The Coffee Shop Page 3
“Derrick.”
She wasn’t looking at him, and he tried to see into her face. “I hope I haven’t done something wrong by coming here?”
“No. No you haven’t…” Shrugging, she put her hands on her hips. Turning away from him she pointed around the store. “So, this is it. This is Perfectly Natural.”
She still wasn’t looking at him, and he tried to lean down to catch her gaze. “Annie?”
“Uh-hmm?”
“Is there something wrong?”
“No. Why would there be anything wrong?” She walked away from him toward the shelves. “Was there anything I could get for you? Oh, but don’t ask me to explain anything. You may be laundry illiterate, but I’m health food illiterate, honestly, and believe me, that is a whole lot worse. At least you can wear pink boxers and it won’t get you hurt. Well, unless you were changing at some tennis club or something and some guy decided to pick a fight with you because of it. No, I am one of those clerks that doesn’t have a clue. But I can point you in the right direction. At least I know where everything is, that counts for something I guess. But then I already told you that, didn’t I?” She looked up to see him staring down at her. “I don’t believe I just said all that.” She laughed and bit her lip.
Derrick stood before her. “Something’s happened. Something’s different. What is it?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, for one, you won’t even look at me. Have I done, or said something? Was it something I said last time we met? Because if it is, I want to fix it. Just tell me and I’ll do whatever it takes to fix it.”
“She didn’t know who you were until just now when I told her.”
They both turned to look at Angela who had wedged herself into the midst of their conversation.
“Sorry,” Angela whispered, backing away.
Closing her eyes, Annie sighed.
“Annie?”
“Um…I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t need to say anything. I knew you had no idea who I was the moment we met.”
“How would you know that?”
“Let’s just say it’s something I picked up over the years. You get so that you can tell the very first time someone looks you in the eye and talks to you, whether they know who you are or not. I didn’t think who I was mattered to you. And it was nice to have an honest conversation for once.”
“Who you are doesn’t matter to me.”
“Well, obviously it does.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, look at you. You can’t even look me in the eye, all of a sudden.”
“That has nothing to do with it. That’s not because of…” Bringing her hand to her face she sighed. “I’m just a little surprised, that’s all. It will take some getting used to.”
“Getting used to? So does that mean you’d still like to spend time with me?”
“I wouldn’t be totally opposed to the idea.”
He laughed, and she shrugged. “But as to why I came here. One, I did want to see where you worked, yes.”
She exhaled slowly, feeling relieved.
“What?” Derrick looked at her, eyebrows raised
“I’m glad you didn’t say you wanted to see me in action because, to be honest, you’d have been seriously disappointed. And I would have been, well, not exactly thrilled at the idea of looking the moron, to be frank.”
He chuckled.
“Wait a minute. You said one, you wanted to see where I worked. Was there a two?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, there was. I was wondering if you’d let me take you to lunch?”
“Lunch?”
“Yes, she will,” Angela was standing behind Derrick.
Annie turned to Angela. “But don’t you need me to — ”
“We can take care of that. You just go. Go and have fun.”
“Why do I get the distinct feeling you’re trying to get rid of me?”
“Whatever gave you that idea? Now go. Have fun.” Grabbing Annie and Derrick by the arm, she paraded them out the door, as if neither had a say in the matter.
Standing next to Derrick on the sidewalk, Annie looked down at her apron still around her waist, and shaking her head, she held up a finger. “Just give me a minute.” Turning, she walked back into the store.
“What are you doing back here?” Angela asked.
“Oh, the fact that I am still wearing the store apron and a little something called my purse?”
“Oh!” Angela laughed in an odd high-pitched titter, and Annie stared at her, taking a step back. “Are you all right?”
“Of course. I’m fine. Now you go and have a nice time with the very wealthy man.”
Untying her apron, Annie pulled it up over her head and tossed it onto the counter. “Would you please stop saying that like it matters?”
“Of course it matters. Why wouldn’t it matter?”
Annie just stared, and shaking her head, she gathered her purse and walked out the door to the sidewalk almost bumping into Derrick.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“I think so.”
“You think so?”
“It’s Angela, she’s acting really, well more weird than her usual weird self, let’s just put it that way.”
“I think I might have had something to do with that. People can get really strange about the whole having money thing.”
“Yes, I do believe I understand.” Slipping her purse over her shoulder, she looked down the sidewalk. “So, where’s your car?”
“Right here.”
“Where?”
“Here.” He pointed to the limousine, and Annie stared.
“That, is your car?”
“You’re getting that look again.”
“What look?” she asked, not taking her eyes from the limousine.
“Well, not looking at me, for one thing.”
“Well, just right now I am busy looking at the big ass limo.”
He laughed, and Lawrence jumped out, opening the door.
Annie jumped back. “Whoa, what’s that?”
“That is Lawrence. And he’ll be driving us today.”
