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“Hey, you okay?” Josh asked discreetly, walking closer to pick up the bottle. “Let me get that for—"
“No. I got it,” I cut him off harshly, grabbing it from the floor before he could. I hated seeming frail, feeling weak. I hated this fucking disease.
Stopping his advance, Josh looked at me as I straightened, like he wanted to say something but didn’t know what. He glanced towards Nick, but he hadn’t noticed. He was busy taking orders for the tables who had just filled.
The breakfast rush had begun.
“I got the sandwich and coffee stations,” Josh announced loud enough for Nick to hear, taking the ticket our friend had already placed on the counter.
“You can’t possibly handle both by yourself,” I protested, walking to the sandwich counter but he stopped me with a hand on my chest.
“I can do whatever the hell I want, okay?” he barked at me, and I narrowed my eyes, seeing right through his charade. “Besides, who is going to stop me? You and what army?”
Snorting, I rolled my eyes and watched him reach for the fresh bread, cutting it into two after he read the ticket.
“Also, haven’t you heard? I’m the sandwich maker extraordinaire. You tell me what you want, and I do it. I just do it, baby! Do it hard, yeah.”
“Oh dear God,” I mumbled while Nick laughed, placing two more tickets on the counter. I knew what he was doing. Josh could see my illness was affecting me today, so he was trying to take things off my plate so it wouldn’t stress my condition.
Turning, I returned to man the register and stopped in my tracks. My pulse jumped the instant I sawher.Evanna was back.
“Hi!” The blonde smiled at me with an excitement I hadn’t seen in her the times she’d been here.
All my troubles were immediately erased while her blue eyes twinkled with accomplishment, glancing at me.
Damn, she was gorgeous.
“Hey, you are back.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “And I have offerings.”
I followed her gaze to find she was holding something in the large sweater she wore, her hands tightly gripping it. Lifting the sweater to the counter, she let it loose, and several quarters crashed onto the wooden surface—a few falling to the floor. Was that what she had been doing? Taking the quarters out of the carts so she could pay for the coffee?
My gut tightened. I wasn’t a stranger to scrambling for money to get food or things I needed. Also, falling off my high horse hurt. She wasn’t here to see me. Maybe, all this time she had just been trying to ask for help but was too proud or too shy to accomplish it.
Unexpected disappointment filtered through me. Not that it mattered. The last thing I needed was a girlfriend, which was the reason I had never even focused on that. Least of all right now. For all I knew, I would pass out on the bus tomorrow and that would be it for me.
Dark. I know...
In my defense, I had never gone without my treatment. I’d been a day or two late at most, so I wasn’t sure what would happen to me if I stopped it altogether. I guess I was about to find out.
Still, even if Evanna wasn’t here to see me, I was glad she had found a way to get what she wanted, without feeling like I was giving her a handout. There was nothing like the feeling of accomplishing something for yourself, no matter how impossible or simple it was.
“Is that enough?” she asked, placing both hands on the counter, big blue eyes focusing on me.
“Oh, yeah,” I answered, reaching for the quarters, but my heart kind of did a flippity thing when she looked up at me like that. Clearing my throat, I counted the six dollars and change she needed, leaving about a dollar fifty on the counter.
“Perfect, now I’ll drink the three caramel muchachos, please.”
Laughter burst out of me, unable to be contained, and her eyes widened in a way that said she was getting pissed off—again. “I’m sorry. I’m not making fun of you. It’s just, it’s called a triple caramel macchiato.”
“Oh.” She frowned, realizing it was nothing like what she had said. “Well, if you give it to me, I’ll drink it anyway.”
“Awesome.” Smiling at her, I turned to the coffee machine, making her macchiato. I knew Josh had offered to help, but I wanted to be the one to make it for her.
He threw me a sly glance, smirking like he knew exactly what I was doing while he prepared a panini.
Against all the odds, my grin widened. I was glad she had come back. As bizarre as her visits were, they pulled me away from my reality, and I liked that. “One Coney Island, AKA a steamy triple caramel macchiato with extra whipped cream for Evanna.”
