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Shani’s mouth turned down in a sympathetic frown even though Ruby knew she had a gentle husband who adored her and came to the coffee shop on Sunday mornings with Nyah so Shani could sleep in. “I’m sorry. Want me to cut him?”
Ruby laughed. “Can I get back to you?”
“I’m on standby, girl.”
“You’re the best.” She lowered her voice a notch. “Okay if she has a treat?”
Shani laughed and shook her head. “You’re too much. Yeah, it’s okay.”
Ruby called out the coffee order to Henry, who was working the machines, and dipped into the pastry case for a perfect pink cake pop with sprinkles.
She handed it to Shani, but her eyes were on Nyah. “We have pink today!”
It was Nyah’s favorite, and she lifted a hand to take it from her mom.
“What do you say?” Shani asked.
“Thank you,” Nyah said.
“You’re so welcome. See you tomorrow!”
She waited for Shani and Nyah to leave the line to wait for Shani’s cinnamon oat milk latte. Then she slipped three dollars from her pocket into the cash drawer. Lou didn’t like them giving things away, even the cake pops, which cost him less than a dollar each.
Ruby had just greeted the next customer, Mr. Chadwick, an older gentleman who was always turned out in an old-fashioned suit and bow tie, when everyone in the place turned to watch two cops walk through the door.
Ruby’s heart immediately raced and a cold sweat broke out on her brow as Adam, her ex-husband, made eye contact with her and moved through the crowd with Deon, his partner.
The crowd seemed to shrink a little, a weird phenomenon Ruby had never gotten used to when being with Adam in uniform.
For some it was deference. For others it was fear.
Ruby understood all too well. She’d started her marriage to Adam in the first category — a red flag she’d been too young to recognize — and had ended it in the second.
She ignored him and continued waiting on Mr. Chadwick, trying to ignore the panic attack that was thrumming under the surface of her skin as he moved out of the line and the next customer stepped up, her ex-husband inching closer toward her.
He knew better than to cut the line, knew she wouldn’t ignore her customers to talk to him. It was a rule she’d instituted both to respect Roasted’s customers and in the hope that Adam would get tired of waiting in line, that he would leave her alone, at work at least.
She should have known better.
She took an order from a young woman with a constellation of piercings in her face, then forced herself to breathe as Adam stepped to the counter with Deon.
“We need to talk,” Adam said.
He was still attractive in that bland symmetrical way many women found attractive, his blond hair thick over blue eyes and perfect arranged features. He was tall enough to command attention even when he wasn’t in uniform, and although he wasn’t overly muscular, she knew he was strong, his frame athletic and wiry.
“I’m working,” she said.
The line had thinned, but there were two people behind Adam and Deon, and Josh, who normally worked the counter with her, had called out.
“Then you should have answered your phone.” His voice was hard, his blue eyes cold.
“Same answer,” she said. “I’m working.”
“Not until we talk you aren’t.”
“It’s okay,” Henry said from behind her. “I can work the counter while you’re gone.”
Ruby’s face burned with embarrassment. How had this happened? How had she let it happen? How had she become a woman whose coworkers had to cover for her while her abusive ex-husband muscled his way into their workplace demanding her time?
