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This time Ally couldn’t stop herself from grinning. She loved the way teenage girls were so dramatic – she could remember being that way herself. Maybe she still was sometimes; ignoring her dad’s calls being a case in point. “Well I guess I should be going now,” she said, standing up and brushing the sand off her. “I have another couple of miles to run.” She nodded at the girl. “I’ll see you around, Riley.”
Riley finally smiled, and it lit up her face. “Not if I see you first. And definitely not at Déjà Brew.”
Ally raised her eyebrows, lifting her hand in a goodbye. And as she left, ready to continue her run, she could see Riley begin to spin around the same way Ally had done only ten minutes earlier.
It was strange how happy that made her feel.
5
“You’re early.” Nate pulled the door to the café open. She wasn’t expecting him to have a smile on his face, but there it was, wide and natural. Ally was momentarily disarmed. She had to curl her fingers up and dig her nails into her palms to snap herself out of it.
“I thought it would be good to make the right impression, since it’s my first day,” she said as Nate stepped aside to let her pass. Her bare arm brushed against his, and for a second she felt the warmth of his skin through the thin fabric of his shirt. But then her attention was taken by the interior of the shop, and she looked around with wide eyes.
Everything had changed. The walls were painted a deep matte blue, and the floors were freshly laid with polished walnut planks. There was a new counter, too, deep black with a shiny steel top.
“What do you think?” he asked. She felt her mouth go dry. It looked amazing, and yet her heart ached at the sight.
“It’s nice,” she said, her voice thick. “You’ve done a great job.”
He was still looking at her, she noticed. His eyes scanned her face as if he was searching for something more. She tried to swallow down the emotion that was coursing up inside her. Now wasn’t the time to mourn the demise of her dad’s old café. It was time to look forward.
She glanced over at the counter again, noticing the huge espresso machine placed behind it. She’d never seen such a big one – it was a stainless steel monster. Even worse, it looked complicated as hell.
Nate glanced behind him, as though he was following her gaze. “Shall I take you through the equipment?” he asked her.
“You’re doing the training?” Ally widened her eyes. She hadn’t expected him to be the one to show her the ropes. But a glance around the café told her it was only the two of them in there.
“Yeah. It’ll be a lot easier for you to learn if somebody shows you. We have corporate videos, of course, and manuals. But I have a couple of spare hours so…” He shrugged, trailing off.
“Will the other staff be joining us?”
“No. Once I train you, it’ll be your job to train them. They’ll be coming in later this week, ready to open on Monday. But as the manager, you’re the most important one right now.”
She tried to ignore the little shiver that snaked down her spine at the thought of them being alone in here. It didn’t matter how good he looked with his sleeves rolled up to reveal his golden skin, or how every time he looked at her she felt her body heat all over. He was her boss. He owned the whole damn company, after all. And she was way too old for crushes.
Shaking her head at herself, she squared her shoulder
s and followed him over to the counter.
“Have you ever used a machine like this before?” he asked as they walked. “I don’t remember seeing one in the inventory.”
“We used to have an automatic machine,” she told him, taking the apron he offered her and knotting it behind her waist. “But it looked nothing like this.” She took a deep breath, deciding to be frank with him. “If I’m being completely honest, I don’t know that much about coffee. We ordered ours in from the same place for years. I used to scoop it into the filter and let it brew. If it smelled good and strong then it worked.”
Nate was silent for a moment. She looked down, embarrassed at her own admission. But then he cleared his throat, and she felt the warmth of his stare on her face without even having to look.
“Why don’t we start with the basics?” he suggested. “In fact, grab a seat.” He pointed at a stool. “I’ll give you a brief history of the coffee bean.”
“Seriously?” Her lip curled into a half-smile.
He shrugged. “Why not? We’ve got all day.”
Really? He’d said earlier they only had a couple of hours. Refraining from commenting on that, she did as she was told, sitting on the stool next to the counter, as Nate reached below and pulled out three jars of beans.
“Did you know the word coffee comes from the Arabic for ‘wine of the bean’?” he asked her, opening one of the jars and tipping some out into his palm. “Once you get to know all the different varieties you’ll understand how similar to wine it is. There’s a different bean for every kind of palate.” He dropped a single bean into her hand, and curled her fingers over it. “This one’s a light roasted bean from Brazil.”
“It feels oily.”
“It’s the roast,” he said. “Lift it to your nose. Tell me what you smell.”
