Coffee and Cafés - Book Two of the Café Latte Trilogy

Iced Latte, Searing Hot

Iced Latte, Searing Hot

During the next week, I barely spoke with Angelo. It wasn't my choice, although thanks to my conversation with Jasper I was very grateful I didn't have to face my boss now. Angelo was very busy with a ton of different things, but most notably his sister's kids. I'd heard tons about Della and Felicity, and how much Angelo was involved in their lives.

"Is Cinzia married?" I asked Misa.

"Hm?" she asked, and I repeated the question. "Oh, no, she isn't."

"Is she on good terms with the father of Della and Felicity?" I asked nosily, and then blushed. "Not to be, super inappropriate or anything. I'm just curious - Angelo just seems very involved with the family."

"No father around, as far as I can tell," Misa shrugged. "That's all I really know about it. She takes care of them well, Angelo just helps her out when she's overwhelmed. It can be difficult to look after them. But they're good kids."

That was all the information I was going to get, mostly because it was all anyone seemed to know. Everyone here was so open about their lives, their families, their relationships, but Angelo was quiet during any of those conversations. Ian told me about his wife, Prudence, and how she hated to be called anything but Pru, so he'd gone through a phase of calling her Peru. Misa had shared a tale or two about her disastrous ex-boyfriends. Barbie had shrugged when I asked her about a partner, and quietly added that she didn't like relationships. Even Chris had said 'fuck that noise' in response to my asking if he had a partner.

But Angelo was quiet. He never joined in, and if I directly asked he just smiled and said, "Long story." I couldn't help feeling intrigued, and I was honestly glad that I was intrigued; my brain focused on that, rather than how hot he was.

"Tom," Angelo called from his office, the door open.

"Yeah?" I poked my head in, finding him poring over a list. I blinked in surprise at his appearance; he looked exhausted. I saw dark circles under his eyes, and his posture wasn't his usual confident self; he was hunched over. "Uh, you okay? You look tired."

He smiled wearily. "I am tired. Can you get me a coffee? Misa is on break, and my coffee machine is out of pods."

"Sure, thank you," I replied.

"Thank you?" he enquired.

I grinned. "Haven't had a coffee in four hours. What do you want? I'll go to that place round the corner, the cute one that does the cupcakes that look like little cats."

"Thanks," Angelo sighed gratefully. "I'll have a, uhh, an iced latte. Caramel. Searing hot." He realised his mistake and groaned, putting his head in his hands. "I'm never having kids."

"Entirely reasonable," I grinned. "I'll get you one of each. Hang tight."

*****

Ian was, as Harper had so accurately put it, a force of nature. I barely saw him, and when I did it felt like he was in a cartoon, speeding past me leaving nothing but a cloud of dust. Barbie was busy too, focusing hard on the finances behind the event. It was her task to try and budget Ian's creative vision, making sure he stayed within the budget for the event so we made as much money as we could for the charities it was for. I needed to ask about some admin, but my usual ports of call were out of order.

Chris was less busy, so I approached him for the run-down of the event. "Uh, hey," I greeted him, knocking on his office door. "You got a minute?"

"Sure," Chris nodded, barely looking up to see who it was. "What's up?"