“Sit down.”He nodded to the table behind her.
“Thanks.”Pulling back a chair, she dumped her huge bag on the floor beside her and sank onto the seat, watching as he unloaded the items from the tray.“How much do I owe you?”
“Oh, there’s no rush.”Tucking the tray under his arm, he dismissed her with a small flick of his large hand.“My customers always pay on their way out.”
“R-right.”Shelley’s heart rate accelerated at the peculiarity of the unfolding events as she watched him wander away.
She’d never seen the café by the bus station before, but for some reason, she’d decided to come inside and buy a drink.Not too unusual given the wintry clime, but she wasn’t normally someone who wasted money on drinks and meals out.Coupled with that was how weird it was that the man had produced a tissue for her, seemingly on demand, and then the way the shop had gone from being busy to empty without her even noticing the exodus.
It’s just a strange day.Shaking her head, she poured a drop of milk into the cup before filling the rest of the vessel with rich-colored tea.I’m exhausted over Joel.It’s nothing.
Nothing that had transpired since she’d found that text on Joel’s phone had turned out the way Shelley had expected.That was why she was headed to the bus station in the middle of the gale in the first place.
Pulling in a deep breath, she dragged the teacup closer, thankful for its heat as she wrapped her hands around it.The bus didn’t leave for another forty minutes, and the station was only around the corner.There was time to enjoy that one small luxury before she boarded it and her life turned the page on yet another despondent chapter.
She lifted the cup to her lips, breathing in the aroma of English tea before she took a sip.Reaching into her coat pocket for her phone, she checked her messages, foolishly hopeful that Joel might have changed his mind and left her a groveling message begging her to come back to the apartment they’d shared, but there was nothing.
No pleading missives and no signs of regret.
“Fuck him.”She mouthed the words, peering out at the darkening street as she drank more tea.
Sitting there, the idea cemented.If Joel wasn’t man enough to communicate his feelings to her, that was his problem.She hadn’t expected to be moving out of town so close to the holidays, but his behavior had made the decision for her.
What would be, would be.
She’d finish her drink and move on to a brighter future, even if it did mean moving back in with her mum until she found the deposit for a new place.
Resigned to her situation, her sadness morphed into a new emotion, something steadier and more determined.There were no more tears as she poured herself another cup, and only the faintest glimmer of a headache as she supped at the intense, chocolate-colored liquid.
Funny.
The beverage had been steaming hot at first, yet over the few minutes she’d been ruminating, it had almost cooled entirely.It was good, though, a point she acknowledged by draining the remainder of her second cup and checking the teapot for the possibility of a third.
“Would you like more?”The man’s question echoed from behind the counter.
“No, thank you.I have a bus to catch.”
Shelley emptied the teapot and swirled the liquid around her cup, watching the motion of its ever-decreasing circles.Her grandmother had read tea leaves when Shelley was a little girl.The matriarch had been something of a local oracle, advising other women who visited looking for advice.
There was no such wisdom in the bottom of Shelley’s cup, though, only her recognition of a swell of surging heat and a sudden wave of exhaustion that began at her feet, rooting her to the spot.
“I should go.”She considered reaching for her wallet at the top of her rucksack, but turning her head seemed to shake the walls of the café around her, the table and window trembling as she straightened.
“Oh, you’re not going anywhere.”The man’s laughter snaked around her, but even then, as the normal world bled away, there was nothing ominous in its tone.
“But my bus?”Shelley’s head was pounding by then, her chin difficult to raise when he floated closer.
“There are no buses from here.”His compassionate expression was back, the only fixed point in the room as Shelley’s mind desperately grasped for answers to the disturbing riddle.
What was happening to her?Why couldn’t she get up from her chair?
“Not for you, Shelley.”
“Wh-what?”Shelley stammered.“How do you know my name?”
“I know who you are.I’ve been waiting for you, Shelley-Ann.”His hazel eyes bored into her, their hue lingering even as her gaze slid closed.
“Nobody calls me Shelley-Ann, except my mum.”