“What, he doesn’t drive you every day?”
“Yes, he pretty much drives me every day.” He gestured at the open limousine door. “After you.”
She stared at the open door, feeling a trifle overwhelmed.
“Annie?”
“Hmm?”
“Is everything all right?”
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Perhaps because you are not getting in?”
“Oh.” She laughed. “Yes. Okay. Um, yeah.” She climbed in, Derrick climbing in after her, the limousine pulling away from the curb. “Uh, you never said where we were going for lunch.”
“Didn’t I?”
She looked across at him.
“Well, I thought we’d take some food to the park.”
“The park?”
“Yes. You don’t like the park?”
“No. I like the park fine.”
“I don’t come across as the park type?” She didn’t say anything, and he laughed. “Okay, okay, I can see where you might get that impression. But hey, I’m game for anything. And I thought a meal in the park would be nice on a day like today.”
“Uh-huh.”
The limousine pulled into the park, and driving along the road that wound its way through Lawrence, parked by a clearing off to the right. There in the grass by the oak trees was a table with a white linen tablecloth, candelabra, and two full settings of china, complete with sterling silver cutlery and platter covered with a lid.
Annie bit her lip to stop herself from laughing as she climbed from the limousine. She knew he meant it as a joke, and sitting at one of the chairs, she watched as the waiter removed the lid from the sterling silver platter. There on the platter were two hamburgers, and two cans of cola.
Bringing her hand to her mouth, Annie laughed at the si
ght before her. The waiter then placed the burger onto her plate with one of those flat silver servers. It was still hot, the pop cold, and she wondered how he had managed that.
“Enjoy your meal,” the waiter said and bowed his head, taking two steps back.
Looking at the waiter, out of the corner of her eye, she leaned forward, lowering her voice. “Um…is he going to stand there the whole time we are eating?”
Leaning forward, Derrick lowered his voice as well. “Yes, he is. He comes with the meal. I had it made at one of the best restaurants in town.”
At this, she sat back. “You’re telling me one of the best restaurants in town makes hamburgers?”
“If you pay them enough, they’ll make you anything you want.”
“Good God, how much did this cost? ’Cause I can get them for two bucks at…” She remembered the waiter was standing right there, and she smiled, her face becoming hot. “I am sorry. I never meant to suggest.” She looked up. Derrick was watching her from across the table. “Perhaps I should stop while I’m ahead.”
“Well, now you’re just stealing my line.”
“Your line?” But then she remembered their last conversation. “Oh yes…” And then she laughed.
“But do eat up, while it’s still hot.”
Annie shrugged, and taking a generous bite, she rolled her eyes. “Mmm, oh my God, these are good!”
“You say that like you’re surprised.”
“No, I just didn’t expect anything this good! I didn’t know hamburgers could taste this good!” But then she sat back. “If Angela saw me eating this…” She stopped talking, and taking another generous bite, she made more noises as she ate.
Derrick laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman enjoy a hamburger as much as you. I didn’t think women could enjoy hamburgers as much as you seem to.”
“What, eatin’ meat is a man’s thang?” She said it with a strong southern drawl, as if coming straight off a Texas barbeque.
“Oh, so it’s not only a man’s thang, but it’s a southern man’s thang?”
“Uh-huh.” She managed between bites.
Derrick just laughed.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
“No, I’m getting much more pleasure out of watching you than I’d ever get from eating it myself.”
“Then can I have yours?”
Derrick slid the plate over to her, watching as she ate all of his as well. “I’ve never actually seen a woman eat in front of me.”
“What?”
“You know, they’ll pick at a salad, or order something and have a couple of bites.”
“Really?”
“You don’t know they do that?”
“I thought that was just something people made up in movies. I didn’t think they actually did that. Well, yes, I know there are women with eating issues, and I can easily understand how they get that way what with…” She stopped as she noticed him looking at her. “I’m sorry, I never meant to get off on — ”
“Hey, no need to apologize,” he interrupted. “I was the one that brought it up. I just meant it’s nice to see a woman that lets herself enjoy food. I just wish they could all be able to.”
She stared at his empty plate. “I just ate your lunch. I don’t believe I just did that! How awful of me. What is the matter with me? How could I have done that? I am positively terrible.”
“I tell you what, before you completely beat yourself up, if you feel that bad about it I can always order more. It’s not like they have run out of food at the kitchen.”
“Okay.” She grinned at him.
He held up two fingers, and the waiter nodded and pulled out a cell phone.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No. I did say I’d order more.”
“Yes, but I thought you were going to go the restaurant to get them.”
“Why? When we have a perfect setting right here.”
Tilting her head, she thought about what he had just said. “True.”
He grinned at her antics. “Oh, and did I hear you correctly before? Did you call my car a big ass limo?”
Annie’s eyes went up once again, as if searching her brain for the memory. “Did I?”
