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Morgan hated how her voice hitched then. She hated how suddenly she felt like she was going to cry. But she regrouped really quickly and went on.

“It was, like, the thought of touching him and him touching me…” she shivered in revulsion, and where the hell did that come from? She’d had no problem with any of the touching she and Clint had done over the years.

She looked up to find Naomi staring at her.

“Well!” Naomi said just before taking a sip of her wine.

“Well, what? Be honest.”

“Well…honestly…it sounds to me like you’re on a journey that I can’t really help you with because it must be taken alone.” Naomi patted Morgan’s knee again. “Just don’t close yourself off to certain things. Remember, we’re women…we fall for others differently than men do.”

Morgan sighed, but nodded.

“Besides,” Naomi went on, a twinkle in her eye. “I very seriously doubt you’re a lesbian.”

“Why is that?” Morgan asked, wondering if maybe Naomi had finally found some insight into her dilemma.

Naomi used her hands to indicate her entire body.

“Because if you were, you’d be all over this!”

Morgan kicked her foot out and struck Naomi’s shin, laughing as she did so.

Chapter 11

On Tuesday evening, Chloë was in charge at La Vida Mocha as it was Vanessa’s day off. This meant she was working with Luli and the new girl, Amber. It was a few minutes to closing time, which was five p.m. today and Chloë already had Amber cleaning the main room while Luli had been tasked with prepping the coffee machines for use tomorrow. Their last customer—a salted caramel latte—had just received her drink and took it to go. With any luck, Chloë reasoned, she, Luli and Amber could be out of here before quarter past.

“Plans tonight?” Luli asked Chloë who was drumming her fingers nervously alongside the POS system and its cash drawer. She was itching to just start cashing out for the day but Vanessa was a stickler for waiting until the coffeeshop officially closed for the day before the register was closed out. Even though La Vida Mocha was currently empty and it was unlikely anyone would pop in for coffee during…Chloë checked her watch…the final two minutes before five o’clock, Chloë had been around long enough to have seen it happen before. That one, final pain-in-the-ass customer who would rush in, out of breath, acting as if they were experiencing an honest-to-goodness coffee emergency.

“No, nothing,” Chloë answered her friend. Sienna wasn’t even available tonight because she was working at the Ink Well. “You?”

“Cooking for Tamara,” Luli answered with a smile. “Today is our three-month anniversary and I told her I’d make her an authentic Cantonese dinner to celebrate.”

“Awesome,” Chloë replied. It sounded better than her plans of going home and studying up on market shares for the test on Friday. She checked her watch again. “Okay, flip it and lock it, Amber!” she called out, and while Amber went to flip the Open sign to Closed and then lock the front door, Chloë started the end-of-day cycle on the POS and started counting the day’s takings.

She was right, they were able to leave before another fifteen minutes had passed.

“Good luck with your dinner tonight,” Chloë said to Luli, who smiled and waved before getting in her car. Chloë couldn’t believe it had been three months already that Luli and Tamara had been together.

“See you tomorrow!” Amber said perkily, hugging Chloë because she was a hugger, a fact she had provided about herself on her first day of work. “Thank you so much for letting me run the POS most of the day. I really love working here, thanks a lot to you.”

“Awesome, dude; I’m glad you feel that way,” Chloë said, feeling happy. It was when Amber did little things like that which made Chloë feel optimistic about being the Big Boss one day in her own coffeeshop.

At home, Chloë found a Post-It note on her door from her Dad. It read, “Hey, kiddo! That ceiling fan you picked out just arrived. I’ll install it tomorrow!”

Oh, God!

LeeAnne had managed to fix the whole track-lighting-turns-off-the-refrigerator fiasco. Now Chloë wondered what this new ceiling fan would do when turned on. Start the microwave? Launch a ballistic missile?

After changing into comfy pajamas, Chloë made sure to get started on her studying. The test coming up on Friday was indeed a big one and so far, she was doing well in this course. Since starting college, she had learned so much about the behind-the-scenes aspects of the business world and, excitingly, had realized that some of what she was being taught had real-world applications at La Vida Mocha, which helped reinforce the lessons.

She had been thinking more and more lately about her own future coffeeshop. For example, having gone to downtown San Diego the other night for her tattoo, Chloë realized how much she loved the vibe and energy of being in the city and was considering that there is where she’d like to set up her coffeeshop, maybe in the same part of town the Ink Well was in. It was a trendy area, with new-build apartments and condos, hip shops and eateries. And even though it wasn’t a party spot like Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter, it still had an active nightlife scene, especially on the weekends.

Chloë put a reminder in her phone to talk to Lexx, ask her about the realities of owning a business in San Diego. If she could pick Lexx’s brain and get some insight into what it was like operating a place in the city, it would be a good use of time.

She studied well for a couple of hours, her favorite study playlist on Spotify playing on her phone, the music coming through the Bose Bluetooth speaker

s her father had installed soon after the tiny house was completed. (Well, he installed them, but it was her mother who had got them working.) When she’d had enough, Chloë stood from her sofa, stretched and finally let the thoughts that had been running in the background of her mind while she studied, come to the forefront.