Page 27 of September (New Orleans #9)

“S he asked me out,” Gwen said.

“Good,” Jill replied. “When are you going?”

“Now. Well, soon. She’s on her way here, probably.”

“Then, why are we on the phone? Shouldn’t you be getting ready?”

“I’ve been ready for twenty minutes. I had to stop messing with my hair because I was only making it worse. I’m just sitting on the couch now, waiting for her to get here.”

“And you needed a distraction, so you called me ?”

“Well, Elisa was busy.”

“I see how it is,” Jill said, laughing. “I’m busy, too; you know? My girlfriend is about to get into the shower, Gwen. That means she’s naked, and I could be naked and in there with her.”

“Shit. Sorry. I’d never want to deprive you of that.”

“It’s fine. I was just told I can’t shower with her because she’s only taking a quick one so that we can go out to dinner.

She came back from a run because she’s a runner now.

” Jill paused. “I’m not supposed to make fun of her for working out, but it’s not like she needs it.

Her body is perfect. Babe, your body is perfect!

” That last part, Gwen guessed, was for Willa’s benefit.

“What are you two doing for your date?” Jill asked her.

“I have no idea,” she said. “Jules is planning it. I’m just supposed to dress casually.”

“So, you dressed up a little?”

“Yes,” she said and laughed. “A dress.”

“She says casual, and you wear a dress?”

“It’s a casual dress. And I’m in flats,” Gwen defended.

“You don’t listen well, do you? I think ladies like it when you listen. For example, Willa just walked into my shower, and I’m sitting here on my bed, not following her in, even though I really, really want to.”

“But you’re watching her from the bed, aren’t you?”

“She didn’t say I couldn’t do that,” Jill replied.

Gwen laughed and said, “I’m a little nervous. Okay, I’m a lot nervous.”

“That’s normal. It’s a first date.”

“I know. I just don’t want to be a mess tonight. I want her to think that I have my shit together.”

“You do have your shit together,” Jill said.

“Depends on who you ask,” Gwen replied.

There was a knock at the door, and she turned around as if expecting Juliet to be standing inside her apartment already.

“She’s here.”

“Good. Go on your date. It’ll be fine, okay?”

“Thanks. And enjoy staring at your girlfriend while she showers, I guess,” Gwen said.

“Oh, I will,” Jill stated and hung up on her.

Gwen laughed and slid her phone into her purse.

Then, she stood and looked down her body, checking for possible wrinkles in her light-gray dress.

Seeing none, she decided she was presentable enough to answer the door, and when she did, she was surprised to see Juliet standing there in a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt with a sweater tied around her hips, and a baseball hat on her head turned to the back.

“Uh…” Gwen uttered because while she was confused by Juliet’s very casual attire for a first date, this look was really fucking hot on her.

“You’re in a dress,” Juliet noted.

“Yeah.”

“I said casual .”

“It’s a casual dress.”

“It’s not just a casual dress,” Juliet replied as her eyes raked over Gwen’s body. “You look a lot more than casual in that dress, Gwen.”

“Yeah?” She smirked.

“You look beautiful,” Juliet told her, raising her eyes to Gwen’s. “I probably look like a slob.”

“What? No, you don’t,” she said. “Trust me, you do not look like a slob. You look hot, honestly. Like, that hat thing is good for you.”

“It’s good for me?” Juliet laughed.

“Yes, it really works for you with your hair down like that.”

“It’s more practical than anything.”

“Practical?”

“Yeah. And I really, really hate to ask you to do this, but do you mind changing out of that dress and into something that’s actually casual?”

“Really? Where are we going?”

“Can you just wear it on another date? Like, any other date?”

Gwen smiled and said, “Fine, but I’m not wearing a hat. It took me forever to get my hair like this.”

“Fine, but you’ll have to wear a hairnet,” Juliet replied, confusing Gwen even more now.

◆◆◆

“I brought you a hat just in case you changed your mind about wearing it,” Juliet told her when they walked inside the building.

“You really brought me to your work on a date?”

“It’s not really my work. I don’t work at the roastery,” Juliet said. “And I thought it would be something fun for us to do. We can roast a bag of coffee just for us to drink.”

