The espresso is kicking in, so I sip on some water. My dad will be able to tell if I'm acting differently. And he can't know I've broken the one request he asked of me.
A good-looking couple walks in and I offer my best jittery smile.
"Hi, welcome to Roasted. How are you?"
"We're good, thanks for asking. Can we get two medium iced coffees with cream and toffee nut syrup please?" the man requests.
"Sure thing. Names?"
"Sam and Harper," he says.
"Love your order. I used to drink that all the time in high school." I ring them up and he leaves a generous tip. "Thank you, that's very sweet."
"This place is so cute," his girlfriend tells me.
"First time in?" I ask as I multitask by chatting and making their drinks.
"Yeah, we're heading down to Coronado. Our first trip together as boyfriend and girlfriend." Harper beams. "But we really needed caffeine."
"You came to the right place! Let me upgrade ya for first time customers."
I prepare two large iced coffees instead and hand them over with a smile.
"Thanks for coming in. Enjoy your time in Coronado."
They leave smiling, and I appreciate Benny letting us spoil the nice customers from time to time. It helps with word of mouth.
But when the door opens and a new customer enters, I'm hit with an invisible blow to my lungs. My pulse is beating rapidly in my chest, and the intensity is scaring me.
Scarlet.
"Hi, do you remember me?" she asks as she approaches the counter.
My mouth is dry, and I can barely open it to get a word out.
"Yes, you're Scarlet."
"I wanted to stop by and talk to you. Do you have a minute?"
I look around, and there are too many customers inside. I yell to Tawny in the back, "Mind if I take a quick ten?"
I can’t see her, but I hear her loud response. "Sure!"
"Let's go sit out back," I suggest.
While she follows me to the secluded tables with an ocean view, I go over the many reasons why she stopped in.
She has to be here to tell me she's no longer with Beckett. We are two women who were bamboozled by the same man. Shit, maybe this is one of those situations like inJohn Tucker Must Diewhen all the exes gang up on the cheater so they can get revenge. Are there more of us? Why else would she take time out of her life to visit me here?
I hate being ambushed.
"What do you want to talk about?" I ask.
"I know you are Beckett's ex. And I know he was cheating on me with you," Scarlet offers.
Oh that mouthful of air I gulped down… that won't feel good later. She needs to swap those three words around. He was cheating onmewithher.
"I broke up with him when I found out about you," I tell her.
