"Who's this?" the woman behind the counter asks. She wasn't rude when she took my order, but she was nowhere near as welcoming as I used to be back in the day.
"This is Amelia, the first person I hired to help me when Roasted was just a baby. She was the best thing that ever happened to me. Became my assistant manager within a couple of months. She even thought of fun events and ways to promote this place, and she was a sophomore in high school."
I graciously accept his compliment because I could use the self-esteem boost, even if he embellished my history here.
"What are you up to? It's been too long." Benny grabs my hands in his and wiggles them.
"Would you believe me if I told you I had to move back home?"
He blanches. "Please tell me your dad is okay?"
The trepidation in his voice reminds me of the emotional time when I told him about my mom's diagnosis and the months following. How Benny gave me all the time off I needed when she inevitably passed away. He even hosted an event where all the proceeds helped pay for her funeral service. The memories come back in waves, and I am flooded with an overwhelming surge of grief. Why didn't I stay in contact with Benny? Maybe because he was a reminder of my past, and when I eventually went off to college, I wanted to leave it all behind me.
"My dad is doing fine," I begin. "It’s me. I am going through a quarter-life crisis."
"Girl, spill. Hey, Tawny, can you bring her coffee to my office when it's ready?"
"Of course," she says with a smile.
We sit in his comfy chairs, and I catch him up on the last two weeks of my miserable existence.
"Cheated on, fired, and dumped all in the same day? Honey, you should visit the nearest church and pray to Jesus because you have angered someone," he jokes.
"I'm applying everywhere. I would have started donating plasma had I known Theo would be home sooner than they told me."
"I need to see a photo of him. There's no way that little twerp traded glasses for cheekbones."
"I have no photos. None."
"It feels like yesterday when he'd come in here and drool over you."
"He was drooling over his diabetes in a cup. He would always order the grossest, most unhealthy thing we had on the menu."
"He drove out of his way to visit. He had a crush on you. Did you block that part out of your memory?"
The jingle of the front doorbell echoes throughout the coffee shop, and Tawny greets the next customer.
Even though I don't know the voice well, I know it well enough.
"Hi, may I get a medium coffee, black, please?"
Theo.
I'm still in the back, out of sight, but I duck as if someone threw something at me.
"What's going on?" Benny looks around, waiting for an ambush.
"Theo is here!" I whisper-yell.
"No!"
I throw my head back and stare at the ceiling. "Why?"
Benny springs from his chair. "I'm going out there. I need to see this Adonis."
My eyes widen in alarm. "Please don't tell him I'm here."
"Never." Benny presses his index finger to his closed lips and virtually skips out of his office.
