Page 52 of Billionaire and the Barista

“That. I bet we have some in the backyard.”

I groaned. “I’m sorry baby, but you can’t today.”

“No, I want to find a cocoon.”

“I’m sorry but not today. Lacey can’t play with you until later, and I need you to sit and be good and color. I can’t go outside with you when we get back.” It wasn't fair to him to have to explain the café was too busy. And I certainly was not going to tell him about the homeless man and the needles. Robbie was five, he didn’t need to know about heroin.

He slammed himself back into his car seat and crossed his arms. He was mad at me, and there wasn’t anything I could or would do about it. He could be mad at me.

“Can I get a puppy?”

“What?” I laughed. “No, we cannot get a puppy. Where would we keep it? It can’t live in the apartment, and no.”

“Annie got a puppy. I want a puppy.”

It was hard when his best friend had so much more than him. She had a father, an older brother, and now, a puppy.

He was still whining about a puppy when we reached the café. I pulled the basket of his coloring books and crayons from my desk in the kitchen and set everything up on the back corner table where I could keep an eye on him.

“Robbie, baby, I need to help Miguel. I need you to be the most awesome Robbie, I know you can be right now.”

“But I want a puppy,” he whined.

I put my hand up, hoping his training would override his mood. “I need to go help Miguel. You need to sit here and color. We will talk about this later.”

I dashed to the counter and got him a cupcake from the counter, and a juice box out of the cooler. He wasn’t happy, but he was doing what I needed him to.

Miguel squeezed my shoulder. “Thanks. It’s been a madhouse, and I…”

“Go, you’ve done enough. This isn’t anything I haven’t dealt with before, and you need a break.”

He left through the kitchen door, and I didn’t even have it in me to plaster a fake smile on my face when I turned to the customer waiting.

“What can I get for you?”

Customers, cupcakes, and coffee all sped by in a complete blur. At some point, Miguel returned from his break, but we were swamped.

I didn’t feel like I could take a breath until Lacey came in for Robbie.

“He’s having a hard day, and he is mad at me. Anything shy of getting him a puppy to make him happy you can do.”

She smiled and turned to him, and then I remembered the other thing, and grabbed her arm, pulling her back to me.

“I’m sorry, you can’t go outside. He’s mad about that too. There was a homeless guy and he had drugs. I haven’t had a chance to make sure it's safe,” I said in a rush.

“Oh, definitely we will not go outback. It's nice, mind if we walk up to the swing set at the church?”

I sighed and gave her the first smile of my day. “That would be great.”

By the time the onslaught of customers had eased up, it was time to close. I wanted to lock the door and run upstairs. I wanted to grab Robbie and cuddle under blankets with him until we both fell asleep. I wanted to call Nathan to sweep me away from it all and make love to me until I forgot my own name.

The list of what I wanted, and what I was going to do was very different. I still needed to update my inventory, and I needed to find where in my budget I could hire another front counter person. I couldn’t keep running the front and baking at the same time. Accidents were happening, and I was selling out of cupcakes more often than not.

I needed a break. I needed food.

“Hey Ricky,” I said as I trudged into the kitchen, pulling off my apron. “You want some extra time tonight?”

“Yeah, I could use an extra hour or so, what’s up?”

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