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Penny slid onto her usual seat at the counter and watched as Caleb warmed a stainless steel pitcher of milk and added a handful of dried lavender. Elyse was still struggling to make the spandex trio’s orders, and he helped her out while the lavender steeped for Penny’s latte.
After a few minutes, he strained the lavender out, then took a large mug from the warmer and pulled a shot of espresso while he steamed the infused milk. When it was done, he brought it over and set it in front of her. He’d made a single heart in the foam.
It doesn’t mean anything, Penny reminded herself. He makes hearts all the time. Still, her pulse raced as she lifted the cup to her lips and blew across the top.
He rested his hands on the edge of the counter, leaning his weight on them as he watched her take a cautious sip. “How is it?” he asked, staring at her mouth again.
She licked the foam from her lips and saw his eyes darken. “Delicious as always.”
“I get off at two,” he said, leaning toward her a little more.
“I have to work until five.” She stared at his lips, wondering how bad it would be if she launched herself across the counter at him.
“I thought you worked from home.”
“I do, but I have to actually work when I’m supposed to be working.”
He leaned closer still. “Can I come over when you’re done?”
“Yes,” she said, before she remembered it was Monday. “No. Sorry, I can’t tonight. I’ve got knitting.” Which meant she needed to bake something beforehand, and she hadn’t gone to the store this weekend because she’d been too busy having sex.
“Right,” Caleb said, straightening. “Of course.”
Penny considered bailing on knitting, but it seemed like a bad idea. She’d already skipped the nursing home yesterday for him. She couldn’t put her whole life on hold for a month to have sex. Tempting as it might be, it would be unhealthy to give up all her routines for him. Those routines existed for a reason; she needed them more than she needed him. Even if, at the present moment, she wanted him more.
No strings went both ways, she reminded herself. She wasn’t required to reschedule her life for him. That was the old Penny, who gave up things that were important to her. No more. If Caleb wanted to spend time with her, he could fit himself into her schedule.
“You could come over after?” she suggested, trying to sound casual. Like it didn’t matter one way or another if he did. Although she really hoped he would.
“It’ll probably be too late. I need to get to sleep early tonight.”
“Right,” she said, swallowing her disappointment. “Because you start work at the crack of dawn.” That was a perfectly legitimate reason. It didn’t mean he didn’t want to see her. He was just being practical. Casual. Just like she was.
He nodded, his expression gone flat. “Yeah.” The bell rang as a new customer came in, and he gave her an apologetic look as he moved to the register.
There was an annoyingly steady stream of customers after that, which prevented Caleb from coming back over to talk to her. When he wasn’t taking an order or making a drink, he was clearing tables or fetching supplies out of the back. She had to content herself with staring at him while he worked, but after a while it started to feel creepy so she pulled out her phone and opened the fanfic she’d been reading last week. But every few paragraphs she’d find herself glancing up at Caleb again. Occasionally their eyes would meet and her heart would leap into her throat, but he never came back over to talk to her.
After thirty minutes had passed, she got up to bus her dishes. “I’ve got it,” Caleb said, coming up behind her and taking the cup out of her hands. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” He posed it like a question. Like she didn’t come in every single weekday.
She gave him a smile. “Of course.”
He didn’t smile back, but then he never smiled at work.
“Have a good day,” she said on her way out the door, like he was just her barista and not someone who’d given her eight orgasms over the weekend.
When Penny walked into Antidote on Tuesday, Caleb was nowhere in sight. Her heart gave a little lurch of panic.
“I’ll be right with you,” Malik called over his shoulder from the espresso machine.
“Take your time,” Penny said. She stared up at the menu, pretending to deliberate over her order. They hadn’t added her lavender latte to the board, and she wondered if Caleb had ever talked to Reema about it. It wasn’t exactly a drink that could be made quickly; perhaps it wasn’t practical. Which meant she’d have to give them up when he left.
“Hi, Penny!” Charlotte called out from the couch, where she was surrounded by philosophy books and stacks of papers again today.
Penny turned and waved. “Hello!” Charlotte was wearing a bright purple dress with a Peter Pan collar, and the streak in her hair was now a coordinating shade of lilac. “I love that dress!”
“Thank you. I love yours too.”
Penny smiled and struck a pose, flipping her hair off her shoulder in her best impression of Gloria Grahame in It’s a Wonderful Life. “This old thing? I only wear it when I don’t care how I look.”
