Seventh Seal - Jacquelyn Faye Page 0,44

the floofiness. There was no way to drink it without snorting milk mush.

I'd made up my mind. The whole damn thing was going in the trash. The diner had real coffee. I lifted my head to shoot Candace a fake grateful smile, but she was leaning over the counter, watching me expectantly, shifting her gaze between the cup in my hand and my face as she waited for me to take that ever-important first sip. It was the doe eyes that did me in. She could have handed me a cup of molten lead and I probably would have drank it if she looked at me like that. It was impossible to say no. Josie was in trouble for the rest of her life.

Hand quivering, I brought the cup to my lip and parted the sea of foam with the tip of my tongue, hoping to actually get some coffee in the first sip. If it still tasted good, maybe I could flick the shit off the top and still salvage my drink.

Never judge a book, or a coffee, by its cover. As soon as my tongue tasted the floating confection, I was hooked. The shaker must have had crack in it. Candace smelled like sunshine; the fucking coffee in my hand tasted like sunshine. I could feel its warmth on my tongue as sweetness shined down from the heavens on the earthier flavors beneath.

For the first time in my life, I licked my coffee like a goddess damned ice cream cone. Candace giggled at my indiscretion. I was an addict and I probably looked strung out as caramel dangled from my lip down my chin.

"Holy shit."

"Good?"

I moaned in response and tried to guzzle the overly hot beverage, burning my lip, tongue, and throat, but not caring in the slightest.

"I'd like to change my order," said the woman beside us. "I want one of those!"

Jason nudged me to get going with his hip. "Come on. There's something I want to show you."

"What?'

"That would be telling you. I want to show you."

"Okay, Mr. Surprises." I huffed and let him lead the way back to the store and into the office. He took a sip of his coffee and set it down on the edge of the desk. "Holy shit."

"I know right?" I almost set mine down, too, but that would have made it hard to keep drinking.

"That's really good," he said and pulled a printed sheet of paper off a stack of others. "This is what I wanted to show you."

"What is it?" I took it with my free hand and looked at the extraordinarily large numbers.

"Profit and loss. The first column is how much in sales we've brought in. The second is what we spent, not counting the initial investment and stocking costs. The third column… That is your profit."

My eyes widened and I whistled in surprise. It was almost ridiculous. I'd almost made enough in the first few weeks to pay off the renovations to the building. In a month or two, the initial stock would be paid for. His calculations included rent and all the other operating expenses. By the end of spring, we might actually be pulling a profit. It was astounding and…unnatural. The store was always busy, but just looking at the numbers almost each and every person that came into the store walked out with a hefty purchase. "Woah."

"Exactly. The place is doing amazing."

Not wanting to jinx it, I smiled and stroked the wall, whispering, "Thank you," to the building around us. Something akin to pride and love flowed into my outstretched fingers.

Then I did the same to Jason's chest. "Thank you, too. This place wouldn't be an eighth of what it is without you. You are amazing, you are perfect, and I'm keeping you forever."

He blushed furiously and suddenly became very interested in the froth on his cup of coffee, unable to meet my eyes.

"All right, I'm outta here." Grabbing my coffee, I planted a quick kiss on the still smiling Jason's lips and headed for the door.

"Have fun."

"I doubt it," I answered with a chuckle.

Chapter 13

"I do not see why you insist on meeting in this less than sanitary establishment when we both have perfectly good, clean, houses. We could have even met at your office inside that biblio-nightmare across the street." Mother looked around the diner disgustedly and waved her hand in the direction of the bookstore.

"You don't like the bookstore, Mother?'

"Your mother doesn't like anything, Child. What did you want to