Finding Mr. Write (Business of Love #5) - Ali Parker Page 0,39

of the moments I’d shared with Briar.

After that, I collapsed face first on my pillow and slept straight through the alarm that went off three hours later.

Chapter 17

Briar

If it hadn’t been for my experience working at my cafe back home in Waynesville, I would have drowned within the first hour of my shift at Books and Brews. The customers flowed through the door one after the other, and most, if not all, were regulars, so the cashier and the barista knew the orders that were coming before the words even fell from the customer’s mouths.

That meant I was the only one floundering and doing doubletakes as I tried to get into the swing of things.

I steamed milk, burnt milk, over-frothed milk, burned my fingers on milk pitchers, spilled milk all over my aprons and shoes, and spilled down the sides of cups that were too full.

And that was only the list of milk-related errors.

I’d also charged someone seventy-six dollars for a cup of specialty coffee with extra shots of espresso instead of seven dollars and sixty cents.

Shortly after that embarrassing blunder, I’d dropped a fresh bag of ground coffee beans on the floor. They were ground so fine that they shot out of the open mouth of the bag like flour, covering my shoes and the bottom half of my pants as well as those of my coworkers, which made me feel like a clumsy oaf.

Afterward, Mare showed me how to balance out damaged goods. In other words, she showed me how to account for costing the cafe an entire bag of coffee beans, which was twenty-one dollars.

I quickly realized they wouldn’t be able to afford to keep me around if I kept behaving like a bull in a china shop. So I resigned myself to the only solution I could think of. I slowed the fuck down, took a breath, and stopped catering to the chaotic feeling thundering and cracking in my belly.

If I was going to learn any of this, I’d have to take it in stride. Customers would have to wait a little longer for their orders while I learned the ropes and that would be okay because at least said orders would be correct—most of the time.

After my first three hours, Mare sent me into the back room to take a much-needed break. My mistakes and clumsiness didn’t seem to bother her at all and I was grateful for a boss who understood how tough it was to learn a new gig. I didn’t know where anything was, I couldn’t work as fast as my coworkers, and I was truly out of my depth even though I had two years of experience working in a coffee house.

Books and Brews was a coffee house on steroids compared to my old work, though.

The back room was a small space with navy-blue walls and plenty of art from local artists in the neighborhood. Mare liked to hang pieces up in the shop and she’d handwritten little price tags under them as well as the address of galleries where customers could go see more art by artists they liked. She was all about promoting local and she believed in ethical business. Word of mouth was a big deal to her and she’d established a loyal, honest, quality client base that came around every day. Several people sat in the front of the house on their laptops going about their work. Others flipped through books and brought in their own copies for in-store credits. Mare handled the coffee and book side of the business like a pro, and as I’d watched her this morning, I’d already started daydreaming about what it would be like to no longer be the new girl.

This place was pretty rad. I knew that much. I wanted to make it work here.

Desperately.

The money would be good enough in theory to support the lifestyle I was building. Mare had mentioned we received a weekly payout of tips that weren’t too shabby and helped all the girls who worked there afford some luxuries that the wage did not. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was hoping it would be better than the fifteen or so dollars I used to get in tips every two weeks in Waynesville.

I changed out of my milk-scented apron and into a fresh black one and put my feet up in the back room. I scrolled through my phone mindlessly and considered calling Riley or Madison just to catch up and see how