Page 45 of Of Literature and Lattes
Jeremy shifted his attention back across the waiting throng and worked to not turn green with envy. Mirabella was an unqualified success.
A familiar face caught his eye. Alyssa had just pushed through the revolving door and stood searching the room. Her blonde hair was long and loose tonight over a plain white T-shirt and another bright skirt. He laughed. He hadn’t noticed her clothes before, but since she’d mentioned them at the park a few days before, he couldn’t stop noticing. He liked her fitted Jasper’s Garage uniform shirt best.
Alyssa saw him and smiled. He waved her over and pushed off the stool to kiss her cheek when she reached him. Only after the movement, dropping back down onto the stool, did he realize that was the first time he’d kissed her.
“I didn’t expect to see you here.” Her voice lifted in question.
Jeremy leaned close. “Lexi called as I was closing up. She said I was being a curmudgeon and to get here tonight.”
“Did she?” Alyssa blushed. “I got the same message. Except she didn’t call me a curmudgeon.”
Jeremy laughed and lifted off his stool again, bumping into the couple next to him. “Please take my seat.”
“Thank you.”
Liam instantly appeared with his ubiquitous white towel and Jeremy’s drink. He slid it to him as he tilted his head to Alyssa. “Hey, Beautiful, good to see you.” He leaned over the bar and kissed her cheek as well. “Lexi will be right out.”
“Thanks, Liam.” She pointed to the brown lowball with its orange peel and single ice cube resting in front of Jeremy. “What are you drinking?”
“Old-fashioned. It’s really the only drink I like. Drives Liam nuts, as he’s truly gifted. Tell him five things about yourself, and he’ll make you something spectacular.”
“Oh, Liam knows a lot more than five things about me.” Before she could say anything more, Liam slid an identical drink across the wood. “Here you go... The two of you.” He rolled his eyes to Jeremy and walked away.
At Jeremy’s bemused expression, Alyssa lifted her glass with a grin. “What can I say? He knows me well.”
The couple next to them lifted out of their seats; Jeremy snagged the one behind him and dropped into it, shifting to face Alyssa. Their knees bumped as they re-perched in the small opening.
“I don’t want to press, but the books aren’t making sense to me. Have you found that money you mentioned?” The question had consumed every waking moment of Jeremy’s past sixty hours.
“I haven’t, but that doesn’t mean I won’t. I have a lead from your credit card reader. Did you know you have that dumping into four different accounts?”
“I kept switching it because of withdrawal rules. It was a savings account first, then... It’s all a mess.” Jeremy shook his head. “I kept my Seattle accounts, opened accounts here, for me and the shop, a sweep account... Then when the bills started coming in, who knows where I paid them from? I got a little swamped.”
“I know swamped.”
Her tone held a derision he’d heard earlier. It felt as if she were fine, even on the edge of enjoying herself, then a dark cloud would cross over her and she’d pull away.
Jeremy bumped her knee with his own. “What’s swamped you?” She hesitated, and he bumped her knee again. “Is it XGC? The FBI?”
“I wish it were just one thing. It’s everything.” She shrugged. “And no, they haven’t reached out yet, which is almost worse. I called my lawyer today and he’s heard nothing either. I feel like the waiting is actually eating me from the inside... Then a few days ago I had a massive fight with my mom. It was my fault. I pushed and I didn’t—wouldn’t—stop. So she bought a mattress and had it shipped to my dad’s apartment so I can crash with him until I earn some money to get on my own again.”
“And?” Jeremy nudged her.
“And... it’s there. Turns out mattresses can arrive same day. But I haven’t gone. I can’t go, and yet I can’t stay either. Dad’s angry because I was out of line with my mom. No, don’t look like that... I don’t deserve sympathy—I was horrid. And I don’t even know what she’s feeling because she hasn’t been around. She’s in town, but she gets home late and leaves super early, like she’s scared.”
“Scared? Of you?”
“No.” Alyssa shook her head. “That’s not it, she’s not scared. She’s trying to stop a war, and since I won’t let her, she’s retreating in the face of the enemy. She’s basically declaring peace on any terms.”
“Really? You’re that bad?”
Alyssa pressed her fingertips to her lips as if remembering horrid words that had escaped from them. “You have no idea.”
“Well, Alyssa Harrison.” Jeremy raised his glass. “To new beginnings.”
She laughed and lifted her own. “May the bottom not fall out beneath us.”
“Hey, quit that. When I saw you walk through that door, I started feeling positive.”
