“All right,” Alice said as she shoved her apron into the dirty linen basket, “Time to go.”

“What?”

She sighed and glared at me. “Oh no, you don’t get to pull that on me now.”

“I’m not trying to pull anything, Alice.”

“Oh, you’re not? Then why are you acting all shocked now that it’s time to go? You’re either going to erase our whole conversation-”

“Oh, be quiet,” I cut her off.

Alice’s jaw dropped. That was the first time I ever showed her attitude. It was the first time I was more than just the ‘quiet, serious new coffee shop employee’. I drew in a breath and pursed my lips, taking a moment to make sure whatever I said next wasn’t in the wrong tone.

“I’m not pulling anything. I already agreed to go. Reluctantly, but I did. I just didn’t think you’d want to go over there straight from work.”

“Well then what did you think? This isn’t exactly information I’m wanting to hold on to.”

“I just thought, I don’t know. I don’t know what I thought, Alice.”

“Geez, what’s gotten into you?”

She didn’t sound upset. It sounded like she had an idea in her mind, an idea she was already convinced was true. I didn’t like it, but I refused to indulge her.

“I just need to shower.”

“You need to shower?”

“Yes, is that such a strange request?”

“It’s not strange, just…”

“Just what? I really have to shower. I’ll shower and then we can go.”

Alice giggled, “Why are you so insistent on it? There’s got to be a reason.”

“This isn’t something to read into,” I said flatly.

Alice’s giggles turned into laughter, “Uh-huh. Want to be all squeaky clean and changed for the all-play-and-no-work-Hunter, I see.”

“It’s not even like that!”

She clicked her tongue with a sly smile, “You said you’d never be interested in him, yet here we are…”

“Look, Alice. We don’t all have a one-track mind, okay?”

“Someone’s being awfully defensive,” she accused jokingly.

“Really. It’s not like that. I feel gross from working over a steaming cappuccino all day, plain and simple. I need to wash the coffee scent out of my hair and feel refreshed.”

Alice smirked, “Fine. I’ll swing by to pick you up.”

I hesitated. This would be the first time someone actually came to my place in Vail. I highly doubted Alice would just wait outside and be done with it. In the end I decided there was nothing wrong with it. Maybe it would be a good thing. It was only Alice after all.

“Okay. How’s 8pm?”

“Fine,” she replied offhandedly, as she looked intently at something on her phone.

I scribbled my address on the notepad I carried in my apron packet and handed it to her. She took it and then looked at me blankly before abruptly bursting into laughter. I really didn’t understand what had just happened.

“Oh, Cassie. It’s a charm, really.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“That makes it even more of a charm,” she reassured me before heading out the back door, chuckling.

I stood in the back room of the coffee shop for a couple minutes trying to figure out what piece of the puzzle I was missing. Alice telling me it was a “charm” felt more like an insult than a compliment. I shook my head and walked out to head home. Now was not the time to brood on this.

_____________________________

I was just about finished getting ready, my hair still not done, when there was a knock at my door. I looked over at the clock and saw that Alice was more than ten minutes early. I appreciated punctuality, but in this case, I wasn’t exactly keen on entertaining. There was already the impending trip to a house we hadn’t been invited to for the delivery of bad news. That was more than enough for me to have to deal with in one night. I sighed and walked to the door. No matter what, I had to be courteous.

Despite that, the first words that came out of my mouth were less than courteous, “You’re early.”

Alice laughed and gave a small shrug. I stepped back and motioned for her to come inside. She breathed out a little whistle, the type of sound someone made when they were impressed or approving of something. I stood for a moment and watched her eyes wander to scope out the condo.

“This is a really great place and it’s close to the center of town,” she said, sounding somewhat surprised.

“Thank you.”

“A place like this isn’t exactly easy to come by.”

“I suppose luck was truly on my side,” I told her. “I’m almost finished getting ready.”

