“Oh, I know what this place is now. I’ve wanted to check it out,” Colin said. He laughed and looked at Charlie. “Good move.”
“Thank you,” Charlie said. “And it’s not just donuts, Maren. They have sandwiches, too.”
They had reached the door and Colin held it open for the women. “They’ve got something else that you’re not going to believe.”
The smells from the donut shop were fantastic—sugar and flour and grease. And coffee.
“I could definitely use a cup of coffee,” Maren said.
“Oh dang,” Charlie said. “We should have gone to Riversong first.”
“The coffee place?”
“Yes, thebestcoffee place in town.”
The woman behind the counter turned around. She was wearing an apron with a French phrase on the front that readVa te faire cuire un oeufand a name tag that readSimone. “You know, I’m not even going to dispute that,” she told Charlie with a smile. “Considering that they’re carrying my donuts and pastriesnow, there’s no way I’m going to badmouth them. Plus, it’s true. My coffee sucks compared to theirs and my coffee is still really good.”
Maren grinned. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m a coffee fiend. I can have a cup here and a cup over there probably too.”
“Well, good, then I’ll get your order started. How do you take your coffee?”
“Cream and sugar, please,” Maren said, and she looked over the pastries in the front case, which were lovely and fancy and very French as well. Behind the counter, in racks along the back wall, were a whole assortment of donuts, and boy did those look good too.
“Oh, along with my coffee, I think I’ll take one of everything,” Maren said.
“Ha.” Simone laughed. “I’ll take that as a huge compliment. What do you like though? Pastries? Donuts?”
“Donuts. A cruller, if you have one.” She examined the trays of donuts. “Oh, you do. Goodness, it looks like you have four different flavors.”
“I’ll get you one of each.” Simone had already turned to grab them. “Two are on the house.”
“Oh, thank you,” Maren said.
“You’re welcome. Now, how much axe time would you like?”
Maren frowned. “Axe…time?” She looked around the shop, trying to figure out what the woman might have meant. It looked like a normal donut shop—tables and chairs, a couple people sitting down and eating. Though she did notice a box that was labeledChina Donations Hereby the door. It was full of mismatched dishes.Well, that’s a good way to recycle, she thought. But it certainly didn’t answer her question.
“Yes,” Simone said. “Axe time. How long would you like to spend throwing axes?”
Charlie grinned, and so did Colin. “This is perfect,” he told Charlie.
“Axe throwing? Are you kidding me?” Maren said. “So you’re telling me that you can eat donutsandthrow axes here?”
“Yup. It’s right through there.” She pointed to a door covered with a beaded curtain. “You’ve got the whole place to yourself at the moment, too.”
“Oh wow. How did you come up with the idea for this place?”
“I was getting divorced and I was angry,” Simone said. “Then I had a donut to make myself feel better. But afterwards, I was still angry,andsugared up and I now I wanted to throw things. So I thought, how cool would it be if there was a place where you could eat donuts and throw things and not get arrested? Ta da!” She gestured around her place. “Welcome to Do’s and Donuts. I’m still working on getting the plate-toss room up and running.” She pointed to the box of dishes. “And I’m taking donations. Each plate you bring in this week earns you one minute of smashy-smashy time.”
“Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant,” Maren said, clapping. “I’m sorry about your divorce, but I’m really glad you turned your anger into this.”
Simone took a bow. “Thank you. It’s fine to clap, but throw money, too. And by throw money, I mean how long would you like to throw axes today?”
“Half an hour, I guess?” She looked at Charlie and Colin for confirmation.
“Sounds good to me,” Colin said.
“We could do an hour if you want,” Charlie added.
