Page 20 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

Crash!

One moment Fisher was there and the next he was gone. Annie leaned against the wall and hugged herself. She heard Fisher’s shout to “wait right there” over his disappearing footsteps. Yeah, like she could move if she tried.

Her entire body had gone limp from the impact of his kiss. It was a moment before the sound of The Coffee Break’s front door slamming registered in her brain. Her first thought was to run down there, but Fisher had said to wait and she trusted him. That realization was more devastating than his kiss. She trusted him.

Annie pushed off of the wall, surprised to find that her legs, which felt like noodles, could support her. The jittery feeling inside of her was a bad omen she knew. It was the start of a completely ridiculous, juvenile infatuation. Fisher’s grin flashed through her mind and she started to pace.

It was just a kiss. It didn’t mean anything. So what if it was spectacular? It would be completely irresponsible of her to develop a crush on her tenant. Irresponsible? It would be downright dumb.

She reached the end of the hall, spun on her heel and paced back toward her door. Okay, it was a kiss, a great kiss, but that didn’t mean anything. It could have been a fluke. A moment in time. Nothing else. Yeah, right.

She reached her door and spun on her heel again. The man had lived here less than a week. She was not going to have a crush on him. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. Okay, she could, but that didn’t mean he had to know. She’d just put the kiss out of her mind. She’d treat him just like she always did. As for the kiss, she’d think of it as a gift. A spontaneous surprise that she could relive any time she wanted.

When she was old and gray, sitting on her rocker at the old folks home, she’d think about his kiss and smile. Annie stopped pacing and leaned against the wall. She slid down the wall, heedless of her yellow sundress as it bunched up beneath her.

What had happened? One minute the Earth was spinning just fine and the next it spun out of control, sending her into orbit. She sighed and wrapped her arms around her knees. Where was Fisher? What was taking him so long?

She was so shocked by his kiss, she didn’t think much about the crash. Something in the shop must have toppled over. Lord knew, she had enough stuff down there. But the front door had slammed. Had she been robbed? Her skin prickled on her arms, and she shivered. Where was he?

“Annie!” Fisher came racing up the stairs. “Annie?”

“I’m here,” she said, rising to her feet.

“Are you all right?” he asked, grabbing her by the elbows and helping her up.

“I’m fine,” she lied. “What about you? Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” he said. Tipping his head, he studied her. “You waited.”

“Of course,” she said. “I’ve seen enough horror flicks to know when someone says stay put, you do it.”

Fisher cupped the back of her head and pulled her close. Leaning against him, she could feel the heat and sweat radiating off his body and she sighed.

“Oh, Annie,” he chuckled, but then sobered. “I’ve got some bad news. It looks like you were robbed.”

“Robbed?” she echoed. Breaking away from him, she dashed for the stairs.

“Wait!” Fisher grabbed her hand, stopping her. “Let’s call the police first. We don’t want to mess up any evidence.”

“But...” she started to protest but stopped, knowing he was right. She felt as if someone were squeezing her heart tight with their fist. Her shop. Her store. Who would rob her? Sure, she had some antiques, but it was mostly quirky old stuff, nothing of any real value. And what little cash they kept in the shop was always locked up at night so there was no money around. Who would do this? And why?

“It’ll be all right,” he promised, leading her into his apartment. “Come on, let’s check on Harpy and call the police.”

“All right,” she agreed, feeling cold all the way down to her bones.

“Are you sure that’s all you saw?” The officer questioning Fisher was young, fresh out of police school and damp enough behind the ears to grow mushrooms. He studied Fisher as if he doubted him. Fisher felt like pulling out his badge and hitting the kid over the head with it, but he couldn’t reveal his identity, not yet.

“Yes, the guy was shorter than me, maybe five-ten,” he repeated his story one more time. “He had a stocking over his face, but his hair was gray. He was big, around one hundred and ninety pounds. He had on a sweatshirt, could have been blue or black and jeans. He took off down the street the minute he saw me coming. I lost him about a block and a half away. There was a car waiting for him. A big, green Impala with no plates.”

“You’re pretty observant.” The officer tapped his pad against his chin and narrowed his gaze at Fisher. “How long have you been living here?”

“Less than a week,” he said, feeling his teeth clench.

“Interesting,” the officer drawled and turned to Annie. “Ms. Talbot, have you ever had any kind of trouble before?”

“None,” she said. Her voice was just above a whisper. Freckles Fisher had never noticed before stood out on her pale skin. She looked as if she were trying very hard not to cry.

“Interesting,” the officer said again.