Ursula tapped the tip of her chin with her index finger as she tilted her head. "Little edgy with a dash of feminine. Your style."
She was out the door fifteen minutes later and hoping that she wasn't sweating too much, because sweating these days didn't require any form of physical activity. She could sweat while reading, and not because it was a thrilling or saucy scene.
The lemon peel smell of the sun brushed her cheeks gently and she closed her eyes for a moment to draw in a deep breath. Her senses she felt were becoming sharper, more angled and pointed lately. Maybe it was moving her entire life or the change happening in her body as she was approaching thirty-nine years of age. Thirty-nine. She had one more year in her thirties and something inside of her felt like a swooping bird and she wasn't sure if it was good or bad.
The Black Cat Coffee was a sweet little shop with a raw live wood counter where two baristas currently were, one of which was Bess who waved in that carefully unexcited way of a sixteen-year-old. Eloise had come here often and enjoyed the creamy chai tea.
"Hey Eloise, how's it going?"
"Oh good. How are you today? Enjoying the spring?"
What a silly question to ask a teenager and as she thought that Bess's little nose scrunched and she said, "Uh yeah, sure. You want a chai again?"
"Good memory but no, I need straight caffeine for this. Do me an Americano, small with an extra shot."
"Nice," Bess said nodding with approval. "Are you good with the lighter roast? Shellee is out unexpectedly because herdaughter in Georgia is having a surgery or something, and she didn't get the order in time. I actually don't really know what we're going to do," she said, her voice trailing off, becoming smaller.
"Yikes. Let me know if you need anything. Happy to hop in."
"Ohmygod you owned like a coffee place, right?" Bess's bright hope, with her dyed black hair in braids and dark eyeliner, endeared her so suddenly to Eloise that she nodded and told her to call her if she needed help figuring out the order.
As she looked around the cozy shop she knew that she would in fact be more than happy to hop in. Bess had her Americano with an extra shot ready for her and she grabbed the too-hot cup and looked where the sleeve holder was. Empty. They could probably use help sooner rather than later.
But as she was thinking that she saw someone sitting in the loft up the stairs. She made her way up to peek and when she saw a red rose lying where an empty chair sat across from a man she felt a thump in her chest.
Okay, this was it. Her first date in a while. Her first date since that night over a year ago. She could do this. She was good at dating, actually. She felt comfortable around new people and the excitement of getting to know someone's story, she'd always found it exciting like diving into a new book. She took the last few steps up into the low-ceilinged loft and a familiar smell hit her. It was strong and stirring and she couldn't quite place it.
She'd always had a particular gift for smell, but lately, in the last couple of months, it had gotten stronger, more acute.
A week ago when she walked into the kitchen where Ursula was cutting snow white irises and pink gladiolus stems she smelled the sweet vanilla of her best friend but the sea salt was sharp and tangy, pinching her nose. That combined with Ursula tossing each flower stem into the antique vase with pompand circumstance that aired on the side of anger, she knew something was wrong.
"Hey there, pretty sea witch. Why don't you put down the poor flowers and step away from the cut crystal that I am pretty sure is worth more than your car."
Ursula had turned to her and her eyes were puffy, not the clear green they usually were but a muted grey-green and she immediately went to her and wrapped her in her arms. That sharp sea salt smell punched and she squeezed a little tighter.
"Jenson was being an ass," she mumbled.
She pulled back and brushed her wild black hair out of her face. "What did he do? Or say?"
She shook her head and her lip quivered and Eloise just about picked up the expensive crystal vase to find the asshole and bash it over his head.
"He's taking Bess on spring break to Florida,"
"That monster," Eloise said and Ursula smiled tremulously.
"And I told him he probably needed to clear it with the judge because he has temporary custody of Bess and there are strict rules. Her mom is in rehab, and anyway, he got frustrated and said her mom didn't deserve to dictate the experiences that Bess gets to have or not have anymore. Which, I mean, sure, but I don't want him to lose custody of Bess, especially if something goes wrong with her mom."
Eloise had sat her on a chair and started making them both coffee as Ursula talked, worry and frustration, hurt and anger wrapped around every word coming out of her mouth. By the time she set Ursula's favorite ghost mug in front of her she leaned onto the island and watched her friend take a sip of the coffee, then let out a sigh.
"Your coffee is the best."
She nodded. "True."
"Am I being overbearing?"
Eloise smiled softly at her friend, the lovely woman who hadn't been given the space to let her voice out in her last relationship.
"First of all, zero points for choosing Florida," Eloise said. "But secondly, maybe he's lashing out and particularly grumpy because he is scared of losing Bess, has watched his sister bungle up raising a kid he has come to love as his own, and in a way he is papa-bearing hard. Misplaced towards you, but I am going to guess it's not actually about or aimed at you."
