“This bag,” he held it just out of my reach. “This is a bag of goodies that I picked up for you as a reward for staying off your feet all day.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.”
Something alerted Rover, who rose, awkwardly maneuvered himself down the step, and headed off to the kitchen.
“Anderson,” Eric yelled out from somewhere else in the house. “You guys here?”
My eyes opened wide. “Did he bring a friend?”
“No.”
Anderson stood and went to the kitchen to greet his friend. I grabbed the bag and happy danced as I looked inside. Several things were wrapped in tissue paper, making it impossible to steal a peek of what he purchased. The presentation of the purchase was outstanding and made me think about what type of packaging the coffee shop could have.
“Up for a little company? I brought coffee.” Eric had a unique presence. Not in a way that took from anyone else’s space but commanded attention.
“Yes, I’d love some company.” Accepting the coffee cup from Eric, I added. “And always coffee. Thank you.”
Retrieving the bag from my hands, Anderson returned to the seat next to me, placing the bag back on the coffee table. His arm stretched around the back of the sofa. When he rested his arm around me, a buzz sailed through my body.
I leaned into his chest. Whatever they were talking about was innocuous enough that my thoughts went to Anderson’s offer to let me stay here. What would that mean? I’d need to give notice.
“He’s going on vacation next week.” Anderson frowned when I looked at him.
“Sorry?”
“Rover. Samantha takes him to her parents’ farm a few times a year for some outside time.”
“Your pet pig, Rover, is going on vacation to a farm.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Eric smirked.
Eric made the chair look like it was too small for the room. He didn’t look uncomfortable or awkward. It was something else. He was like a football player and wrestler wrapped up in a tailored three-thousand-dollar suit and expensive-looking shoes.
“Tell me about your coffee shop idea.”
“That’s from left field.”
Anderson chuckled in my ear, “you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
I sat up, moving out of the cozy spot he had created around me. “I’d love to talk about it. Do you have the Starbucks app?”
“I don’t.” Eric sipped his Starbucks coffee.
“How do you not have the Starbucks app? You just went to Starbucks. He doesn’t have the app either. I don’t get it.”
Anderson retrieved his phone from his pocket and placed it in front of me. “Put it on there.”
“Well, it works like that app but in a building setting.” The Starbucks app began downloading. “From the outside looking in, New York City seems like a big place where people walk around invisible to one another. The goal of Latte Love is to turn an office building into a micro-community.”
“That’s a horrible name, but keep going.”
“Did you tell him to say that?”
“No, Love.” Anderson gave me a quick peck and a wink. “The name just sucks that much.”
“Whatever. Anyway, when folks register for the order system, it will ask for a selfie to go with the order. The selfie will add a frame with the name of the shop for them to post. Their order will have the picture attached to help with recognition. With the advances in facial recognition, we will be able to greet app users by name as they enter.”
“Adding the delivery component, businesses could provide a custom coffee delivery service for their employees. As comfort with the system and product grows, we’ll move into a coffee shop hangout spot by hosting different events to encourage people to spend downtime in the shop.”
“What about outside traffic?”
“Initially, I envisioned the shop as having an entrance from inside the building, using a small tucked away portion of the building. Anderson suggested making it front and center on the ground floor of a building. There are so many walk-up carts selling the standard three that–”
“Sorry, the standard three?”
“Black, cream, sugar.” I smiled to myself as I tried a sip of the syrupy latte Eric handed me when he arrived. Men always assume women like their coffee sugary.
“You’d want to replicate that menu?”
“I’d like to replicate that for individuals that didn’t want to use the system to order more complicated beverages. Having a basic menu for the hit-or-miss client keeps staffing dedicated to those that we’re building a relationship with.”
Eric rocked back, contemplating my idea. “So, the street access would operate