Notre Petit Lieu

Espresso [1]

The warm, vibrant aroma of coffee hit Nathan. As he walked through the door, the small brass bell jingled from above the door and he was greeted with a welcoming smile from a young woman behind the coffee bar.

He glanced around, it was nearly Valentine's Day, and the pastel blue walls were covered in decorations of pinks and reds. Even the bookshelf, in the corner of the store, had little ornaments on top.

"Hello, how can I help you?" the young woman asked, she had fairly light brown hair and blonde strands that fell out of her messy bun. Deep copper eyes, matching with her mocha skin, hid behind her brown rimmed hipster-looking glasses. They gleamed as she spoke. She wore a black apron that covered her blue plaid shirt and black jeans. Her voice was soft and gentle.

"Urm..." He hesitated, "An espresso, and...a..." He desperately tried to remember what his wife wanted, "Jasmine tea with...honey, please."

"Sure, and is that eating in or taking away?" She asked as she was writing the order down furiously.

"Take-away."

After scribbling a bit more, she then answered, "Okay, I'll be right with you." And proceeded to make the orders, as Nathan continued to look around.

The café was filled with couples, some old, teen, middle age, all sorts; it would have been nice if he came down with his wife, but she was heavily pregnant and couldn't even put on her own shoes, let alone enjoy a nice drink with him.

His order was called out, and swiftly he got up, took the white cups that held his hot espresso and jasmine tea and went back home to his growing family. Afterwards, Nathan continued to order from the little café - first weekly, then daily. And he would always order the same thing: an espresso.

Conversations then sparked between the two. Kate explained how she had inherited the shop from her grandmother and her intentions to sell it at first, but fell in love with the interior and so decided to quit her previous job to take care of the shop.

Nathan talked about his life also, how he had managed to climb his way through his company and how things were going on between the rival businesses.

Gradually, the conversations between the two had became more personal, even though Nathan never told her about his wife.

Every conversation to Kate was magical, she felt her heart beat a little faster every time he walked through the door. Every time the small brass bell would jingle on the wooden door she hoped it was him, wishing to see his emerald eyes again and watch his blond hair move whenever he laughed. She hadn't felt this way in a long time and didn't know what to do about it.

Months passed and Nathan's wife had given birth to two beautiful twins, a boy and a girl. Suddenly, his visits to the cafe had stopped. He just didn't have time as he was constantly tending to the newborns. But sometimes he did wish he could go back to the café so he could escape the constant crying and baby talk. Almost every conversation that he had with his wife was now about their children.

Then one Saturday, when his wife and kids were still asleep, he made the decision to go visit the café again. It had been almost 3 months since he had last gone and he needed to get an espresso because he lacked the energy to look after his babies'. So he set off, leaving his sleeping wife and children.

Subtle winds whisked past him, sweeping against it on his cheeks and through his hair; he took his time as he was usually always in a rush to go to work or out with the kids. Summer was nearly here, and a blue blanket covered the sky as rays of an orangery hue sun struck between each of the tall buildings.

It was early, 5:30am on a Saturday- was the café even going to be open? He thought, and started to doubt whether he made the right choice or not, but as he turned the corner, he saw Kate outside, putting the key into the door to open her cafe. The door was heavy, and she was struggling to push the door open.

He ran to her, hoping to help but just as he made it towards her she gave the door a big push and stumbled into her café, luckily he managed to catch her by her forearm and pulled her in to him. She just smiled, trying to hold back the blush warming her cheeks. She wriggled away from his grip and walked further into her café so that he could walk in.

"Long time no see?" Chuckled Kate, she bit her lip, trying so hard not to grin and turned a red tinge at the cheeks, but she really missed him, and she thought she scared him away. Now he was back, she was as happy as she could be.

"Yeah, been pretty busy." He awkwardly explained, he wanted to tell Kate about his wife and his twins, but he wanted to go somewhere where there wasn't baby-talk. This was his sanctuary.

"What with?" Kate asked, curiosity getting the best of her. They went into the kitchen, and Nathan watched Kate ready his espresso.

Just as Nathan was about to think of yet another excuse his phone rang; his wife was calling him. He quickly excused himself from Kate, and perched himself on a small round wooden stool, to talk to his wife.

"Hey, Sarah! What's up?" He asked. He could hear one of his new born babies crying in the background.

"I need you to get me some more formula. I've run out and the twins are really hungry." She answered. She really needed her husband to be with her to help. Also because she had a surprise for him. She had planned a nice weekend away for them to both to reconnect. She had missed spending some quality time with him, especially since the twins came along.

Kate brought the espresso to him in the seating area; just as she was about to place it on the little table near Nathan, who was unsuspecting of her, she heard his conversation. She hadn't intended to listen in, but she couldn't help it. Gently - almost silently - she placed his drink on a table behind him and eavesdropped. She knew she shouldn't have, it was rude and it wasn't something she would normally do, but she was curious.

"I'll get the formula soon, and I'll be back in about half an hour... Okay I won't be long. Love you too, babe."

Kate's heart felt like it had been swirled into a black hole, it beat so fast that she couldn't keep up. 'Love you too, babe.' She felt crushed, who was he talking to?

She quickly slipped back into the café kitchen and was fighting back the tears that were welling in her eyes. She just thought that because he never mentioned any girl before he would be single; blaming herself for making such assumptions. She heard his footsteps and quickly wiped away the few stray tears that fell down her face. She composed herself, and wiped her hands on her apron.

She made herself some jasmine tea and told Nathan to bring in his espresso back into the kitchen, before pouring them both into two white cups wrapped in brown paper to takeaway.

"What are you doing?" He asked, questioning her actions.

"Let's go on a walk." She said trying her best to smile, as she led Nathan out of the café.