Page 36 of Latte Girl
I wait. Hailey comes out of the kitchen with a towel thrown over her shoulder, wiping her hands on her apron. She stops when she sees me standing in the middle of the store. Her eyes go wide and then shenarrowsthem.
“What do you want?” she demands, hervoicehard.
“I want toapologi—”
“Bullshit,” she sneers, cuttingmeoff.
She flings her towel onto the counter and strides up to me until there’s less than a foot of spacebetweenus.
“Is this fun for you?” Her voice is like acid. “Is this what you like to do? Find secretaries and coffee shop girls to mess with because they’re not important enough to actually mean anything? Is that what getsyouoff?”
She moves even closer, her mouth just inches from mine. I feel her breath on my skin as her voice drops to a deadly whisper. “That’s not a game you can play with me, Jordan Knox. So go back to your little world with its attitudes andexpectations.”
For a moment she holds her lips in front of mine, and I can taste her all over again. Then she pulls away and turns back towards thekitchen.
I think of all the sticky notes I’ll have to throw awaytonight.
“Hailey!” I shout, louder than I intended. “If I were you, I wouldn’t listen to me either. This has all gone so wrong, and I know it’s my fault. I know I don’t deserve even a second more of your time, but please.Listen.”
She pauses, her hand on her towel, but doesn’t turn around. I take a deep breath in andcontinue.
“When I said you weren’t like the people in my office, I meant it as a good thing. You know what that place is like. You know how I feel about working there. When I said you were different, Imeant...”
I hunt for the words that will make herunderstand.
“I actuallylaughwhen I’m with you, Hailey. I’ve spent half my life in that building and the first time I ever laughed in there was with you. Starting my job felt like the end of the line for me. I could barely drag myself out of bed in the morning, but after I met you I spent every day feeling excited, wondering when I’d bump intoyounext.”
She hasn’t turned around yet but she also hasn’t left. I throw out any sentence that comes to mind which might makeherstay.
“When I said that girl at the bar was just a secretary, I didn’t mean it the way you thought. I meant that she was just a girl I wasn’t interested in, just a girl whowasn’t—”
Hailey turns around, her eyes finding mine and silencing me before I can utter theword‘you.’
“How do I know you mean that?” she asks, searching my face foranswers.
“Because I don’t think the pull I feel towards you works onlyoneway.”
The intensity of the words surprises even me. I try to backtrack, afraid I’ve overdone it. “Look, I don’t know who that guy at the bar was, and I don’t mean to get in thewayof—”
“It was nothing,” sheinterjects.
She stares at me, expectant, and Igoon.
“All I want you to know is that when I look at you, I see this girl who’s unique, and smart, and really good at thinking up comebacks to all my terrible jokes. I see someone who works hard and cares about the people who depend on her. I see someone who makes me kind of jealous, wishing I could be morelikeher.”
I risk taking a step closertoher.
“There’s no way to tell you how sorry I am if I ever made you look at yourself and see anything otherthanthat.”
She keeps her eyes locked on mine for a moment and then drops them to the floor, speaking in a voice so low I take a few more steps forward just tohearher.
“You hardly know me,” shemurmurs.
“You’re right. I don’t know everything about you. You don’t know everything about me. You could be a convicted felon. I could own ten cats. We could end up hating each other if we spent more than half an hour in the same room,” I say, my heart picking up speed at the thought of what I’m about to tell her next. “All I’m sure of is that the things Idoknow about you leave me with this insane craving to be around you, to find out more. I can’t fight that anymore. You’re like an itch I haven’t been able to stop myself from scratching, no matter how hardItry.”
She lifts her head up to face me, fighting asmile.
“An itch?” she echoes. “That’s not veryflattering.”
