Page 16 of Second Chance Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings #5)
Her caffeine fix wasn’t the only draw, she thought as she opened her eyes.
The rustic-industrial decor, with its mix of reclaimed wood and metal fixtures, had a modern yet homey vibe that made her feel instantly welcome.
Every inch was curated and intentional, from the concrete floors to the black ceiling, exposed ventilation ducts, and beams. Oversized photos of late Old Hollywood era stars, including Marilyn Monroe and James Dean, were hung on walls of exposed brick.
Two jewel-colored tufted couches lined the left wall, and on the right sat a large wooden farm-style table.
The front of the shop was filled with French bistro-style chairs, giving the entire space an eclectic, bohemian, vintage feel that was wholly unique.
She’d only visited the coffee shop once before.
Owen came down with a highly contagious bacterial infection that spread from his lungs to his heart and ended up having to be hospitalized for two days.
The doctors suggested that everything in the house be disinfected, including the fabric, and treated the same way you would for fleas or lice.
So Taylor took all the bedding, clothes, throw pillows, curtains, and rugs to the laundromat and wore a raincoat.
She came into Brewed Awakenings to get change because the machine at the laundromat was broken.
The moment she stepped inside, she instantly fell in love with the decor and the staff.
A man who introduced himself as Manny helped her.
The register didn’t have the quarters she needed to make change, but he said that he did.
After taking care of the customers, he went in the back and got two rolls of quarters for her.
She tried to give him cash for them, but he refused to take any money.
When she asked him why, he said that his nieces and nephews all had piggy banks, and he would hide quarters around for them to find and also pay them in quarters for chores, good grades, and good behavior.
She told him that was amazing, but she meant, why wouldn’t he let her give him the cash for it?
He chuckled and explained he was a retired sumo wrestler—which tracked because he was built like an ox—and he regularly went to physical therapy at Pine Ridge General Hospital, and he’d seen her with Owen in radiology quite a few times.
Owen had to get x-rays of his lungs quite often.
He was born and raised in Hawaii by a single mom who instilled the value of kokua, which was helping others with acts of kindness with no expectation of personal gain.
Taylor thanked him as tears began to roll down her face, and she threw her arms around him in a bear hug he neither asked for nor consented to.
Thankfully, he didn’t seem upset at her embrace, and he’d let her use the back employee entrance to leave so none of the customers were forced to witness her blubbering breakdown.
Two rolls of quarters might not be a lot to someone else, but to Taylor, it was the whole world.
She’d washed all her clothes, bedding, and other items and been able to fill up her gas tank to drive back and forth to the hospital, which is forty-five minutes away.
She’d secretly hoped Manny would be working today, but she didn’t see him anywhere, and he was hard to miss.
There were about a dozen customers scattered around.
A young couple, both scrolling on their phones, were seated at a bistro table against the window.
A trio of tech guys were all huddled in the far back corner, typing on their laptops.
Six women, four whom she recognized from church the day before, were seated around the farm table and looked like they were celebrating something.
They had a bottle of champagne and were taking pictures with cutlery as if the forks, knives, and spoons were trophies of some kind.
Taylor found it strange, but she couldn’t even say it was the strangest thing she’d seen in this town.
The first week she arrived, she and Owen watched a Great Dane and a Chihuahua walk smack dab down the middle of Main Street, step onto the sidewalk, go straight up to the takeout window of Two Scoops Ice Cream Parlor, and get served two pup cones like they were regular customers, which, come to find out, they were.
Taylor couldn’t help but grin thinking about it as she scanned the rest of the room.
The only other customer was a woman curled up in the corner of one of the couches with a green drink that, if she had to guess, was matcha and a Kindle.
If she could trade places with anyone in there, it would be that woman.
She didn’t look like she had a care in the world.
Of course, there was no way for Taylor to know if that was the case or not, but she loved people-watching and making up stories of what those people’s lives might be.
“Can I help you?”
The question snapped Taylor out of her daydreaming. She blinked as she turned her head toward the counter. When she opened her eyes, Audrey Wells was looking at her with a welcoming, warm smile.
