Shards of Kairos

II - The Beginning

The cafe lights were on when they arrived, after a blissfully short drive with thankfully minimal discussion about the weather, Katie parking the Smart car out front against the curb.

The Coffee Dragon did delivery every day and mostly into the surrounding - bigger cities, no matter what day of the week. While it was Katie or their delivery driver Riley, a high school sophomore, who did all the interstate driving to the other cities and towns - it was never Evie. She'd never be caught dead in the tiny electric car on a road that had a posted speed limit of sixty five miles an hour or over. It felt like downright suicide. Up side? Gas mileage was unbeatable.

Evie followed after Katie as her best friend unlocked the front door and flipped the sign from closed to open, Riley smiling at them in greeting from behind the counter where she was prepping coffee mugs and cups - setting them out for easy access to the coffee machines.

But Riley's smile and her pointed, slight nod towards the other side of the room drew their eyes across the cafe. And to the cause of Riley's smile.

They had a customer already, Riley must have let him in - a tall, dark stranger sitting in the corner of the coffee shop furthest from the front windows with his back to them.

And as soon as Evie set her eyes upon the man, or rather the back of his leather jacket, they were immediately taking in almost too much for her to process. The young man had to be a little over six foot, if by the way his chair seemed too small and the table seemed disproportionate to how long his legs were - stretched out in front of him just a bit beneath the table, knees almost touching.

Thick black hair was cropped short, but not overly short, shoulders broad but at the same time - his body was lean in the way it was muscled. There was no doubt the guy was big but it wasn't in an obnoxious way. Could he probably bench press Riley? Maybe. But it was a quiet strength, not something he was flaunting.

And he had to know he was being gawked at by three women. Well, two women and an overly hormonal teenager.

Evie's observations immediately came to a halt. On his left side, leaning against his hip, was a cane for the blind. And it was then that Evie especially noticed the impossibly dark sunglasses the dark stranger was wearing, the way he wasn't reading the paper in front of him at all but more just resting a hand on it as he probably waited for his order.

Anyone else might have presumed the the man was actually reading the paper, as hard to see as the cane was from her vantage point.

Katie lightly cleared her throat and Evie abruptly pulled her gaze away, realizing she'd been staring at the man like an idiot. But he was gorgeous. Who could blame her?

Riley just gave them an even bigger grin and pushed a cup of coffee Evie's direction and a plate, nodding at the man in the corner. His order.

And Evie took it in at a quick glance. Double shot according to the ticket. Caffè macchiato - black, with fat free milk. Interesting. Evie generally enjoyed trying to read people based on their cafe order and she wasn't usually off the mark. It was about as entertaining as a Buzzfeed quiz on the slow days. 

Katie shifted a glance her way with a smile. "I'll fight you for it."

Evie immediately raised her hands, casting a look in the man's direction. "All yours."

As much as Evie wanted to jump at the offer, insatiably curious as to who this tall, dark stranger was - there were rarely ever new faces or strangers in Briarsfield - she was equally flustered by her reaction to him. Evie had dated in high school, all of her friends had obviously or most, but she'd never really felt a spark. Butterflies? Definitely. But not this big of an obvious interest right off.