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wo hands, her sensible brown dress with a high collar immaculately pressed.

Megan turned to see what had startled Vanessa and then she also threw her hands to her face in embarrassment.

“Oh fuck!” she sputtered.

The old woman grinned at the two women, patiently looking at them with eyes made bigger by the Mister Magoo glasses she was wearing. She seemed as if she was pleasantly willing to wait all day.

“Oh my God, ma’am, I am so sorry!” Vanessa said, the heat of her blush making her feel like she had contracted a fever. She hurriedly reached into her pocket for her face mask and put it on. Jesus, how had she not heard the bell over the door?

Because I was lost in Megan’s kiss, that’s why.

Vanessa silently thanked her goddesses that she hadn’t started fondling Megan’s breasts; something she had been about to do. She wondered what kind of Yelp review that would have garnered from the elderly woman.

“No problem, sweetheart,” the lady said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“God, no, don’t apologize! Um…what can I help you with?” She left Megan’s side to take her position behind the counter.

The customer came forward, Megan giving her a sheepish grin as she passed by.

“I was hoping to get an iced coffee, please. It’s rather warm out today, isn’t it?”

Vanessa smiled. “I wish I knew. I’ve been stuck inside here since I opened. Is that regular or decaf?”

“Fully leaded, please,” the old lady said, and then she leaned closer and whispered conspiratorially, “Don’t tell my doctor. She would already yell at me for being out without a mask on.” She then moved her eyes back and forth between Vanessa and Megan before resettling on the barista. “So, have you two been together long?”

The abrupt shift in topic made Vanessa blush again as she prepared the iced coffee. She stole a glance at Megan and could tell from the crinkle around her eyes that she was stifling a laugh.

“We just met a couple of days ago,” Megan answered.

“So, is this is your second date?”

“No,” Megan corrected. “I just came in to say hello and get some coffee, that’s all.”

The old lady waved a dismissive hand.

“If there was a kiss, it counts as a date,” she said in a firm voice that would brook no argument. “That’s what I told my husband sixty-three years ago; although, I said that as a way to shorten the amount of time it was going to take to get us to the altar. Thank you,” she said when Vanessa handed her the iced coffee.

Still embarrassed by the whole kissing thing, Vanessa tried to insist her customer take the coffee on the house.

“Nonsense!” Again, the voice used indicated no argument would be tolerated. Vanessa wondered briefly if she had been schoolteacher. For juvenile delinquents. The lady pulled a ten from her purse and plunked it down on the counter. “Keep the change,” she ordered and then hooked a thumb in Megan’s direction. “Use it to help take her on your third date.” She then winked, nodded goodbye to Megan and left the shop.

As soon as the door shut behind her, Vanessa and Megan burst into laughter.

“Okay…that was, um, memorable,” Vanessa said, leaning with her arms on the counter and looking up at Megan.

“If she thinks kissing equals a date, I wonder what she thinks going down on a woman equals?” Megan asked, eyes alight with mischief. She leaned with her arms on the counter also so that her face was just inches from Vanessa’s. She then picked at the edge of Vanessa’s mask.

“This has to come off,” Megan commanded, and Vanessa felt drunk with how her body responded to Megan’s directness. She pulled off her mask and then their lips were together again. During the kiss, Megan reached up with one hand and took possession of the back of Vanessa’s neck and she knew by the insistent yet gentle pressure of the other woman’s fingers that this kiss was not going to end until Megan decided it was going to end. The realization made Vanessa groan as she felt a certain part of her body respond.

Finally, Megan released her.

“This was a bad idea,” Megan groaned. “I have a meeting and you have a coffeeshop to run.”

“You started it,” Vanessa teased.

“Hello? I did not! You’re the one who started kissing me.”

“Buuut, you’re the one who showed up here wanting the best Americano in Carlsbad, instead of making a cup of Sanka at home.”