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Like, he was a master at that shit.
Cap watched him go then turned back to me, entirely unaffected by an odd little man in a Panama hat, plaid shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, tube socks and slides approaching, speaking, not waiting for a response, then leaving.
“Were you in the military?” I asked, even though I suspected Tito was never wrong about this kind of thing.
“Yeah. Army,” Cap replied.
“Right,” I murmured, impressed at this news, at the same time a tad bit thrilled to learn more about him (okay, more than a tad, this guy got to me,argh!).
“I came by to say, face-to-face, we got shit that came up for tonight I can’t get out of,” he told me. “I have to postpone our date until tomorrow. That good for you?”
It totally was, and it totally was not.
I got into the totally was part.
“I feel at this juncture I should repeat my uncertainty about this date.”
Though, I kinda wasn’t exactly uncertain, because, you know, he washim, so, in reality, it was more like Iwantedto be uncertain, but I was absolutely not.
“So I’ll repeat at this juncture, I’m taking you out,” he shot back.
I looked to Liam.
He’d taken a couple of steps away to give us privacy and was staring at his feet.
I still saw the smile playing at his lips.
Luna slid in beside me with a “Yo,” aimed Cap’s way.
“Hey, Luna,” he greeted.
“In for coffee?” she asked.
“Wouldn’t turn it down,” he answered.
“What’s your poison?” she inquired.
“Americano, double shot, room for cream.” He turned his head. “Liam?”
“Latte, iced, full fat,” Liam ordered. He finished with, “Thanks,” and a bright, white smile.
“Coming up,” Luna said, after she recovered from witnessing Liam’s bright, white smile, though she turned to the espresso machine still a little hazy.
“Can we—?” I started to say to Cap.
I got no further, because Dream trundled in, a baby strapped to her front, a toddler bouncing on her back, a brightly colored hippie tote dripping heavily from her shoulder, her face makeup free, her hair a wild arrangement of Luna’s bouncy curls, except longer and redder, her frame willowy-thin, due to the fact she was chasing after kids all day, or, like now, toting them around. She was wearing the stressed expression she adopted when she was about to unload on her sister, or if I was in the vicinity, me.
“Oh mygoddess, thank the divine you two are here,” she exclaimed, even though she knew our schedules, which were seven o’clock to four, Monday through Friday (in other words, not hard to memorize), so she knew we would be.
She walked right behind the bar while pulling her daughter out of the pouch at her front and shoving her in Luna’s busy hands in a way Luna had to quickly drop the portafilter she was packing in order to catch her.
She then expertly swung her son out of the carrier at her back, and in mid-swing, landed him smack in my torso so I had no choice but to grab hold.
Yes, she did this, even though she held no discernible employment, and both her sister and I were at our place of work…working.
And yes, you can read from this, I wasn’t a tremendous fan of Dream’s. It wasn’t that she was trippy or lived her life in a way I’d never live mine.
It was because she was often a mooch, could be a user, could also be a manipulator, and unless she was dealing with her children, almost always acted selfishly, with massive doses of thoughtless attached to that.
