“I’m… doing work here?” I smile softly, and the slight concern in her eyes melts away.
“Right. Of course you are.”
“I didn’t think anyone else would be here so early.”
“Yeah,” Calliope sighs. She picks up the pot once the beeper rings out. “I had to take Nick in early for an orientation thing at kindergarten so I just came straight here. I want to get a jump on catching up the time we lost last week.”
Kindergarten. My brief interactions with Nick left a sweet, warm impression and a dozen questions I have no right to ask. “Do you think it will take long?”
“To catch up?” She pours her coffee and then glances at me. “Depends on Jimmy. Coffee?”
“Yes, please. What does Jimmy have to do with it?”
She pours a second cup of coffee, then picks up the mug and hands it to me. “I don’t think I should talk about my boss to you.”
“It won’t get back to him,” I say as I accept the mug.
“Sure. I’ve heard that before.”
My brows twitch. “From whom?”
She sets the pot down and picks up her cup. “Literally anyone.”
“Okay. I’m not here to rock the boat, y’know.”
“How would you rock the boat?” She lifts her mug to her lips and locks eyes with me over the rim. “You’re just here to check on your stock and stuff, aren’t you?”
The way she asks fuels the suspicion in the back of my mind that Calliope knows more than she’s letting on. It’s as if she’s trying to bait me into revealing something that she’s searching for, and while it’s tempting because it aligns with my desire to get closer to her, this deal is about more than just me.
My excuse to her is lost, however, the second I take a mouthful of coffee. Terrible,terriblecoffee. “Oh, my God.”
“Isn’t it great?” She smirks. “It’s disgusting but it’s all we’ve got.”
“Who chose this stuff?” I gasp after forcing a swallow. “I’ve tasted nicer dirt.”
“Jimmy’s friend owns the brand, so we get it at a discount.”
“Of course you do.” Setting my cup down, I reach for her cup and take it from her hands as her brows raise. “Come on, I passed a coffee place on the way in and on a Monday morning, we deserve something that isn’t trying to kill us.”
I half expect Calliope to turn me down but to my surprise, she accepts. Five minutes later, we’re standing in line in the coffee shop watching two baristas dart back and forth between the counter and the machines.
“I haven’t been here in ages,” Calliope says, her hands stuffed into her coat pockets as she fights off the lingering cold that followed us in here.
“It’s nice. Don’t really have places like this back in New York.”
“Do you miss it?” She looks up at me and stares at me with such intensity that I’m unable to look away. “New York, I mean.”
“Not even a little.”
“Sucks that you have to go back, then, right? Unless you’re planning on moving out here.”
“It’s tempting.”
“Seriously?” Her lips part. “You’re a big, fancy CEO, right? Don’t you have to be near your company?”
“I’m big enough and fancy enough that I can be anywhere,” I reply with a soft laugh. “But my company only has its head office in New York. We actually have offices all over the States and all over the world. It’s hard to keep on top of ethical stone mining and creation from a stuffy office a thousand miles away, so I take the chance to travel when I can.”
“That’s pretty cool.” Calliope tucks a few loose strands of hair behind her ear, smoothing them back into her ponytail. “We get a lot of emails about that, so I’ve done a lot of research about how the gemstones reach the brands we sell, how safe the precious metals are, and how much of the money goes back to the miners.”
