“Okay,” I say quietly and walk up to the counter with him.
“What can I get you guys today?” the cashier asks, looking at me then doing a double take at Henry, a blush creeping to her cheeks.
Ruby Lake is small and though we do get a lot of people from out of town, no one has ever looked likehim. Especially with his dimples when he smiles, his T-shirt that fits him like it was made for him, and the backwards baseball hat that I have to stop myself from drooling over.
I expect Henry to order first but I feel a soft nudge of an elbow as he leans in to whisper. “Whatever you’d like, Maisie.” His warm breath on my neck feels too intimate for this coffee shop.
“Hi,” I say, “can I have two iced caramel oat milk lattes, please?” With Henry’s proximity, my order comes out quiet, but Henry hears me and reverberates it to the barista.
“And for you?” she asks, making eye contact with Henry.
“Make that three, and a black iced coffee with no sweetener.” He then looks at me. “This one is on Dew Drop Inn. If we’re going to be friends, I need to know what your drink of choice is.” His dimples deepen as he smiles and slides his card through the machine.
“I don’t think this makes us friends.”
“Of course not, but this is step one in my plan to becoming friends.” He winks and it takes everything in me to stop the school girl smile forming on my face. “What’s your friend's name over there?”
We step away from the register, finding a spot to wait. “That’s Wren, we’ve been best friends since… honestly, forever.”
“Did you both grow up here?”
“Yes and no. I’ve lived here all my life but Wren moved here when she was in middle school.”
“I’m always envious of people who had a best friend to grow up with.” He places his hands in his pockets and I watch as his shoulders stiffen, my only sign that he might be nervous too. “I have Miles but he’s family so basically a built-in best friend I saw whenever we’d come and visit.”
“Your best friend can be family, you know, there’s no rulebook on whether family and friends can't coexist.”
He gives me a shy smile, like maybe the confident guy exterior isn’t all swagger after all.
“I like the way you think, Maisie.” My name rolls off his tongue as if it’s his favorite word in the English language, a word he uses every single day.
“There’s a lot going on up there.”
At the same time, the other barista behind the counter calls out Henry’s name and sets all four drinks down. I wish it took longer to pull espresso so that I could have more time with Henry.
“I’d love to hear about every thought up there.” The gentleman he is, he grabs both drinks for Wren and I and hands them to me. “Have a good day, Maisie.”
“Bye,” I say reluctantly with a small nod, turning to walk toward Wren but quickly spinning back around as Henry is almost to the entry door. “Oh, Henry.” He’s still facing me. “Thank you for the coffee.”
"It's my pleasure," he says, taking a sip of his coffee, his eyes boring into mine. It feels like hours pass as we both stand there staring at each other. He grins one more time before turning on his heel and walking out the door. I feel rooted in place before I snap out of it and make my way back to Wren, who is nearly bursting out of her seat with excitement.
This is my second encounter with Henry and it’s hard to believe he’s from the same family tree as Miles. Where Miles is standoffish, Henry smiles at every person that passes him. It’s like he’s never met a stranger. Which might be true, because the way he talks to me is like he wants to know everything about me.
“Who wasthat?” Wren grabs her drink and pulls me out of my Henry induced thoughts. I can tell she’s eager for my answer by the way she’s sitting on her knees on the couch about to pounce on me, her body absolutely vibrating.
“His name is Henry.” I pull the straw out of its paper wrapping, stabbing it through the lid and take a sip of my drink so that I don’t have to say more.
“His name is Henry,” she mocks, putting up air quotes. “When I asked ‘who was that?’ I was hoping to learn where he came from, his relationship status, is he rich? What’s his social security number?”
“Even if I knew the answer to all of that, I wouldn’t tell you!” Another sip.
“If you knew his dick size, I would expect—” I quickly put my hand over her mouth.
“Wren!” I feel her muffled laughter on my hand as I take it away. “You can’t just blurt stuff like that out loud!” I look around the coffee shop hoping that he actually left when I saw him head out the door.
To my luck, he’s gone.
To myunluck, I now have to face the teasing from Wren for the rest of our girls day.
