With a sigh, he leaned back in his chair. "What the hell does that mean?" he whispered.
Chapter thirteen
Sapphiresnappedtheplasticlid onto the cup and made eye contact with the gentleman standing near the end of the counter. "Black coffee with a shot of mocha," she confirmed.
The man smiled before grabbing his coffee.
Looking to the next customer in line, Sapphire smiled and typed out the order. It wasn't even eight, and they had already served about forty customers.
Normally, Julie was the first one to arrive at the café and begin opening it for their six-thirty opening time, but today Sapphire was already in the shop by five prepping machines and starting the mixes for the specialty drinks. Last night she had hardly gotten any sleep. The deep hushed tones from Hayden and Joel going back and forth kept her up long after they had gone to bed. They had argued—because of her.
She was hardly a week into living with them and there were already problems.
All night she had tossed and turned in her bed as the feeling ate away at her. Her feelings volleyed from prideful anger to guilt. She shouldn't have said what she said to Hayden—but each time she thought that, she yelled at herself.Why should you beat yourself up? He was the one who ruined a perfectly good dinner! Obviously, she didn't have a dad, or she wouldn't be in this horrible Hicksville town, so why even bring it up?!
At best, she managed to scrape together four hours of non-consecutive sleep. So, when four-thirty rolled around, she was more than ready to get the day started. Tip-toeing around her room and to the bathroom, Sapphire was dressed and ready within minutes. Since today was one of the days she had to go to class, she carefully packed her backpack with everything she would need and tip-toed down the stairs, managing not to hit any of the creaky spots.
Sapphire handed a woman a cup and saucer of steaming hot latte as the bell above the door chimed again with the announcement of more customers. Two familiar faces walked through.
"Ah, Miss Waters, you're working here," Mr. Parrish called out with a big smile as he approached the counter. "Good for you."
Mr. Parrish, her ecology teacher, was one of the few teachers she actually liked in the school. From day one, he seemed to accept her odd circumstances without question, treating her like any other student. That was more than she could say for the blond woman standing at his side. Though Sapphire couldn't name the woman, she certainly recognized her. She was one of the handfuls of teachers that stood around whispering and staring with a few of the other teachers every time she passed by. Frankly, they were worse than the students.
With her dirty blond hair coiffed high on her head like a straw-looking helmet of sorts, the woman made a pouting noise under her breath as her sharp eyes looked Sapphire over. "My daughter tried to get hired here, but she was told they weren't hiring.”
Not sure what to say to that, Sapphire purposely let the awkward silence grow between the three of them until Mr. Parrish seemed to squirm and the woman finally continued to what Sapphire hoped was her point.
"I guess Hayden and Joel hired you instead."
Sapphire didn't miss the note of accusation in the woman's tone, but she didn't allow her smile to falter. Glancing at Mr. Parrish, Sapphire could see the embarrassment written on his face at his colleague's words.
"Mary Ann," he said in a low reproving tone before looking back to Sapphire with a determined smile. "I would like a medium mocha latte with almond milk, and she would like a large hazelnut latte, right?" He confirmed with the woman, though his eyes challenged her to say something else, as if she were one of his students being admonished.
Reluctantly, the woman nodded.
Sapphire ignored the petulant anger in the woman's gaze and took down their orders before waving to the next guests, who had been watching the interaction with a sizzling focus. Curse this small town and their need to gossip to hell, Sapphire thought. By noon any resident interested would no doubt know what just transpired.
The swing doors behind the counter suddenly popped open, and Julie stepped out with a bright smile, her short brown curls bouncing and carrying a pitcher of dark, cold brew coffee in hand.
Her eyes scanned the small crowd at the counter and stopped on Mr. Parrish and the blond woman standing at the end waiting for their orders. "Oh, you're Lora Hawes's mother, right?" Julie's bright, cheerful face waited as the woman slowly nodded in confirmation.
"Yes," Julie exclaimed in an overly bright, understanding tone that reminded Sapphire of the host of a children's puppet show orBlue Clues. Overly animated and almost cheerfully patronizing. "Sorry, but as we told Lora that day she applied, we needed someone who could open the store occasionally, and Sapphire here was able to do that due to her flexible schedule at school."
Sapphire didn't miss the disappointment on Mrs. Hawes's face as she handed Mr. Parrish his drink. Finishing the second drink, Julie snapped the lid on and slid it across the counter to Mrs. Hawes, who was still looking a little putout.
"Here you go. Have a nice day," Julie beamed and stepped back from the counter before adding under her breath for only Sapphire's ears. "You gossiping, witch."
Sapphire held back her laugh and maintained her professional smile with great effort.
Obviously trying to dispel the last of the tension, Mr. Parrish turned at the door and called out to Sapphire. "Okay, Miss Waters, I’ll see you in class in," he said, lifting his wrist pointedly to check the time, "in an hour and a half. I don't want one of my top students being late, ok?"
"Yes, sir," she called back. She let out a thankful sigh when the door closed on both of them.
The rest of the morning's customers were thankfully drama free. Just the usual people stopping off for their morning coffees before making the trip to Stardust Cove and a few heading toward the other nearby city, Fort Mason. But it was the sheriff's visit that made Julie and Sapphire grin like absolute loons.
Sheriff Owens and his brother and cousins didn't just step through their door; they towered through it. Wide shoulders, golden eyes, slim hips, and powerful thighs pressing against the dark material of their sheriff's uniform was a sinful sight—and they knew it, too. Winking and smiling at a pair of women giggling like school girls, they finally made their way over to the counter.
Sapphire had to do a double-take at Julie and wondered if she was going to have to use the defibrillator that was strapped to the kitchen wall in the back. The woman looked at the four imposing men as if she was about to throw propriety out the window and risk it all right here and now on the counter. Thankfully, Julie was able to gather herself just enough to take their orders under the blinding light of their roguish smiles.