“Yes, you did.”
She laughed, her face becoming hot once again. “I guess I have my moments when I’ll let it slip. Just don’t get me drunk, because boy, oh boy.” She realized what she had just said, and looking to see him watching her closely, she bit her lip. “Okay, you did not just hear that. We are going to go back in time, and that will never have happened.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Waiter, have them include a bottle of champagne with that order, if you will please.”
“What?”
Derrick laughed.
The burgers arrived quickly, and she watched Derrick as he ate, insisting he had them both. “You’re not planning on trying to impress me like this every time we go out, are you?”
“Are you saying you wouldn’t mind going out with me again?”
Feeling coy, she smiled. “No, I wouldn’t.”
“Good to know.”
His answer surprised her, and she looked up from the tablecloth to see him smiling at her.
“Figured that would get you to look at me.”
“What?”
“I wanted to look into your eyes, so I said something that I thought would get you to look at me.”
“That wasn’t very proper of you.”
“Well, if I asked you to stare into my eyes, would you have?”
She smiled. “No, I suppose not.”
“Well then.” Resting his elbows on the table, he leaned over his plate.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to put your elbows on the table?” she teased.
“I knew you were going to say that.”
“You did?”
“Uh-huh. You see, I’m already getting to know your little quirks.”
“Quirks?”
“Consider it a term of endearment.”
“Endearment?”
“Okay, if you keep repeating everything I say, then that just feels like high school all over again. And then I’d just have to ask you if you’d like to go steady.”
She giggled, and looked up to see him staring at her. “Oh, you were serious.”
“Well?”
“Oh…uh.”
“Oh, that’s not good.”
“What?”
“I ask you if you’d like to go steady and your answer is: ‘Oh…uh.’”
“No! No, I didn’t mean anything by that. I was just taken by surprise, is all.” He continued to stare at her, and she realized he was still waiting for an answer. “God, but you do make me feel like we are in high school all over again. What is that about you?”
“My boyish charm?”
She smiled and nodded her head. “Yes. I’d like that.”
“So do I need to get you a promise ring or something? How does that work? No, I’m supposed to let you wear my letter jacket. Didn’t they use to pin girls? What does that mean anyway?”
“You didn’t belong to a fraternity, did you?”
“Nope. Never could understand all that need to join and belong.” She watched him carefully as he spoke. “But hey, you could wear my letter jacket.”
“Okay.”
Derrick stared. “What?”
“I’m kidding.” She reached over, patting his hand for reassurance, that little boy lost look bringing out the mother in her.
He looked to her hand on his and didn’t move.
She knew he understood she wasn’t quite ready for that yet.
“So, now that we’re going steady, maybe it would be okay to have your phone number?”
She hesitated, thinking on it, and he looked at her anxiously.
“I don’t have a phone.”
“Excuse me?”
“I know. I always get the same look whenever I tell people.”
“How can you function withou
t one?”
“Well enough, apparently. I manage to get by. I know what my shifts for work are in advance. I don’t have need for one really.”
“You’re not?”
“What?”
“I was going to say a Quaker.”
She laughed. “I had one, once, but I never used the thing. I had no reason to call anyone, and no one called me. Oh, but I did get wrong phone numbers. You know I would get these phone calls for some girl named Kristin on a regular basis. I always knew when Kristin had a new boyfriend, and it was like the changing of the guard, I’ll tell you. One time, a wrong number kept ringing and tried coming on to me. I am busy thinking, ‘Poor Kristin. That she had to hook up with some creep that goes behind her back with a wrong phone number, for God’s sake!’ And when I wouldn’t have any part of it, I was told I was a drag.” He was hanging on every word, and she smiled.
“But that’s another story?”
“Yes, I can say that it was.”
“So, how will I be able to get a hold of you?”
“Well, you’re here now. What is it you wish to say to me?”
“I wish to say, you need to get a phone.”
She sighed. “All right, I’ll get one, if only to end this conversation about getting one.” He smiled as if he’d won some sort of award, and she wondered why he thought it so important.
“Here is my phone number.” He handed her a card, and she took it.
“You go around with cards with your name on them?”
“Why sure, doesn’t everyone?”
“Yes, but don’t you like have your lawyers do all the negotiating or something?”
“Negotiating?”
“Well, yeah. Okay, I admit I don’t have any idea what I am talking about when it comes to things like this.” She stopped. “I just realized how that sounds. You’re probably wondering if I know anything about anything, at this point, aren’t you?”
“I never said that.”
“No, but you’re probably thinking it.” Looking over, the waiter was pretending not to be listening, but she knew he’d heard every word. “I best let you get back to whatever it is that you do.”
“What is it you think that I do all day?”
She studied him closely, trying to see into his very soul. “You sit on this huge pile of money, throwing it in the air, and go, ‘Wee!’”