Gwen smiled over at her and said, “I assume someone will teach me what to do?”

She took the baseball hat Juliet held out and put it on her head.

Juliet turned to her, straightened the hat for her a little, and replied, “Yes. I’ve got a master roaster showing us how it’s done. Come on.”

She took Gwen’s hand, pulling her through the best-smelling warehouse building Gwen had ever been in, and a few minutes later, they watched on as a guy named Michael, the master roaster, explained to them the roasting process.

“First, we start by loading the beans into our drum inside the roaster. It rotates over gas burners and agitates the coffee, which is what we want. We generally do much larger batches here, but Juliet made a special request, and she is the best, so we don’t mind making a small one for her.”

The guy winked at Juliet.

Gwen gave him a glare and said, “She is the best, isn’t she?”

“This roast is for espresso,” he continued after taking in her glare. “Juliet said you wanted to try that.”

“She did, huh?”

“I know you like the medium roast, but I thought you’d like your very own espresso,” Juliet said.

“I do. Thank you,” Gwen replied and returned her attention to Michael.

“These beans are actually from right here in Louisiana. We normally import coffee beans here, but there are a few local growers with mainly indoor facilities since coffee prefers diffused light rather than direct sunlight. When we roast, we typically do it for around twelve to fifteen minutes using three and a half kilos of raw green beans. In this case, though, it’s a much smaller batch, so it won’t take as long.

” Michael motioned to a giant bowl of beans in front of him.

“It’s what we call a washed process, which means when the coffee fruit gets picked, all the pulp and skin get removed before it gets dried in the drying process.

This makes the coffees really clean and balanced, with a lot of sweetness, which is what we want. ”

He smiled at Juliet.

“You like sweetness, do you?” Gwen asked him.

Juliet leaned over then and whispered, “He’s married and knows I’m gay.”

Gwen smiled at how obvious she was being more than at Juliet’s words.

Michael cleared his throat and said, “In the early stage, the roast might not smell like coffee, but don’t worry about that.

With an espresso roast, it takes a little longer to extract more of the body and the coffee’s sweetness.

This pushes the sugar development further, which is how you can achieve that extra sweetness in the espresso’s flavor. I tend to go for espresso myself.”

Michael went on to show them the roaster and explain the by-product of roasting called chaff, which was part of the coffee cherry that contained a lot of nitrogen and got used as compost after it was removed.

“The coffee beans expand as they heat up because they are taking on more energy. When they can no longer take on any more energy, the reaction turns exothermic.” Michael pointed to something, but Juliet had just taken Gwen’s hand, so Gwen wasn’t paying attention.

“This is a key time as the coffee starts to develop sugars and oils, which is what it needs to get the flavor of espresso. It’s also an important time to adjust the heat. ”

Michael went on to talk about heat, pressure, and cracking sounds, but all Gwen could think about was Juliet’s hand in hers as Juliet’s thumb grazed the outside of her palm.

She swallowed when Juliet’s hand slipped out of hers, only to be placed on the small of her back under the T-shirt she’d put on after changing out of her dress.

Thankfully, Juliet’s hand wasn’t visible to Michael, who was still explaining the bean monitoring process, which was a thing, apparently, and the optimal colors and development level of…

something. Gwen couldn’t care less that she had only caught every other word, at most, and when he started talking about the cooling process, she felt anything but cool.

When it came to roasting the coffee, there wasn’t much for them to do , really.

The beans mostly did the work on their own, and Michael showed them how they cooled the beans once they’d been roasted.

Then, he explained about the gas the beans contained and how they needed time to eliminate that gas before the beans were brewed into a cup of coffee.

“My coffee has gas?” Gwen asked, laughing a little.

Juliet’s hand moved away from her back as Juliet joined her in laughter, but Gwen moved closer to her side and took Juliet’s hand back.

“Yeah. You’ll want to wait seven to ten days before you grind it up and drink it,” Michael replied. “It will be cooling for a bit. Want to have a cup of something else while you wait? We’re tasting a batch of our new autumn roast tonight before we all head home.”

“What’s in an autumn roast?” Gwen asked.

