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“Charlie, watch this!” Amanda flipped the sequins on her shirt with her palm to display a different color.

“What? Awesome. I’m so jealous. Now Ireallywant one.” Charlie grinned at Erica. “You want your usual?”

“Sure do,” Erica said, and dug her wallet from her purse.

Amanda rocked on her tiny feet and touched her double braid. “And a chocolate chip cookie.”

“Why aren’t you in school? It’s after nine,” Charlie asked as she scribbledvanilla steamer: Ms. Amandawith a balloon and smiley face on one cup andpeppermint mochaon the other.

“I went to the dentist.” Amanda pointed a tiny finger at her teeth. “Mom said if I didn’t have any cavities, I could come here for a drink and cookie reward.”

“Reward. Bribe. Depends on your definition.” Erica patted Amanda on the back.

“Hmmm. No cavities means you get sugar? Suspicious.” Charlie recited a silent prayer to the universe that Amanda would realize how lucky she was to have a mom who cared.

“Get any new inventory this week?” Erica eyed the Sugar Mugs community bookshelf.

“Actually… I just finished a Ruth Ware mystery last night.” Charlie nodded toward the bookcase. “Second shelf, the one with the blue cover.”

“Any good?”

“Do you even have to ask? All her stuff is good.” Charlie grinned. “Feel free to take home. When you’re done, we’ll totally have to compare notes to see who we thought the killer was.”

Erica put her wallet back in her purse. “I swear I never see it coming. Every time I’m shocked.”

“Me too.” Charlie stole a glance at the New Yorker and caught her doing the same. They exchanged a brief smile before Charlie returned her attention back to the other customers and the woman shifted hers back to the bagel.

Amanda and Erica waved goodbye as a petite woman with an impressively high ponytail approached the till.

Charlie grabbed a pen from her apron. “Hey, there. What can I get started for you?”

“Can I get a half-caf, three-pump sugar-free vanilla, onepump hazelnut, almond milk latte? No dairy. Oh, and lots of foam.”

Contradiction order. As a purist, Charlie would never put so many conflicting ingredients in a cup. But she admired her customers’ creativity.

“I’m not sure how foamy I can get the almond milk,” Charlie said. “For a foamy dairy alternative, you might wanna try oat milk.”

The woman stared at her phone and didn’t answer.

Charlie swallowed back irritation.Shake it off. You need the customers.“Just double-checking.Full sugarhazelnut?” She was not about to waste the supplies redoing a six-dollar drink when she had a pile of unpaid bills stuffed under the till.

The woman nodded without looking up.

Ben shot Charlie a cocky grin. Cranky white suburbanites, thebasics, as Ben called them, were his catnip. She tapped him on the shins with her Doc Martens and gave himthe lookas the milk steamer screeched.

“Order up!” Ben slid the cup in front of High Ponytail.

She yanked off the plastic lid. “I said extra foam.”

Grrr. You also said no dairy.Charlie choked on a string of F-bombs.

“My bad,” Ben held out his hand and flashed his infamous ultra-white smile. “Let me top that off for you.”

Her lips flatlined. “Just put whipped cream on top, and it’ll be fine.”

A delicious passive-aggressive comment taunted Charlie’s tongue.But not even this woman could ruin Charlie’s day. An intriguing New Yorker with a killer accent sat at the counter, and more customers visited today than yesterday.

After the dairy/non-dairy woman left, New York muttered, “Some people.”