Taylor didn’t need to look at her name tag to know who she was.
She knew all about the Wells sisters. The four of them were born and raised in Los Angeles but vacationed in the quaint mountain town in the summers.
When they first opened, only two of the four lived in town: Audrey and Viv.
But as of a year or so ago, all four of the sisters were now residents.
Oh, and the reason the theme of the coffee shop was Old Hollywood was because the sisters were all named after starlets from that era: Audrey, Ava, Vivien, and Grace.
“Hi, yes, I was actually here about the job.” Taylor motioned behind her back to the window as she walked up to the counter.
When she lowered her arm, she realized her hand was shaking. She hadn’t felt nervous before she walked in, at least not nervous about applying for a job. She wasn’t sure where these jitters were coming from now.
“Oh, okay. Great! Did you fill out an application online?”
“No.” Taylor shook her head. “I didn’t know…I just thought when I saw the sign…it’s been a while…”
Shut up, Taylor . She could hear herself blowing this. The last job she applied for was at Owen’s school. Before that, she worked at the university bookstore during her freshman year of college.
“Okay, no problem,” Audrey assured her as she picked up an iPad. “What is your phone number?”
Taylor gave Audrey her number, knowing that she was most likely not going to be hearing from her. She assumed she would tell her she’d keep it on file and let her know if anything came up. But that’s not what happened.
“Well, thank—” Just as Taylor was in the process of thanking Audrey for her time she heard her phone ding. Her entire body tensed, thinking it was Owen. She grabbed it from her purse and saw it was a text from a number she didn’t have saved with a link.
“That is a link to an online application,” Audrey explained. “If you have time now, you can grab a seat on the couch, or wherever you’re comfortable, and once you fill it out, we can chat.”
Taylor was so surprised she wasn’t getting the brush-off; it took her a second to process what she was hearing.
“Or, if now’s not a good time, we can—” Audrey began, but Taylor cut her off.
“No,” she quickly corrected her. “I mean, yes, now’s a good time. Great, actually. Yes, thanks.”
“Can I get you something to drink?” Audrey offered.
“Oh, um…” Taylor was still feeling the effects of sleeping past her alarm, and if she was going to have an interview now, then she needed to be sharp. “Can I get an iced honey almond milk double espresso?”
“Absolutely.”
Taylor pulled out her card, but Audrey put her hand up, insisting, “It’s on the house.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind?—”
“I’m sure.”
“Thank you.” Taylor felt tears begin to fill her lower lids, just like they had when Manny gave her two rolls of quarters.
She wasn’t sure why she was getting so emotional again.
Maybe it was because she was worried about Owen, and it was coming out.
Or maybe it was because she just wasn’t used to people being genuinely nice to her with no ulterior motive. Yeah, it was probably the latter.
Taylor waited at the end of the counter for her drink, thanked Audrey again once it was ready, and then settled on the couch that would offer them the greatest amount of privacy.
As she filled out the application, most of it was straightforward, but she didn’t mark the box that gave consent to run a background check on her.
If they did that, it might flag her name in a system that would alert her ex.
He had an ankle monitor on, but that wouldn’t stop him.
Living this way was not sustainable. She knew she couldn’t be scared of Martin Watts for the rest of her life, but he had shown up and shot someone just to find out where she was, so she didn’t think she was being dramatic or overly paranoid.
Once she pressed send on the application, Taylor wondered if she’d just blown it by making herself seem like she had something to hide.
Before she slid into full Second Guess Panic Mode, Audrey walked over and joined her. “Okay, great. Let’s see what we’ve got.” Audrey looked down at the iPad and scrolled through it.
Taylor watched as she scanned down the pages.
“So your name is Rebecca, but you go by your last name, Taylor?”
As of eight months ago…
“Yes.”
“Okay, and you’ve had some gaps in employment…”
Taylor smiled as she let out a small, forced laugh; she couldn’t help herself.
That was the understatement of the century.
“Yes, you could say that. I, um, I was a stay-at-home mom. My son has some medical issues, so it made more sense that I was home with him, and my ex, he didn’t let me…
or, um, he, uh, it was just…just better if I was home. ”