Page 48 of The Lone Wolf Café
“Rowena!” I exclaimed, but she only grinned as she chewed.
“What?” she mumbled through a mouthful of cookie. “They’re still delicious.”
“You have frosting on your face.”
“Where?”
In a single, impulsive movement, I reached up, cupped Rowena’s cheek in my hand, and brushed a smidgen of green icing off her skin.
And, if that wasn’t bold enough, I took the finger containing the green icing and stuck it in my mouth.
“That is pretty good,” I replied, licking my finger as Rowena gawked at me in bewilderment. “Maybe a little too sweet, though.”
Once Rowena recovered from the shock, she playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Seriously, though,” I continued. “Thank you. Your words mean a lot to me.”
Rowena smiled. “I appreciate you, Nettie. You don’t realize how much you’ve helped this café.”
“I don’t?”
“Well yeah. I’ve had more customers these past few days than I’ve had in the two months since Rune left,” Rowena replied. “Everyone loves your pastries. One shoddy icing job isn’t going to change that.”
I sighed, warmth filling my body as my anxiety left it. “You’re the best, Rowena.”
To my surprise, that made Rowena flinch. Her eyes widened, and her cheeks flushed pink.
“Th-thank you,” Rowena replied. She extended her arm, offering me her slender hand, and I took it. “Have you had your coffee yet?”
I shook my head. I’d been craving a cup of coffee all morning, but I’d been so preoccupied with the cookies I hadn’t had a chance to make one. Plus, hand-grinding the beans with a mortar and pestle wasn’t something I looked forward to.
“Come with me.” Rowena gently pulled me toward the kitchen door, her hand still locked in mine. “I haven’t made myself tea yet, either.”
“You haven’t?”
“Nope. I’ve been working on something.” Rowena opened the door and held it for me to pass through. “We’ll sit and have our drinks together.”
I followed Rowena up to the counter, where her tea display was nearly as messy as my failed cookie project. There were measuring spoons and dried bits of tea leaves everywhere, and several of the ingredient jars were pulled out of place with their lids off.
“Ignore the mess,” Rowena chuckled, placing the lid back on one of the jars. She pointed to the coffee percolator, which was tucked away near the sink.
And to my surprise, there was a little cylindrical device next to the percolator. It was made of metal, and it had a lever that was meant to be twisted.
“Rowena!” I exclaimed with joy. “You got a coffee grinder?”
She shrugged, that little casual smile sneaking across her lips. “I figured you didn’t want to keep using the mortar and pestle.”
“Thank you so much,” I smiled. I nearly wanted to pull her into a hug, although I feared that might scare her further. Especially since I’d wiped frosting off her cheek with my finger, and then stuck said finger into my mouth.
Though she didn’t seem to mind,I thought with a dreamy grin. I was ashamed to admit while I’d been licking the frosting off my finger, I’d been wondering how the soft skin of Rowena’s cheek would feel on my lips.
We worked side by side, me preparing coffee while Rowena prepared tea, like we had the previous morning. A warm trickle ran down my limbs every time our shoulders brushed. I loved how calming her presence was.
I could get used to this.
And that both scared and enthralled me.
Once we were finished making our respective beverages, we sat side-by-side in the high-backed chairs next to the fireplace and sipped our drinks in silence. My whole body soothed as I took my first sip of piping hot coffee, and it soothed even furtherwhen I caught a glimpse of Rowena flipping through her book next to me.
