I grind the beans, tamp too hard, then not hard enough. The espresso machine hisses while I steam the milk and nearly overflow the cup. I slap a lid onto the cup and slide it across the counter—only for it to stop awkwardly halfway. So I nudge it the rest of the way forward with one finger. “That’ll be three dollars.”
He hands me a five. “Keep the change.”
I hesitate for a second, but then take it and close the register. And as I look back up, he doesn’t move right away. Just looks at me for a second, head tilted. “You look good,” he says casually.
Is he seriously trying to flirt with me?
“Uhm,” I say, nodding. “I—thanks.”
“You don't have to be nervous around me.”
“What? No. I’m not nervous.”
I shift my weight, and knock my hip into the counter, which makes him laugh softly, like this is charming. “Right.”
I wish I could teleport.
He grabs his coffee and starts backing toward the door, flashing me a quick wink, before putting his sunglasses back up. “See you around, Mads.”
“Yeah—uh—” I start. “Bye—no—”
The bell rings as he steps outside and the second the door closes behind him, I flip him off with both hands. But then, he turns around one more time. I drop my hands so fast and immediately pretend I was… uh, stretching. He just smiles and shakes his head.
“Oh my God,” I whisper to myself. “Why am I like this.”
“Is that who I think it is?”
I jump, pressing a hand on my chest as Dawn steps back behind the counter with two cartons of milk tucked under her arm, her brown ponytail swaying against her shoulder as she follows my line of sight out the window.
“Sadly yes.” I take one of the milk cartons from her.
She lets out a sharp, incredulous laugh. “Wow. He’s lucky I was in the back,” she jerks her chin toward the window. “Because otherwise your dad would be restocking milk for very different reasons.”
That actually makes me snort despite my heart still going through the roof. I turn around to clear the mess I just made.
Just put Jacob out of your mind Maddy and continue to smile at customers.
I get home from work, and as I walk up the driveway I notice that Dad’s car is gone. Which means that he’s probably working inthe other cafe today. Which also means that Noah’s in charge for dinner.God help us all. As much as I love him, Noah was never made for the kitchen. But then again, neither was I.
I kick off my shoes and hang my jacket on the rack, hearing the sound of Noah rummaging around in the kitchen. “Please tell me you ordered pizza.”
Noah pops his head around the corner, holding two boxes. “Extra cheese. Pepperoni on one half, burrata on the other.”
I raise an eyebrow, changing my hair from a tight bun to a more comfortable one. “Look at you, remembering my order.”
He grins, a few strands falling over his eyebrows as he sets the boxes on the coffee table. “Yeah, yeah. One day I’ll make it into a sibling Hall of Fame.”
I flop down on the couch, not bothering to change out of my work clothes, even though I smell like coffee beans and cleaning soap.
We settle with two plates balancing on our legs as we each grab slices out of the pizza box, some ridiculous movie playing on the TV. Halfway through the movie, my brain drifts back to Jacob. The way he just casually tries to flirt with me now, like the last few months never happened. I try to pretend it never hurt, because admitting how much I trusted him feels way more embarrassing than the breakup itself. But he just tells me that I look good?
“You okay?”
I blink and shake myself out of the stare to see Noah looking at me with the typical I-am-worried-about-my-little-sister-face.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
He raises one eyebrow. “You can’t lie to me you know? I’m your brother.”
