Page 10

RUMI

The weight of a sleeping Evee against my chest makes it hard to keep my eyes open as I lean back in one of the chairs at the tables we pushed together to account for all the people at tonight’s Hey Honey’s meeting.

I take the last sip of my iced dirty chai, the taste of cinnamon and cardamom with a subtle nuttiness from the almond milk never gets old, the bite from the espresso waking me up just a bit—I need to stay awake so I can listen to my boss and his social media manager argue on whether or not we should keep one of our spring menu items on our summer menu.

Luke says yes.

Mia says no.

My eyes volley back and forth, along with our third barista, Reagan, who’s seated next to me.

“Lavender is a spring flavor,” Mia argues. “And with how nice the weather has been, I think it’s time to transition to more summer flavors.”

“Our lavender chai was our best seller for March and April,” Luke counters.

“Specials are only special if they are available for a limited time. Plus, it makes sense to have something similar to Lenny’s specials for May and June.

We want consistency with all the shops, right?

Isn’t that the point with these meetings?

” Mia gestures to all of us watching them and solidifying her argument.

Luke and Mia are sitting next to each other across from me, an empty seat on either side of their missing partners—Annie is in the bathroom, and Mia’s husband, Eddie, took their twin girls, Nadia and Naomi, for a walk to the park across the street.

“What is the Lenny’s drink special for the summer?” Luke asks, looking past Annie’s empty seat to the owners of Lenny’s, Drew and Emmett Ryan.

Emmett looks to his wife, mirroring my position with his sleeping daughter against his chest, his tattooed hands resting on her back.

I met Emmett at my first staff meeting at Hey Honey’s, and I have yet to see him crack a smile that isn’t at Drew, their daughter, Lennon, or their son, Knox—let alone hear him say more than a sentence or two.

“We’re doing a strawberry old fashioned to go with your strawberry matcha and then we’re also thinking of some kind of margarita,” Drew answers, tucking her red wine hair behind her ear with one hand.

She uses her other hand to rub slow circles on her son’s back as she tries to relax him to sleep.

“I know you guys are also doing coconut syrup for one of your new ones, but Emmett vetoed it for us.”

“Coconut sucks,” Emmett grumbles in response.

As if against my will, my mind goes back to a different grump of a man who I crossed paths with this morning, and I have to roll my lips together in an attempt to conceal my smile.

Drew looks at her husband, shaking her head with a soft smirk. “So we’re thinking pineapple.”

“I don’t think pineapple is the way to go for you guys,” Mia says to Luke, twisting her long blonde hair and grabbing a claw clip she had on the strap of her purse, securing the hair in place.

She turns to Drew. “I should have the Lenny’s social media graphics and new specials menus done and printed by the end of the week, by the way.

I just need to stop by and get pictures of the new drinks. ”

Drew mouths a thank you as Luke nods his head, pondering.

This is usually how these meetings go. Luke and Mia do a bulk of the chatting while Annie and Drew occasionally add their thoughts or ideas.

Mia’s husband, Eddie, almost always finds an excuse to take their daughters to go do something, and Emmett goes where Drew goes, so he just sits and listens, never saying much.

The bookstore owners from next door, Elsie and Sierra, usually come to these meetings too—all the owners of this building wanting to coordinate and support each other’s businesses—but they couldn’t come tonight.

That leaves Ava, Reagan, and me. We’re here more out of obligation and to know how and when the menu changes, and I will admit that it’s fun to watch the Lenny’s and Hey Honey’s people interact.

I’ve never seen such strong love and friendships before. It’s almost healing to watch them all together—seeing what love, both romantic and platonic, is supposed to be like.

Before Luke can say anything, Annie comes out of the bathroom. “What’d I miss?” she asks. She changed from her scrubs she’s required to wear as an exotic animal veterinarian at the Milwaukee Zoo into a sky blue sweat set that compliments her long, chocolate brown hair.

Mia answers before Luke can. “Your fiancé here thinks we should keep the lavender chai for summer.”

Ava, the unofficial notetaker of all these meetings, chimes in. “So far, we have the coconut caramel cold brew and the strawberry matcha. Luke wants to keep the lavender chai, and Mia thinks we need something else,” she summarizes.

Annie nods. “We definitely need something else.”

Luke reaches his arm around the back of Annie’s chair, scooting his own closer to hers. “You’re right, Annie girl. Lavender was a hit, but it’s not a ‘special’ if we keep it around too long.”

“Gee, that sounds familiar,” Mia scolds, smacking Luke in the shoulder.

“One of the Lenny’s specials has pineapple,” Drew explains to Annie, both of them ignoring how Luke gives Mia a smile of mock-innocence only for her to flip him off. “But we were saying it might not work for you guys.”

“I could make a pineapple butter cake for the summer baked good,” Annie offers, her brown eyes roaming over to the part of the counter with all the bakery items.

Even though Annie’s primary job is a vet, she’s explained to me how she’s a stress baker, and she’s currently in a three-year externship with the zoo before she becomes fully licensed as an exotic animal vet, meaning she’s often very stressed and our bakery is often very stocked.

“That still leaves one more seasonal drink,” Ava says, her pen coming to her mouth as she looks over the notes she’s been taking in her planner.

