Someone else smells it too.
Also, who’s Elsie?
“Oh. Yes. That too,” Willa confirms.
“I want the Sabrina Cinnamon Special and one of Elsie’s scones.”
“You got it, Ms. Isabella.”
“Sabrina!” the customer at the counter shrieks.
I look back.
Can’t help it.Everyonelooks up at that.
And there she is, Duchess Sabrina with the absoluteaudacityto be bright and cheery and gorgeous as she pauses on her way past the doorway in the kitchen, a silver tray held aloft in one oven-mitted hand.
She looks like she belongs here.
Was born here.
Grew up here.
Is comfortable here.
This is her happy place, and I can’t help wondering how much of the grief in her eyes in Hawaii was from knowing that it wasn’t hers anymore.
I shake my head.
Not my problem.
What I’m doing with this café has nothing to do with her, and she doesn’t get to be in the soft spots of my heart anymore.
“Hey, Isabella,” she says cheerfully. “Be just a minute on your latte, okay?”
“Oh my god, you poor thing, howareyou?” the customer, Isabella apparently, replies.
My shoulders bunch higher. I grunt, turn back around, and distract myself with a sip of my tea, which is cold now.
The chill makes a shiver slink through my body, but the tea itself?
Still delicious.
Dammit.
Everything I’ve had here this morning has been good, and Zen’s made a point to tell me that they haven’t used any of my tea stash that we travel with.
Thatallof this is what they sell here at Bean & Nugget.
“I’m doing great,” Sabrina calls back.
“How’s Emma?”
“Still solo honeymooning.”
“When I think about all of the things Chandler did… Did you know he once double-charged me for breakfast, and I thought it was just that I forgot to pay the first time, but he was actually a shithead who double-charged all of us sometimes?”
“That’s awful. I’m so sorry. You should mention that to the new boss and see if he’ll give you a coupon for a free meal. He’s over at the corner table by the windows. Be right out with your drink. I need to set these down.”
