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“And we’re lucky to have you, sweetheart,” she said softly just before the woman who’d taken our coffee order stopped at the end of our table and placed two of those tall paper cups I’d seen countless times in front of us.
“Enjoy. And let me know if you need anything else.”
“Thank you, honey,” Myra offered.
I looked up at her, placing her age somewhere around my own, and smiled appreciatively. “Yes. Thank you very much.”
Her smile ramped up a bit more before she turned and skipped back to the counter, and I felt something incredibly nice bloom inside me at the knowledge that my sincere gratitude had made her steps a bit springier and her disposition even brighter.
“I didn’t think this would ever happen,” I confessed as I wrapped both my hands around my cup. The warmth from the coffee inside seeped out and absorbed into my skin. “I’ve been wishing and wishing for a way to get out of there for so long that I think I might have convinced myself it was a dream, you know?” I looked to Myra to see if she understood. “Like winning the lottery or marrying a prince or something. You fantasize about it, but in the back of your mind, you know it won’t ever happen.”
She nodded, understanding infusing her features. “I do know. That’s how it was with my Benny.” A wistful smile pulled at her lips as her eyes grew hazy with thought. “We’d been sweethearts when we were younger, and when he moved, I was sure down to my bones that I would never find another love like him for the rest of my life.”
A pain tore through my chest, and I reached across the table to take her hand in mine. “Oh, Myra. I’m so sorry.”
She inhaled sharply and shook her head like she was clearing it of bad memories. “That’s okay, dear. As you well know, it turned out pretty darn well. But I wished for him every day for years, even though the little voice in the back of my head was convinced he’d never come back. But he did.” She let out a laugh that sounded like bells as she held her arms out. “And look at me know? Happy as a clam. I wake up every single morning beside the love of my life, and I’m always smiling. Despite his incessant, window-rattling snores.”
I giggled around the lid of my coffee cup before taking my very first sip. My eyes widened as the flavors exploded on my tongue. There was sweetness, and plenty of it, but with an underlying bitterness from the coffee that Myra was absolutely right about. It worked beautifully.
“So? What do you think?”
I took another sip, wanting nothing more than to gulp it down, but knowing the burn could hinder the taste. “This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted,” I said with wonderment. “Now I understand why so many people are addicted to this stuff.” I took another sip, and another, and by the time half the cup was empty, I could have sworn I felt my heart beating a little quicker. I wanted to get up and go. To do what, I didn’t have the first clue, justsomething.
“Wow,” I breathed. “Do you feel like your heart is beating really fast? I feel like my heart is beating really fast.” I lifted the cup in my hand, feeling more alive than I had inyears. “Another one of these and I think I might be able to take that bike back up the mountain without breaking a sweat.”
A look of concern etched itself into Myra’s features as she reached across the table and took my cup, scooting it out of my reach. “I forgot this is your first time. Maybe next go round, we keep it to one shot of espresso. At least until you develop your sea legs.”
“But I feelgreat.”
She chuckled warmly and shook her head. “That’s the caffeine talking, honey. And believe me, the fall down is as hard and fast as the ride up. You need to pace yourself.”
I slumped in my seat. “Oh. Okay.” I really didn’t want to pace myself. My drink tasted so good, I could have lived off it, and I wanted to order a million more before leaving.
“Now, what’s this about riding your bike up the mountain?”
I hadn’t realized that my thoughts were bouncing all over the place until she spoke and pulled me back to the present. “Oh, my bike. Or course. It was the only way I had to get to the interview.”
Her eyes widened and her lips parted in astonishment. “You mean to tell me you rode your bike all the way down here?”
While her attention was on that, I snuck my hand forward and stole my coffee back. I shrugged, unsure what else to do.
“Why in the world didn’t you drive?”
I swallowed the sip I’d just taken before answering. “Because I don’t have a car. Or a license. I don’t know how to drive, so I would have been too scared to sneak one of the Oakes’s work trucks. The bike was also the most silent option. I’m sure they’re up and aware I’m gone by now, but I was able to get away without waking them.”
That didn’t seem to appease her in the slightest. “You had to sneak out?”
At her question, I knew we were trekking into dangerous territory. I might have cherished my friendship with Myra above most other things, but I wasn’t naive enough not to realize that most of what she knew about me was as shallow as a puddle. I’d held the truth back from her, not wanting to taint what we had with the ugliness that was my real life.
I slowly placed the cup back down on the table. My throat felt uncomfortably swollen, a knot forming and making it difficult to speak. I had to clear it a few times in order to get the words out.
“I didn’t tell them what I planned to do. I couldn’t risk that they’d try to stop me.”
Her brows lowered, the skin between them pinching tight with her severe frown. “Try to stop you how?”
I shrugged again. “I don’t know what they would have done. That was what worried me.”
Memories of the past reared up just then. I remembered the silent, terrifying blackness. I remembered the pain. I remembered all the times I’d inadvertently done something to displease Agnes and Sherman, and the lessons that followed.
