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Despite her excitement at wanting to see Vanessa, Megan parked her car several blocks away from La Vida Mocha so that she could, in fact, get a little bit of walking in. She promised herself, however, that after visiting the coffeeshop, she’d also take a good brisk walk along the seawall.

When she entered the coffeeshop, she saw with relief that it was still not busy, with only two of the tables occupied by customers. Chloë was behind the counter, mask on, putting some clean coffee mugs near the coffee machine. A young Asian woman, also masked, was there too, opening a fresh packet of napkins. They both looked up when they heard the door’s bell jingle.

“Oh, hey, Megan!” Chloë said cheerily. Megan waved back and approached the counter, the Asian woman scrutinizing her the whole way out of curiosity.

“Megan, this is Luli,” Chloë said by way of introduction. “She used to work here when we first opened, before the world fell apart.”

“Hi, Luli; nice to meet you,” Megan said.

“Same here,” Luli replied, her hidden smile also reaching her eyes.

“VIP customer,” Chloë stage-whispered to Luli, pointing at Megan.

Megan’s eyes went wide. Behind her mask her mouth fell open.

“Oh my God, no…I am soooo not a VIP,” she insisted.

“Vanessa’s girlfriend,” Chloë stage-whispered again, with a smirk in Megan’s direction.

Now it was Luli’s eyes that went wide as she regarded Megan anew.

“Um…yeah,” she said, “that pretty much makes you the Queen of VIPs.”

“No! Chloë stop!”

Thankfully, Vanessa emerged just then from the back room wearing her Vader mask. Megan loved how Vanessa’s eyes lit up when she saw her.

“I thought I heard your voice,” Vanessa said. She surveyed the main room. “Still slow?”

“For now,” Chloë answered.

“Do you want anything?” Vanessa asked Megan.

Just you.

“No, I’m fine for now,” Megan answered.

Vanessa came out from behind the counter.

“I’m going to take a quick break,” she told her employees. “But I’ll be right over there,” she pointed to a table near the window.

It was only once they reached the table and sat down when Megan and Vanessa both took off their masks.

Megan decided to jump right in since she didn’t know how long she’d have Vanessa’s undivided attention for.

“I want to suggest something to you,” she said, taking Vanessa’s hands in both of hers. “Something about how we could make this relationship really work.”

Vanessa smiled, her eyes sparkling.

“Do tell,” she prodded.

Megan took a deep breath.

Rip off the bandage time.

“Come with me to New York,” she said. Now that her idea was out there, Megan suddenly felt afraid, as if Vanessa would tell her to fuck off.

Vanessa’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, as if she had been expecting Megan to say almost anything other than what Megan had actually said.