“I’m going for coffee, Penny.Need anything?”
“No ma’am,” the perky young receptionist replied.“My bees provided me with enough honey for a delicious cup of tea this morning.You know, if you had your own hive you could—”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Pen,” Lissa interrupted, backing toward the door and fumbling to unlock it.“I told my friend I’d be there right away.But later you can tell me all about your bees.”
Penny brightened and gave Lissa a huge smile.“Sounds great, boss lady.”
Trying not to shudder at the uncomfortable moniker, Lissa dashed out the door and hurried down the sidewalk toward Mixie’s.
Boss lady.Talk about a load of crap.She was turning out to be the worst boss ever.
Lissaslouchedintoachair on the back patio of Mixie’s, setting down the two lattes she’d waited in line twenty minutes for and sending off a quick “where the hell are you” text to Daria, who should have been there by now.Seacliff wasn’t big enough for it to take twenty minutes to get anywhere.
Dropping her phone on the table, she took a big gulp of the creamy concoction and stared out at the waves in the distance.She really did love Seacliff.She loved the ocean, the smell, the people—most of them anyway—and the last thing she wanted to do was leave.Especially now that she’d met Ria, someone she could actually see herself building a life with.Although she was likely going to lose her when she revealed the truth.
“Those look like some pretty deep thoughts,” came a pleasant voice from behind Lissa.
She looked over her shoulder to see a cute young barista standing behind her with a plate of scones.Lissa recognized her as the one who usually made the amazing vanilla oat milk lattes and always had a massive smile on her face as if she were permanently high on sunshine and rainbows.
“Scone?”the barista offered with her signature megawatt smile.A pink-and-white polka-dot halter dress swished around her thighs as she walked forward, and her hair was fluffed up under a headband with the flipped out ends just tickling her shoulders.She looked like she stepped right off the pages of a 1960s pinup calendar.
“Absolutely,” Lissa replied as the girl set the plate down.She took a bite and groaned as the explosion of honey and gentle caress of lavender washed over her taste buds.“These are incredible.Are they new?”
“I’m so pleased you like them,” the girl replied, clapping her hands.“It’s a new flavor Mixie was thinking of adding to the menu.We’re about to hit peak harvest season for those ingredients, and she wanted to honor them.”
Lissa eyed the pile of scones, wondering if it would be in bad taste to grab one more.Or maybe five more.She normally despised lavender and its typical soapy profile, but the things Mixie could do with pastry were causing her to rethink some of her flavor favorites.
“Please help yourself,” the girl offered, either reading Lissa’s mind or accurately interpreting the look of desperate longing on her face.
“Thanks,” Lissa said before tearing into another one.“Dang, what is Mixie’s secret ingredient?”
“Happiness,” the girl replied with a wink.
“Well, it’s clearly working.These are definitely improving my mood.”
The girl took a seat beside Lissa.“That’s wonderful to hear.”She closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair, a small smile on her face.
The silence creeped into Lissa as she shoved the last of the scone into her mouth.“I’m sorry,” she said through a half-full mouth of buttery goodness.“I’m interrupting your break.I probably shouldn’t be back here.”
“Nonsense,” the girl replied, keeping her eyes closed.“You enjoy it out here, yes?”
“Yeah, it’s gorgeous,” Lissa agreed.
“Then you should be here.What is life but the pursuit of joy?”
Lissa scoffed.“Oh, hun.Wait a few years.The older you get, the less life becomes about joy, and the more it becomes about responsibility.”
Opening her eyes, the girl wrinkled her nose.“Well that doesn’t sound very fun.”
Lissa took a sip of her coffee, then shrugged.“Downside of aging, I guess.I used to be all about the fun before I hit thirty.After that, it was like someone flipped a light switch and revealed a room full of adult crap I suddenly had to deal with.And nobody prepares us for what’s waiting in that room.They just shove a person in and lock the door.”
“Goodness,” the girl said, nibbling on the edge of one of the scones.“Seems to me you need to find a key.”
Lissa attempted a smile, but she knew it came off as false.The naive optimism of youth didn’t do anything for her anymore.“If you know where to find one, by all means, let me know.”
Clicking her tongue, the girl pushed back from the table.“Oh, I can’t tell you where to find it.That’s on you.But I will say, it’s probably closer than you think.”
Lissa couldn’t help the brief flash of Ria’s face that popped into her head.“Yeah, maybe,” she murmured.
