“We’re about to close,” I tell him gently.
He blinks as he looks up and around. “Sorry?”
“You dropped off there.”
For a moment or two he stares at me before jerking into a sitting position, swearing softly. “Sorry. That’s embarrassing.”
“Not at all. Happens all the time.”
“It does?”
I hesitate, then smile. “No, but... it’s fine. Really.”
“Oh, and you’re trying to go home.” He scrambles to his feet, slides his notebook into his pocket, picks up his espresso cup and plate.
“I’ll take it.”
“No, please, let me—”
In the next second, the cup and plate have shattered on the floor, like the shells of dropped eggs.
Joel shuts his eyes briefly, then looks at me and winces. “It’s customers like me who really make this job, isn’t it?”
“It’s fine.” I laugh, not wanting to admit that, in fact, it is. “You go. I’ll clear it up.”
He ignores me and bends down, starts collecting fragments. I tell Murphy to stay where he is, then join Joel on the floor to help.
We pick up the remaining shards, fingertips occasionally brushing. I find myself trying not to look at him while my heartbeat goes bananas.
Ceramic cleared, we get to our feet as a drumroll of thunder sounds from outside. The sky has ripened now, and the clouds are plum-purple.
“Can I pay you for the breakage?”
“Not at all. It was my fault.”
Joel does something to my stomach with his eyes. “Listen, sorry you’ve had to throw me out.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I had to do the same with a couple who were on a first date once.”
He seems surprised. “Bored each other to sleep?”
I laugh. “No. They were just so... absorbed in each other, they didn’t notice everyone else had left.”
I can see him thinking this over. “Absorbed in... scintillating conversation?”
“Not exactly. I sort of had to prize them apart.”
“Ah, the joy of youth.”
“Afraid not. They were midfifties, easily.”
Now he laughs too. “Strangely, I don’t feel as bad now.”
I grin. “Good.”
By the door, Joel stops to fuss Murphy for a couple of moments more, then says good-bye and leaves. I watch him walk away and cross the road, swept along with the stormy air.
As he reaches the opposite pavement, he glances back over his shoulder. I look quickly down, scrub hard at a table that’s already gleaming.