“It’s a blend,” Juliet explained. “Mainly, some cinnamon and nutmeg flavors, the stuff that’s popular this time of year.”

“Then, yeah, sure. Can we?”

“Anything for Juliet,” Michael replied with a smile.

“Anything?” Gwen whispered to Juliet as the guy turned to walk away.

Juliet turned until she was facing Gwen and said, “He knows we’re on a date. He’s just a nice guy, okay?”

“Did you introduce him to his wife or something? He, like, loves you,” she noted.

“No, but I got him a job here after he got out of prison when no one would hire him.”

“Prison?”

“Drugs. Not murder, Gwen.”

“How did you–”

“Michael was living on the street. I used to walk by him on the way to the office, and we got to talking. He’d just gotten out of prison on possession charges, and I suggested he interview with us and got him some interview clothes from a thrift store.

He’s been clean since he went away and is now a master roaster here.

He met his wife. They have a baby on the way.

So, the reason he’s so nice to me has nothing to do with him wanting to sleep with me. ”

“You saved the guy’s life,” Gwen replied.

“I just got him an interview and a cheap suit. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“Jules, it’s a huge deal. He’s successful because you gave him a chance when no one else would. He’s married now and about to be a dad. That’s huge.” Gwen smiled at her. “You’re kind of amazing, aren’t you?”

“Let’s catch up with him. I think you’ll like the autumn blend. It’s what we use in the caramel apple drink you had.”

Hand in hand, they walked into a different part of the warehouse, where Michael showed them how the beans were ground for tasting to determine whether they were ready to be shipped to the stores.

They waited as the coffee brewed, and Gwen relaxed into Juliet’s side.

Minutes later, Michael poured each of them a small cup of coffee, and they waited patiently as it cooled before Gwen took her first sip.

“Damn. This is good,” she noted. “Is it because it’s that fresh?”

“That’s one of the reasons, yes, and it does make a big difference. When you’re buying your coffee at a grocery store, though, odds are it’s probably too old to be really good.”

“Well, I’ll never do that again,” Gwen stated, looking at Juliet. “You’ll keep me in this coffee, right?”

She lifted the glass she’d been given back to her lips.

Juliet smiled and replied, “Yes. Now, let’s go listen to Michael as he tells you all the things they look for before the coffee can be sent out.”

Gwen was shown a card that the team used to ensure the coffee met the company’s quality standards, and she watched as Michael took a few more sips of his own coffee, considered it for a second, and then checked off everything on the card, signing his name at the bottom.

This batch was ready to go. He was explaining what he was doing as he went, and Gwen followed along, taking sips when he sipped.

Her jealousy at bay now, she was having fun, but although both delightful, the hot coffee in combination with the heated touch from Juliet’s hand on her back again, under her shirt, had Gwen wishing they were outside in the fresh air.

“Michael, this was amazing,” she said. “Thank you for showing me.”

“No problem. Glad you could make it. We’ll keep your batch cooling for you here, and you or Juliet can pick it up in a few days. It can finish its process before you drink it.”

“Thank you,” she said, shaking his hand.

On their way out, Gwen was handed a bag of the fresh autumn blend for her to have while her own espresso blend cooled, and then she and Juliet walked outside.

“So?” Juliet asked her when they were outside. “Was it worth the hat?”

“Are you kidding me? That was awesome. Plus, now we both smell like coffee.”

Juliet laughed and asked, “Are you hungry?”

“Starving, actually,” she replied.

“Want to grab food before our night is over?”

“It’s only eight,” Gwen noted. “Were you planning on dropping me off at eight?”

“No, I just only planned this since it was so last-minute,” Juliet said. “I’m thinking something light and fun for dinner. Is that okay?”

“Well, you wouldn’t let me wear my nice dress, and I’m in a hat now, so I think we have to go light and fun because dark and fancy won’t let me in.”

“But you look very cute in my hat,” Juliet said, stopping to push the hat down a little on Gwen’s head. “Like, really cute.” She smiled at her.

“We’re going someplace where they make us wear a bib to eat our seafood,” Gwen suggested.

“Lead the way,” Juliet said while laughing.

“Just get us to the highway, and I’ll tell you where to go.”