I look down at Evee in my lap as I listen to Luke, Mia, Annie, and Drew ramble off different flavors to go with chai.

While it is my drink of choice over coffee or other teas, I prefer it with just some almond milk—nothing fancy.

I always try our seasonal flavor, but it’s never as good as the original.

Tuning the four of them out after a few seconds, the small cherries embroidered on Evee’s pajamas catch my eye and spark an idea.

“Cherry.” The word slips from my lips, and it takes me a second to realize that no one is naming random syrup flavors anymore.

I look up and find too many pairs of eyes on me, and I feel my skin prickle from the attention.

“Oh, sorry,” I mutter, but then I feel Ava’s hand reach over Reagan sitting beside me and squeeze my knee, reassurance that I didn’t say something wrong or talk when I wasn’t supposed to—reassurance I didn’t know I needed.

“Cherry,” Luke says with a nod, looking to Annie. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.”

Annie rolls her eyes, but there’s a smile on her face. I feel like I’m on the outside of an inside joke.

My face must show my confusion because I hear from my left, “You’re not missing much.” Drew is looking at me with her kind, green eyes. “But if you ever want to get your boss a gift, she can never have enough cherry lip products.”

Drew gives me a genuine smile, and I feel myself smiling back. She leans down to press a kiss to her sleeping son’s head, and I feel myself tighten my arms around Evee.

Mia’s words from earlier this morning come back to me, how us moms have to stick together. Her words and my talk with Ava today mix with all the feelings I have about being an outsider and an observer to this close-knit group of found family members.

I strive to be enough for Evee, but Ava’s right. She deserves to be loved and have others to love right back—just like I see with all of the people here.

And finding a friend or two feels like a safe space to start.

“Employee of the Month goes to Rumi,” I hear Luke say with a clap of his hands, and it brings me back to the moment.

Annie lets out a sigh. “It’s not even worth saying we don’t have Employee of the Month.” Her voice sounds exasperated, but there’s also love—and teasing.

“So it’s decided,” Ava says, no doubt wanting to make sure the meeting not only ends on time—two more minutes—but that we finish everything we need to.

“Three new summer drinks will phase out the spring drinks next Monday, as well as one baked good to replace the carrot cake scones.” We all nod in agreement.

“Lenny’s will have their strawberry old fashioned and pineapple margarita, and I’ll let Elsie and Sierra know, so they can find a book to match each flavor to showcase at their shop. ”

“Sounds good to me,” Luke says. “Thanks, boss,” he says, giving her a salute. We all know Luke is the owner, but Hey Honey’s runs as well as it does thanks to Ava. “I’ll get everything ordered tonight, so it can be here by then.”

“And I should have the Honey's graphics and menus done by this weekend,” Mia adds.

“Go team,” Annie says, as she stands, the chime of the door causing us all to turn in that direction to find Eddie pushing two sleeping toddlers in their stroller.

“Just in time, like always, Ed,” Luke says, and laughter fills the space.

Eddie pushes the stroller through the door, walking over to Mia, leaning down to place a kiss on her forehead. “You all know how I feel about coffee,” he starts, but Mia finishes for him.

“It shouldn’t need all the extra shit,” she says, lowering her voice to mock her husband’s, causing more laughter from everyone—and I think I see Emmett’s lips twitch as he stands up.

“On that note,” Drew says as Emmett reaches out a hand for her to take, “we’ll see you all next door in a few.” She turns to me. “You too, Rumi?” she asks, looking over to me as she grabs her husband’s hand.

“Um, yeah. I’ll be right over.”

If she’s surprised that I’m accepting the invitation to Lenny’s for the first time since I started working at Hey Honey’s, she doesn’t show it.

She lets Emmett help her up from her chair and lead her to the door with his free hand on the small of her back—his other hand holding their sleeping daughter.

“You’re going to Lenny’s tonight?” Reagan asks as she stands up, grabbing her purse from underneath her chair.

Her dirty blonde hair is braided in two much neater braids than the one that is currently holding my hair after the morning shift, helping Ava reorganize the stockroom, Evee’s bath time, and making it back here for the meeting.

“Yeah, you?” I ask, hooking my diaper bag over my shoulder as I stand, holding Evee in my other arm.

“I don’t think so, but I need to talk to Luke and Annie before I head home.”

“Oh, okay,” I say to her. I try to hide the disappointment I have that she won’t be there.

Ava is my safety blanket, but I can’t rely on her tonight, especially when she’s making me go in an effort to make friends.

I was hoping to spend some time getting to know Reagan—it’s not like we have a ton of time to chat during our shift changes.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” I offer, knowing Tuesdays are one of the days where she relieves me from my morning shift.

Reagan gives me a noncommittal nod before heading over to where Luke and Annie are chatting with Mia and Eddie.

I glance outside to see the sun has almost set, and I take a deep inhale.

Closing my eyes, feeling Evee in my arms and the faint scent of coffee in the air, surrounded by chatter, I try to let go of any doubt from this morning—the doubt of bringing people into Evee’s life or making friends for myself.

We’re going to be okay, me and her.

I can make it through a drink or two tonight.

Maybe even make a friend along the way.