Coffee and Cafés - Book Two of the Café Latte Trilogy

Affogato

Affogato

I leaned against the lift door, waiting for it to open so I could hurry into the office; I was late. Typical. I had slept in after not having enough coffee the previous night. I needed to stop letting people make me lattes; the milk to coffee ratio was horrendous.

Ian did not pop out at me once the lift doors opened, so I was lulled into a false sense of security as I rounded the corner. He then popped out at me from behind a desk. I yelled out in alarm, "Ian?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"Why, Chris, you look so much like Tom today," Misa commented dryly from her desk, her perfectly lined eyelids narrowing.

"Fuck you!" Chris called from inside his office.

"You're late, also," Misa mused, inspecting my clothes. "How come you're late?"

I held up my thermos. "Angelo convinced me to get a latte instead of something stronger last night. Pretty sure he advised the barista to use decaf. I'm very sleepy."

Misa looked behind me. "I thought you two might be together - he's not here yet. We figured you'd made each other late."

I snorted and took a sip of my coffee. "No, he decided he can't spend every night at my flat, given that he pays rent on his. He left around seven. I spent most of the night watching movies with Raven."

I casually did not mention that I'd spent ninety percent of my time prior to seven railing Angelo against the wall.

"What's the plan for today?" Misa asked, inspecting her own calendar. "If Angelo ever gets into the office, he's got a ton on after ten."

I pulled up my calendar and said, "I'm spending most of the day with Barbie, I think. We're going to go over the funds allocated to various events over the next year and see what our budget is for each category. Then we're going to sit Ian down and give him a big lecture on why he has to stick to that budget."

"Hey!" Ian protested, and then sighed sadly. "Yeah, okay, you're right."

"And I have lunch with Cinzia," I noted the lunch date written down in between my plans with Barbie. "I think she wants to go to that new falafel place on the corner. And I assume she wants to grill me for information on my relationship with her brother, as we haven't really had any time together recently."

Misa grinned. "You're gonna get the Big Brother Talk, except from his younger sister."

"Potentially, yes," I laughed at the thought of Cinzia trying to threaten me. "But then again, if she feels like she's not intimidating enough she can just bring Della out and make her give me the puppy-dog eyes. I'll fold like an origami master."

Barbie opened her office door and located me, pointing directly at me with her lengthy acrylic nails. "You. Office. Now. We've got so much to go through, and if we don't start soon, I'm gonna nail you with a thousand hours of overtime."

I sighed and raised my thermos. "To my sanity."

******

I hurried into the falafel café quickly, completely aware that I looked like a gangly, clumsy teenager, but also completely aware that I was ten minutes late. I quickly came to an abrupt halt in front of the table Cinzia was sat at, slumping into the chair opposite her.

Cinzia raised her eyebrows and said, "I see you're having a very productive day."

"Barbie is mean," I whined, putting my forehead against the table. "I'm sorry I'm late, we are so busy today."