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“I don’t think Jinny liked me all that much,” he said when the grinder was done.
At least he’d noticed. Esther supposed he deserved a few points for that. “What made you think that?”
“I don’t know.” He dumped the coffee grounds into a cone-shaped filter on top of a glass carafe. “She didn’t talk much.”
“Is that your coffeemaker?” Esther asked, leaning in for a better look.
“It’s a Chemex,” he said, as if it should be obvious.
“I don’t know what that is.”
He poured hot water over the coffee grounds and set the kettle back down, waiting for it to filter through. “The special filter and glass design make a purer cup of coffee than traditional drip coffeemakers.”
Esther nodded with pretended interest as he launched into a lecture about ideal “brewology”—which was definitely not a word—and the importance of letting the grounds “bloom.” Christ.
“Maybe you talked so much Jinny didn’t have a chance to respond,” she suggested when he’d finished explaining his absurdly fussy coffeemaker.
He looked up, his brow furrowing. “Is that what she said?”
“Not in so many words.”
“So she didn’t like me.” He poured more water over the grounds and set the kettle down again. This thing had better make the best coffee in the world, because it seemed like the slowest, most inefficient way imaginable to make coffee.
“I didn’t say that.” Esther leaned against the counter, crossing her arms. “Okay, maybe she wasn’t instantly wowed. But she didn’t have a totally bad time.”
His jaw clenched. “Great.”
“You’ll do better on the next one.”
“Assuming there is a next one.” He poured a little more water over the coffee grounds. Seriously, how long did it take to get a cup of coffee out of this thing?
“No wriggling out of this,” Esther said. “Three dates—that was the deal.”
“It just seems pointless if she doesn’t like me.”
“You’re her rebound guy. You’ve got to go out enough times that she, you know, rebounds.”
He nodded, tapping his thumbs on the edge of the counter as he watched the water drain through the coffee filter. “What if she says no to a second date?”
“She told me she’d go out with you again if you asked.”
He looked up, surprised. “She did?”
“Yeah. She said you were a good kisser.”
His expression turned smug. “Really?”
Esther rolled her eyes. “Yeah, really. You just need some coaching on the other stuff.”
“What other stuff?”
“Talking. And maybe not doing so much of it. Show some interest in her. Ask her about her life, her likes and dislikes. Make an effort to get to know her, don’t just tell her about yourself.”
“I thought I had.” Apparently the coffee was finally done, because he dumped the filter into the trash.
“What does she do for a living?” If he’d actually bothered to ask Jinny about herself, he should know the answer.
“She works with you,” he said as he poured coffee from the glass carafe into a mug.
