order into my mind, the man himself certainly was.

“So, how long have you worked here?”

I put the coffee refill on the counter and, completely ignoring his question, said, “If you’d like cream it’s over there.” I pointed to a small station in the corner of the shop.

He looked at me with his eyebrows slightly raised and an amused smile curling at the corners of his lips. For once, he didn’t say anything. There were no inappropriate jokes or smart remarks. Something about that struck me and I gave in.

“And I’ve been here for a month now,” I said in a tone that made it clear I wasn’t looking to further the conversation.

That wasn’t enough to deter him. He was far too cocky to be put off by a tone of voice. He wrapped his hand around the coffee cup and leaned in, “Guess I wasn’t lucky enough to come in during one of your shifts until yesterday.”

“I guess that means you know where everything is,” I told him curtly.

Hunter leaned in closer. I could tell his arrogance saw this as a challenge. I was a challenge and getting me to talk with him wasn’t enough. The man might as well have had the words, ‘I will get you to go out with me,’ written on his face. What he failed to realize in his cockiness was that those sorts of things didn’t work on me.

“I do, but if you’d like to give me a tour to keep your memory fresh, I’d be happy to be your guinea pig.”

“My memory’s just fine,” I told him.

“Among other things,” he said as his eyes lingered on my lips and then swept over my hair.

I cleared my throat and scanned the coffee house, pretending to check up on the two or three other customers sitting down. Nobody needed anything and it didn’t seem like there would be new customers anytime soon. I tried to think of a way to get rid of him without being too rude. After all, I still had to remain professional.

“Well, it’s a shame, but I’ve got to get going. There’s a lonely dog out there waiting for me.” He said before taking a slow sip of his coffee.

Alice finally emerged from the kitchen after he left. I threw her an annoyed look for leaving me alone with him before mumbling, “I’m going to take out the trash.” I gathered up the trash bags and walked through the back door to the alleyway to throw them into the dumpster.

I had just slung them inside the dumpster when I saw Hunter running toward me with a worried look on his face and an old dog in his arms.

A leash trailed behind him and I instantly knew it had to be NotCat.

Something was very wrong.