Coffee Talk

Two

Talking with Seth was surprisingly easy. In the short time they spent in the café, she discovered he was a graduate student working towards his masters, living in the city but looking forward to taking the train home for the holidays. Angela disclosed as much about herself as he did, explaining that she had moved to the city soon after graduating college, was now working at The White Page bookstore, and had no plans to return home for Christmas.

Before Seth could ask why, forcing Angela to make up an excuse about her personal reservations about returning to her family during the holidays, she realized that the café was closing.

"I guess it's time for me to start my walk home," Angela mused as she stood from her chair, gathering her empty teacups to clear the table.

"Do you have far to go?" he asked as he joined her on her walk to the dish return.

"It's just a few blocks down the street." She offered him a reassuring smile. It was a walk she had made many times, through all types of weather and times of the day. She had no worries about making it home safe.

And neither did he, it seemed. "Let me at least get your phone number before you go."

Angela nodded her assent and took her phone out of her coat pocket, exchanging numbers with the mysterious man she had only just met hours ago.

"If it's all right with you," he said as he put his phone back into his pocket, "I'd like to see you again. At least once before I have to leave for the holidays."

Something tugged at her gut, but she ignored it as she nodded once again. "I would like that a lot, actually."

It wasn't a lie. There was something about Seth that attracted Angela to him. Maybe it was because she had been entertained solely by Delilah's attention for so long that having someone new to interact with was exactly what she needed.

The smile he gave her as he put on his jacket made the tugging at her gut move lower, and she bit her lip. She quickly threw her own coat over her shoulders to distract from the illicit thoughts trying to invade her mind.

Maybe that was why Delilah disapproved. She often seemed to know Angela better than she knew herself, but in this, Angela wasn't so certain. She wanted to defy Delilah's initial reaction to him. Sure, she may have generally been right about most people when she read them like she did, but she couldn't get a perfect read all the time. Delilah took that for a negative, but maybe Angela needed to take it as a positive. Perhaps she could prove to Delilah that the world was more than coffee shops and murderers.

They walked each other to the door, and Seth held it open to allow Angela to pass. The evening turned colder, and the snow still hadn't stopped, so she wrapped her arms around herself just a little tighter to not only keep herself warm but to keep her body in check as they stood on the sidewalk.

"Well," he started.

"Well," she responded.

His attention was solely on her, and she had nowhere to go, even if she was ready to leave. She bit her lip, trying to think of something to say—anything that would break the palpable silence between them. But the winter wind swept past them, and it made his blue eyes glisten.

Her face heated as she remained under his watchful gaze and she couldn't pull herself away, as if Seth was a magnet and there was something more attractive than his pretty face that kept her near.

Another gust was enough to cause her to shiver, and he blinked for what felt like the first time in an hour.

"I should go," he said, almost apologetically, as if he knew he'd kept her there in the middle of the city sidewalk because she was afraid if she left she'd never see him again.

But she would. She had his number after all. He would be just a call away.

And she would call him.

Even if Delilah was skeptical, after the time spent with him, for the first time Angela was uncertain of her friend's game.