around the counter and jockeying for a place in line.
It was one of the big lessons Lexi had learned about life in the big city—everyone was always in a hurry, and everyone was certain that they were the most important person in the universe.
“Two half-caf Americanos, one skinny latte, and one iced cold brew! Heard!” Lexi shouted the order back, letting Madeline know it was in the works.
Lexi’s hands moved in a flurried blur of activity, as if she didn’t even need to think about what she was doing. The first couple of weeks at Blueprint had been rough as she learned the ropes, messing up more than a few orders.
But it hadn’t taken her long to figure it all out. And she loved it. Lexi loved the hiss of steam from the frother, the smell of coffee in the air, the flow she’d find herself in when she was buried in the work.
When the drinks were ready, Lexi placed them all on the counter next to where Madeline stood.
“Wow,” said Madeline, clearly impressed.
Lexi grinned. “Told you I was a fast learner.”
“So you are. Now get back to it, newbie—we just got an online order in for a dozen drinks.”
Madeline held up the piece of paper with the order on it. Lexi snatched it out of her hand, read it over, and went to work.
The next couple of hours flew by, the morning rush eventually going down to a slow trickle of customers until, finally, the late-morning lull set in. Lexi leaned against the back counter, resting her palms on the surface as she caught her breath.
“You all right over there?” asked Madeline.
“Totally fine,” said Lexi. “Just catching my breath.”
Madeline smiled, grabbing a pair of mugs and filling them both with the Sumatran brew that was the special for that day.
“Here,” she said. “One of the nice things about this line of work is when you’re feeling beat, you can just pour some more coffee and get right back to it.”
Lexi liked this. She raised her mug. “Cheers.”
Madeline laughed. “Can’t say I’ve ever cheersed a coffee mug before. But yeah, cheers.”
They gently tapped the rims of the mugs and took their sips.
“You know, I don’t want to puff your ego up too much, but you’re pretty good at this for someone who’s never had a job before.”
“What can I say?” asked Lexi. “It’s the work I dreamed of doing when I moved to the city.”
“Where did you say you were from again?” she asked. “Sorry—I’m bad with details.”
“Some place east that you’ve never heard of,” said Lexi, repeating the lie she’d decided to go with when the question came up. “One of those small towns in the middle of the woods.”
Lexi hated lying, so she tried to limit herself to keeping details fuzzy. After all, she was from a small town in the middle of the woods in the eastern part of the state. She simply chose to hide the detail that was a town populated by shifters.
“Well, for what it’s worth, we’re glad to have you here in the city. Good help’s hard to come by, you know?”
“And I’m glad to be here too.”
Madeline nodded toward the floor. “Go ahead and take a little break if you need to. You’ve earned it.”
“Thanks—that sounds nice.”
Lexi grabbed her coffee mug and sat down in her favorite spot—a little table by the corner near the door that let her look out on the city street. She sipped her coffee, taking a random book from the shelf nearby and leafing through it.
But before she managed to finish even a single paragraph, a strange feeling overtook her. It was pain and nausea all at once, coming from her belly. It was sudden and intense, enough to make her need to set her book down and pinch the bridge of her nose.
And what was worse was that hadn’t been the first time she’d experienced it. Over the last week, she’d had flashes of pain, each one worse than the last.
“Hey,” said Madeline, coming over to the table. “You feeling sick again?”
“It’s nothing,” said Lexi. “Probably just drinking too much coffee.”
But Madeline wasn’t convinced. “I doubt it. You drink too much coffee and your hands shake and you talk a mile a minute. You don’t get nausea and stomach pain.”
She appeared to consider the matter.
“How about this—we’re actually overstaffed for the rest of the afternoon. Why don’t you take the day off, go see a doctor? I’ll consider it paid time off.”