I turn back to the press and get the next order ready. Lila brings back a receipt for a sandwich. “For your boyfriend.”
It’s not worth fighting her on this one, so I just focus on the process of adding each ingredient to the bread and getting it on the grill.
We’ve hit our first lull of the morning, and I take a breath, grinning at the success of this venture. I take the sandwich off the press when it’s done and wrap it in a thin kraft paper. Since we only have a few coffee orders left to fill, I walk out to give Max his sandwich.
“Thank you,” he says. Sorry I was an awful host last night.”
“Well, it took me forever to get things cleaned up after the girls made a mess of it. I’m sure I’ll still find cocoa and oats tucked into random areas.” Then I add, “And you had a big day of playing chef.”
“My blisters agree with you on that,” he says. He holds up his hand and shows me a few small spots on his fingers.
I take a seat across from him, trying to form a question that isn’t quite ready yet. My brain is trying to mesh waking up to him on the couch and seeing him here, supporting my business like he has from the beginning.
“You poor baby,” I say, in a teasing tone.
Max gives me a fake frown before taking a bite of his sandwich. “How did you come up with these sandwiches in such a short time?”
“Well, in law school, I practically lived at a coffee shop. It felt more like home than some of the other places in my life. Obviously I don’t have the exact recipes, but the blends of flavors are all ones I loved then. I ordered a few things from a sourcing store south of town and thought we’d try them out for this.”
“Anyone would be crazy not to love this,” he says, raising the sandwich for a moment as evidence. Then he points to the counter. “Do you need any help back there?”
“I think we should be good for now but thank you so much. You’ve already helped a ton with so many different things.”
“I think you’ve helped me more,” Max says with a soft tone.
I lean against the booth, glancing toward the door as a couple walks in. “A ride to get gas versus business advice and giving me the push I need to change? It’s a no-brainer.”
“I don’t know, Avery. You’ve shown me a different side of life, one that I want to love just as much as you do.”
The word “love” from his lips settles somewhere dangerously close to my heart. He’s not saying he loves me, which I’m kind of relieved about, since it’s only been a few weeks since we’ve known each other, but it’s a respect of my life in a sense.
And then the rough question enters my mind again. When does he have to go back to New York? Do I need to sabotage the apartments a bit so he’ll be here longer? Or will he have to leave anyway, even if they aren’t completed?
“Do you want to participate in one of the activities later today?” he asks.
“I’d like that,” I say.
We’ll let the future sort itself out. He’s here now, and while it might break me in the end, I need to see this through.
“Text me when you’re done here,” he says with a wink.
“Will do,” I say, sliding out of the booth. “Don’t have too much fun.”
Lila hands me the merchant receipts, but I manage to only hold onto about half of them, with the others falling to the ground. I grab a few, and there’s one signature that catches my eye. It’s awfully like the one I saw this morning on the discount letter I got from the owners. That looks a lot like an M and a B.
The only one who could be connected that closely would be Max, but I thought his name was Max Luca.
I turn to study Max, who is scanning through something on his phone. Is he the owner?
“Hey, Sarah, things have slowed down just a bit. I need to run upstairs real fast, but I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Lila and I got this, boss,” Sarah says.
I run upstairs with receipt in hand. I compare it to the paper, and it’s the same.
Instead of searching for Max Luca on my laptop, which Lila has already done a few times to make sure he wasn’t a stalker, I change out Luca to Bauer. And I’m surprised by how much information is there, along with a picture of him attending a charity dinner.
He’s not just some lowly inspector. He’s the owner of a very large grocery store chain.
