"Coming right up!" Hazel chirped as I tried not to wince at the total on the cash register. That credit card debt was just piling up.
I waited next to Garrett for my coffee. He studiously ignored me.
Hazel put a plastic container of iced coffee on the counter. "Sorry this took so long, Garrett. No one orders iced coffee in the middle of fall."
"You know I have to have iced," he said.
"Here's your straw," Hazel said.
"What. Is. this."
I looked at him. "It's a straw. It's made out of paper."
He picked it up with a scowl as if it was roadkill.
"We use those in New York City," I told him. "They're better for the environment."
"I need a plastic straw," he said to Hazel.
"Sorry, they're illegal in Harrogate now," she said.
I tried to bite back a snicker. Garrett looked as if his whole world was crashing down.
"Surely you have some in the back. The bill was only passed last night at the town hall meeting," he complained.
"All restaurants had to dump their straws out to be recycled," Hazel said and left to go take another order.
"This is terrible. This is the worst day of my life," Garrett muttered to himself. "I'm going to kill Hunter."
He was back on his phone while I waited for my latte and lunch.
"Do you mind if I eat here?" I asked Garrett, half expecting him to jump down my throat about daring to tell him how to use his time. He grunted, still on his phone, and followed me to one of the metal café tables by the window.
I noticed his coffee was still on the counter, so I grabbed it and set it and the straw in front of him.
"I'm not drinking that," he said as I took a bite of the donut Danish. It was basically a normal donut with crème brûlée in the hole. The pastry crackled nicely under my teeth, and the vanilla-flavored cream was smooth and rich but not too heavy, so it was a nice counterpoint to the donut.
"Paper straws won't kill you," I said, sticking the white-and-blue–striped straw into his coffee cup.
"I can't even order any straws," he spat. "They're all sold out on Amazon. And some places refuse to ship single-use plastic to New York State."
"Most of the state has a plastic straw ban," I told him. "Plus the tariffs with China are making it hard to import goods."
He cocked his head slightly and studied me.
"Don't act so surprised," I said, inspecting my sandwich. "I told you I majored in journalism. I follow the news, local and international."
Ida came over to me right as I took a big bite of the sandwich.
"I have you down for Lady Macbeth," she said loudly.
I swallowed. "I said it was tentative, Ida."
"You'll need to convince one of these good-looking guys to play opposite you. You've never had a romance like a theater romance. You could have him do it." She jerked her thumb at Garrett.
"No," Garrett said. He was glaring at his coffee.
"Ignore him," I told her. "He hates Halloween. I would have thought you would be Lady Macbeth, Ida?"
