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That didn’t seem flirty. “Of course! I’d like that,” Megan answered.

“Awesome! Anyway, what can I get you?”

“Large Americano, please. Iced.”

“Sure,” Chloë said, tapping the POS screen. Megan tried to remember her crash course from a few days ago.

Let’s see…an Americano would be: Tap Espresso Drinks, tap Americano, tap Large, tap Iced. Ignore the add-ons menu, ask if there was anything else the customer wanted…

“Anything else?” Chloë asked.

Yay!

“Um…yeah. I wouldn’t mind a white chocolate chip cookie, please.”

Tap Food, tap Cookies, tap White Choc Chip, tap Add to Order.

“Awesome,” Chloë said. Then, “By the way, the boss says you want to keep paying for your coffee?”

Megan nodded, already opening her bag to get her wallet.

“Absolutely! This is, like, the worst time ever to be accepting freebies from a small business. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”

“Pretty cool,” Chloë responded, and Megan thought she could detect just the slightest hint of respect in her voice.

Megan paid with a ten and told Chloë to keep the change. The Americano and cookie were handed over quickly. One of the reasons Megan liked Americanos was because they were so easy to make. Even if a coffeeshop was super busy, Megan’s order was often ready and given to her before the orders of customers who had been waiting longer.

“Come by my table when you get a break,” Megan invited Chloë.

“Cool, I will,” Chloë said, the smile again reaching her eyes.

Ten minutes later, Megan was sitting at her table, eyes focused on her iPad as she used her Apple Pencil to add some fine details to the picture she was drawing when an odd tingling came over her suddenly which raised goosebumps on her arms.

Vanessa.

Looking up, she saw she was right. Vanessa was just emerging from the back room.

Megan’s mouth dropped open.

How did that happen?

But there was no time to analyze it because Vanessa had already spotted Megan. She gave a little wave and then said a few words to Chloë before coming from behind the counter to approach Megan’s table.

Megan stood up to hug her.

“You’re here!” Vanessa said, squeezing Megan tight. “And you look super-cute! I love this dress! I might borrow it.”

Megan almost laughed at the idea of Vanessa trying to fit her much larger boobs into the bust of this dress.

Vanessa continued. “Sorry, I was back there doing business owner stuff on my laptop since we had a lull.”

“No worries. It looks like things are going great, though,” Megan said, glancing around the shop.

“We got slammed this morning, and then lunchtime was wicked also, but that’s a good sign. Fingers crossed it will keep up. Let’s sit so I can take off this damn mask.”

Megan couldn’t help notice that as soon as Vanessa removed her mask, she pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a small groan.

“Is everything okay?” Megan asked.