The barista places a mug in front of me with a wink. I smile back, aware Morgan is watching us. The girl walks away, not taking Morgan’s order.
There’s a heart shape in the foam.
Morgan peers at the heart. When she raises her head, giving me a full view of her alluring dark eyes now all aglow, she lifts a brow. Without breaking a smile or taking her gaze off me, she grabs the little spoon next to the mug and stirs the heart away as I try to keep from grinning.
“That’s better,” she says. “Should I tell her to be careful? You do tend to spill your coffee all over people.”
“Oh, are we joking about that now?”
Her lips form a thin line. The wordpsychomust be floating around in her head. “Definitely not.”
Another barista takes her coffee order, and within a minute, he sets a mug of black coffee in front of her.
“Need any half-and-half for that?”
She pulls it close with a contented sigh. “No thanks.”
When the barista walks away, I lean over her mug. “Perfect. Black like your unforgiving heart.”
She lets her lips curve into a hint of a smile. Wow, I like making her smile. But I don’t want to like it. All the reasons I shouldn’t get involved with her still stand. Plus, she still hates me. Maybe.
She takes a sip. “If I have a black heart, it’s because a boy made it that way. I don’t trust your kind.”
“My kind, as in men in general.”
She shakes her head. “Boys in general.”
I smirk. “Sounds like there’s a story there.”
“Maybe. But I’m not telling you.” She places her mug back on the counter and taps my phone where it lies on the counter. “Dreaming about the beach? You know there’s one here?”
I dim the screen and hide the phone in my pocket. “Yes. Actually, I had to leave my senior trip early to be here. I was torturing myself by looking at the photos.”
“Oh.” She wraps her fingers around the mug. “That sucks. And explains the sunburn.”
“Yeah.”
I touch my nose and then take another sip of coffee, not hating her sympathetic look. I lift a shoulder. “It’s fine. And I’d hardly consider a manufactured lake beach comparable to the Florida coast.”
“Fair point, but Ava said the one here is pretty cute. I haven’t been down there yet.”
“No? You should. And she’s right. It’s not bad.” I’m just bitter. FOMO is real.
Before I can say something stupid like “maybe I could show you,” she inches closer to whisper. “Have you heard anything about Evelyn?”
Fran seems to be ignoring us. If I’m not mistaken, the wordsmother of the brideare printed in a larger, fancier font than on anyone else’s shirt. I pitch my voice low. “Not a word. I guess she was serious about not telling anyone.”
“I hope she’s okay.”
“Yeah, me too. Maybe someone will check on her today.”
“Hopefully, but who knows? I doubt Fran’ll think of it.”
“She’s the worst.”
“She really is. I don’t like sharing a secret with her. But I bet it’s not long until people start to notice the wedding planner has disappeared.” She swings her stool around, facing the other direction. “Tonya and Matt arrived this morning.”
Yeah, the matron of honor stands next to her husband near the self-serve station. “I don’t think she knows Fran’s secret, either. Do you know Tonya?”
