Page 26 of Latte Girl
The twins still have yet to hire anyone to replace me now that I’m their new catering manager, so things are busier than ever. I have two meetings today, one at the Knox building and one at a bank across the street, but I haven’t even started packing up mycartyet.
“Two lattes to go!” I call, setting the order down on the pickupcounter.
“Oh, Hailey!” Trisha calls, tapping my shoulder before I can head back to the espresso machine. She looks embarrassed and drops her voice, turning away from the customer in front of her. “Uh, what’s adoppio?”
“Double shot of espresso, straight,” I tell her. I drop my voice too. “Jeeze, does this guy think he’s in Italy or something? Ring it up as an espresso shot and add the extra shot charge onto that. Also, I have to go pack the cart after thisorder.”
Trisha groans in dismay and turns back to the customer while I fire up the espresso machine for what feels like the hundredth timetoday.
One busy half hour later, I’m laying out the final pack of napkins on the table for the Knox meeting. It’s a small one, with just two coffee dispensers and a tray of cookies. I’m finished well before the meeting and stall for time, straightening the already straight stacks of mugs as I work up the nerve to do what I’m abouttodo.
I still have Jordan’s umbrella. I’m going to bring it to his office and then I’m going to demand someanswers.
Once I had a bit of time to think about what happened yesterday, the unease I felt turned to annoyance. I was trying to clear up the confusion between Jordan and I, and his answer was to throw me up against a wall, kiss the life out of me, and then run away without another word. I don’t know what I expect to happen when I go to his office, or what I evenwantto happen, but I’m not leaving things the waytheyare.
I head to the sixth floor and past the rows of cubicles to his door. I knock and hear him call for me tocomein.
My original plan was to slam the umbrella onto his desk and say, “Here’s your umbrella. What the hell is your deal?” but that idea flies out the window when I see him sitting in his chair, looking up at me with a mix of surprise and trepidation that makes me feel like I should tone things downabit.
“Hey,”Isay.
“Hey,” heanswers.
Neither of usmoves.
“You forgot this.” I place the umbrella on his desk. He reaches out to wrap a hand around it but leaves it sittingthere.
“Thanks.”
We search each other’s faces for clues about what tosaynext.
“So about yesterday,” I finally begin, “what exactlywasthat?”
“It was a mistake.” He shifts his eyes from mine as hesaysit.
I feel the bottom of my stomachdroppingout.
“A mistake?” I echo. My voice soundshollow.
“You were right. Weshouldjust...”
He trails off and takes a deep breath. Then he raises his eyes again, and when I look into them, they’reempty.
“We should just pretend it never happened.” His sentence hits me like a punch to the gut, and I can hardly hear him as he continues. “It’s just that people here are a certain way. There are all these attitudes and expectations. You’re not like that, though. You’re different, Hailey. I wouldn’t feelright—”
“Being seen with the latte girl?” I cut him off, the words coming out shriller than I intended as I realize what he’s saying. He blinks upatme.
“What? No!” He bolts up from his chair. “That’s not what I meant. Not at all. I just don’t think I’m the right person for you. I’m part of this whole world here” – he swoops his hands around to indicate the inside of his office— “and you’re...I mean, Hailey,you’re—”
“Just the girl who brings the muffins,” I say, my teeth clenched. “I get it. I get exactly what you mean. I hope you get what I mean when I say fuck you,JordanKnox.”
I march out of the office, leaving the door wide open and not caring about the curious heads that pop up over the edge of the cubicles like gophers coming out of their holes. Without a backward glance, I storm down the hallway and into the elevator. My hand shakes as I press the button for the secondfloor.
The meeting I’m supposed to be serving at has already started, but I walk straight past the door and head to the bathroom. I keep it together until I’m hunched over the sink in front of the mirror, and that’s when the tears starttofall.
At first I’m crying with the humiliation that courses through me in waves. After a few minutes, though, anger starts boiling in my blood and I curl my hands into fists, slamming them down on the counter. I’m angry at Jordan, but I’m even angrier at myself for letting him send me sobbing into the women’sbathroom.
I should have known. I should have known that anyone who wears a suit that expensive would turn out to be an asshole. I’ve spent two years serving coffee to Knox Security employees, and the only interest the men who work there have ever shown in me is to give me creepy smiles and stare at my ass when they think I’m notlooking.
