Summerfield: Chapter 32

It was only the second day of my shop being open, and I was up at 5 am doing my hair. I knew it would be messed up by the end of the day, but I wanted to impress, well, you know who. I may have to wear a coffee-splattered apron every day, but I wanted to try my best to retain some form of my stylish self. I carefully applied my makeup, got dressed, and headed to our joint building.

I had hoped he would be up early, too, so we could spend some time together before we started our preparations for the day. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there yet. I yawned and started the first brew just for myself. I savored the aroma before sipping slowly on the strong roast mixed with sweet caramel syrup.

I guess I got lost in looking over the sales from the day before on my laptop, because I didn’t notice when Josh started walking into my kitchen.

“What are you doing here so early, sweetheart?”, he shoved his hands in his front jeans pocket, casually looking like a southern GQ model with his plaid button-up shirt with sleeves rolled up above his elbows.

“Sweetheart?” I gave him a half smile.

“Yeah. Aren’t we dating?”, he looked concerned.

“Well, we aren’t not dating.”

He looked relieved and dropped it. “What do you have there?” He was pointing at the spreadsheets on the laptop screen. For the remainder of the time before opening, I showed him how to record each day’s sales on the computer onto a spreadsheet.

Before long, I realized that my employees were starting to show up for the day, and it was almost time for a quick staff meeting before unlocking the door. That morning was another flurry of ensuring everything went smoothly. Time passed so quickly when it was so busy. It was almost noon, and the line was finally slowing down. Most customers got their coffee here in the morning, headed off to work, and then took their lunch break at Jenny’s Diner.

Then the bell on the door jangled and in walked a familiar tall, dark, and Italian man. Some of my staff, especially the female ones, looked at me expectedly like they knew what was going on between us. Little did they know that we were only mentor and mentee.

“Are you ready, my Bella?” He put out his arm for me as any good gentleman would do. I took off my apron, laying it on a shelf behind the counter for safe keeping. Then I laced my arm into his as he opened the door for me with his free hand. I have to admit that I relished the jealousy evident on Josh’s face as he saw Tony and I strolling by his bookstore’s display window.