“Oh, I can keep you company!” She said brightly.

She had such a beaming smile on her face that I couldn’t tell her no. I gave a small nod and led the way. I pulled out the product for my hair and placed some on the palm of my hand before spreading it evenly through my curls. From the corner of my eye, I saw Alice watching me with interest.

“Before you even go on about anything, as you tend to do, I always put this in my hair after a shower.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” she said, but her smug smile said something different.

I looked away and continued to work my curls until I was happy with the way I looked. I glanced over at Alice and searched for something to say to cover up the silence. “It had taken me a long time to find this product. Before then, the brands I tried either didn’t work well enough or made my hair look oily.” I said as I set it down carefully and then wiped my hands off.

“Nice to see you’re incredibly anal even in the comfort of your own home,” Alice joked before standing up.

She walked over to the dresser and bent down to look at the family photo I had on top of it, right next to a small, rectangular vase filled with fresh, white tulips. She looked at the photograph before turning her attention to the flowers. She smiled faintly, but it was different than any smile I had seen on her before. It was warm and appreciative. There was something genuine about it. Then she turned her attention back to the family portrait and the smile turned into a look of confusion.

“These are your parents, right?” She asked, pointing at the picture.

“Yes. Why?”

“It’s just, well, I don’t know. You do seem like your dad, in a way, but when he’s next to your mom like he is in this picture…”

“I don’t seem like I fit in?”

“Well, a little bit, yeah.”

I laughed, “You don’t have to mask the truth by saying ‘a little bit’. I’m well aware of the difference.”

“Oh,” she said, straightening up. She turned to face me. I was now applying foundation for my simple makeup. Alice cleared her throat, “So, your parents, what do they do?”

“Well, my father’s a professor. He’s in the astronomy department at Appalachian State University.”

“Ah, now I can see why there’s some similarity there,” she commented.

“Well… Anyway. My mom owns a small pottery studio.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“It’s wild just how different… Tell me more about her, Cass.”

I sighed, “She studied Greek mythology and I guess at some point she wanted to work as a professor in that area. Then she met my dad and she decided she didn’t want to be, how would she put it? She hated the idea of being shackled to a job by a bunch of bureaucrats who cared more about running a business than a school.”

Alice nodded, “Interesting. Go on.”

“Well, she says she wanted to feel like she was contributing financially even though my dad told her many times it wasn’t necessary. So she opened the pottery studio.”

“Why a pottery studio? Seems kind of random.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, “my mother is odd.”

“You would say that.”

I shot Alice a look, “Well, pottery has always been a passion of hers. She really enjoys the work she does there and even does Greek mythology themes for classes.”

“That sounds really cool, actually!”

I shrugged. I could see why others might find my mother charming, but it was a totally different story when you’re her daughter.

“She’s extremely free-spirited and my father is too, at least to some extent. I definitely have more in common with him, though.”

“Do you find his work more suitable?”

I didn’t like the tone in Alice’s voice, but I replied anyway, “It’s not that I find my mother’s job unsuitable, Alice. It’s just not something that interests me. It isn’t exactly stable, either. But she is incredibly happy and my dad likes it too.”

“Okay. So what about your dad?”

“My father basically loves two things in this world– us and astronomy. He dedicates his entire life to both. You know, he even discovered a new technology to increase the power of telescopes. It was really interesting, at least the parts I understood.”

“Whoa, whoa. Hold up. He invented that? That’s got to be huge!”

“It was,” I said, “It changed all of our lives. But the money isn’t what brought him joy about it. The real gift, to him, was having the ability to do and share it.”

“Wow,” Alice said. She paused and looked around for a moment, “Explains your place.”

“What?” 

“I meant what I said earlier, Cass. This isn’t the type of place to come by easily. And not just anyone can afford to live here. Why are you even working at a coffee shop?”

I bit the side of my cheek in frustration, “I’m ready. Let’s go,” I said pointedly.