Page 14 of November

“So, let’s go get you that coffee,” India suggested.

“Thanks. You really didn’t have to. I could’ve just walked down the block.”

“It’s no problem.”

“Wait. You didn’t order anything.”

“I’m just getting regular coffee. Superfast,” India said as they started walking toward the café.

Then, they approached the counter where India handed over her badge, and the woman behind it scanned it before handing it back.

“Large coffee with room, two peanut butter cookies, peach tea, and a large caramel latte,” India told her.

The woman rang up everything and gave India her total, which sounded surprisingly cheap.

“That can’t be right,” Maisie said, holding out her credit card for India to take.

“It can’t?” the woman at the counter asked and went to double-check her computer screen.

Juliet walked over and replied, “No, it’s right. Is there a problem?”

“That’s just so cheap,” Maisie noted.

“Oh,” India said, laughing. “Employee discount.” She handed the woman her card. “My coffee is free and yours is thirty percent off.”

“Here. Take this,” Maisie said, trying to hand India her credit card.

“It’s fine. I got it.”

“No, I’ve already saved time on the walk down the block. Let me pay for this.”

“Too late,” India said, taking her credit card back from the woman. “You can owe me one.” She smiled at Maisie.

Maisie smiled back at her, and they walked over to the bar where they’d wait for their drinks.

“So, you bought a book yesterday? Sarah told me.”

“Oh. I did, yeah.”

“What was it?” Maisie asked her with a shrug. “Just curious.”

“I decided to be a little bad, honestly.” India lifted an eyebrow. “I grabbed a romance off that table.”

“Romance? Really?”

“Yeah. Do I not seem like a romance reader to you?”

“Honestly, not really, no.” Maisie chuckled. “You seem like you read a lot of business books or something, or like you listen to the audiobooks on your drive to the office, I guess.”

“I do read a lot of business books,” India said. “Usually. But this one had two women on the cover, which intrigued me.”

Maisie cleared her throat and asked, “It did?”

India nodded and said, “I didn’t know your shop sold books like that.”

“Books likewhat, exactly?”

It wouldn’t be the first time Maisie had had to defend the very few books about women loving women she sold in her store, so she was prepared to do it again if India were about to make a comment about how she’d only bought it to get it out of the eyes of impressionable children or something.