Okay, so maybe he was being extra cute by leaving me an actual note instead of a text. I pressed the damn paper against my bare chest. Yeah, I wouldn’t mind getting more letters like this rather than the creepy stalker ones.
Not even the fact that Eric had chosen the cup the stalker had gifted me—the one I’d hidden all the way in the back of my cupboard—could dampen the warmth spreading through my body.
Neither could the message from my manager at the coffee shop asking if I was ready to start working again, or if I wanted to hand in my notice.
Ugh.
Right. I needed to go back to work until the new semester began and I could get started at my real grown-up job.
Chapter 18
Finn
“So, you disappear on me for weeks and come back with a degree, a new job lined up, and a boyfriend?” Maggie asked, raising an eyebrow.
I shrugged but couldn’t help the grin splitting my face, even though it was way too fucking early in the day to be up. The last couple of weeks had been amazing, with me just sleeping in. Now my early morning shift started at five fucking thirty a.m.
“Maybe.”
She gave me a dirty look. “You know what happens when I disappear for weeks? I come back looking like shit because I either got my heart or my fucking leg broken. Or both.”
I let out a laugh as I cleaned the counter. We had approximately ten minutes before the morning rush started.
“I don’t know anyone who manages to break their leg three times within two years.”
“I’m special like that,” she said, winking at me as she loaded a fresh tray of muffins into the glass display case.
“Oh, yeah. Especially clumsy. And dumb.”
“Hey!”
“What?” I said, raising my hands defensively. “You’re the one who thought getting onto that damn bike with your boyfriend—who was high as a fucking kite at the time—was a reasonable idea.”
She harrumphed but nodded. “Okay, yeah, that was dumb. Let’s not speak about my ex-boyfriends and my stupid decisions. Tell me all about your new boyfriend.”
I smiled.
“He’s nice.”
Maggie slapped my arm. “Seriously?”
I shrugged. “What do you want to know? I’m not even sure we’re really boyfriends. I mean, we didn’t talk about it.”
“But you want to be?”
“Yeah.” I grinned at her. “Because he’snice.”
Maggie rolled her eyes dramatically and muttered, “Oh, fuck you,” just as the door opened and our first customer entered.
He headed straight for the counter and ordered a large black coffee with an extra shot of espresso. While I rang him up, Maggie got started on the order. Slowly, the customers started coming, and we quickly fell back into our rhythm, bantering during the occasional lull in customers, but mostly working quietly in tandem.
“We really need a third person behind the counter in the mornings,” I told Maggie, letting out a breath as I had a look around the coffee shop. Nearly every table was taken. People were working on their laptops, scrolling on their phones, listening to god knew what on their headphones. One guy in the back was even making a video call.
“We need a third person in the afternoon too.” Maggie sighed. “It’s been crazy busy the last couple of weeks. I mean, we’ve been getting more business for the past couple of months, but we won’t be able to keep up like that for much longer.”
I nodded. “What does Stan say?”
Maggie let out a bitter laugh. “He says that if we can find good people, he’ll hire them.”
