Page 14 of Give Me Love

“Everything okay?” I ask.

She sighs and lifts her brow. “Sadly, no.” She rakes her hands over her face, removing her blue-framed glasses from her head. “Are you still interested in buying this place?”

“Yes.” I lean against the edge of the doorway, crossing my arms.

She nods. “It seems I may lose it if I don’t sell soon.”

“Lose it?”

“I’m afraid so.”

I push off the wall and walk to the chair in front of her desk before I sit. “How? I thought business was good?”

“It is. That’s not the problem. I’m up to my ass in doctor bills from my late husband. I’m in over my head. If you want to buy this place, we need to come up with something quickly. The bank isn’t giving me much time.”

I pinch my bottom lip with my fingers, thinking. It’s going to be tough trying to get a loan. But, maybe with my down payment, they’ll cut me some slack.

Yeah, good luck with your crappy credit.

“I’ll go to the bank Monday. I’ll see what I can do.”

She nods. “Or else I’ve got to find another buyer.”

“Don’t do that. I just need a little time.”

She exhales. “Don’t we all.”

__________

Immune to gravity, dust floats through Friday rays as I sip on a fully loaded coffee, strumming my pencil over the list of items we need to order this upcoming week while Guns N’ Roses sing “Paradise City”.

The bell above the door dings.

I lift my eyes.

My coffee slips from my fingers, and I jump back before it spatters all over my legs.

Sweat the size of marbles rolls down my back, and my face burns like the stupid coffee covering the floor.

Two men.

And one of them is none other than the suit on the stairs. My heart races, and when I make eye contact, it stumbles, tripping and falling face first. He’s wearing a Doors shirt, dark jeans and a snapback turned around backwards.

“Shit,” I curse under my breath. He looks even better up close.

“You okay back there?” the other man asks with a black T-shirt and canvas gray shoes on.

I drop to my knees and put some paper towels on the floor, trying my best to keep it cool. “Yep. The cup slipped.” I pat the floor, tossing coffee-soaked towels into the trash. I shake my head at my clumsiness and the fact I’m only making more of a mess. I feel the other customers looking at me from the reading side of the shop, but I choose to ignore it.You people act like you’ve never seen someone drop coffee before.

“Are you finished?”

I look up as the one in The Doors shirt eyes me with a miffed quirked brow. I narrow mine and wipe the stickiness on my apron as I stand, removing hair from in front of my face with a blow and the back of my hand. “Umm, yeah. What can I get you?”Asshole. You don’t have to be a dick.

Why is it so hot in here?

“Large coffee, black,” he says. “We’re in a hurry.”

“Brother, chill.” Black shirt guy slaps the asshole across his band logoed chest and turns to me. “Sorry about Mr. Dickhead here. He’s not always this unfriendly.”

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