My mind is a mess. I need time to think. Everything is out of focus. I shove everything in my bag and put the mug on the return counter before darting out of the shop with the influx of new customers. I couldn’t concentrate on anything with Mars ten feet away from me.
I make a beeline for my house. I’m in serious need of the solitude of my bedroom. It takes me ten minutes flat to get home.
I walk into the foyer and sounds of laughter and conversation bounce through the air and off the vaulted ceilings. I hear Mom’s voice and I rush up the steps to my room. She’s probably having some kind of meeting with her women’s group. God knows I don’t want to be a part of that shit.
Pushing my bedroom door closed behind me, I feel relieved to be alone again. With a soft click, I turn the lock into place. I press my back flat against the wall and push out a shaky breath. It feels like I just survived a storm.
It feels like I just survived Mars…
I stare at the corner of my room, where my easel and paintbrushes are, and my fingertips tingle. They tingle exactly where he touched them.
With a sigh, I move across the room and put up a fresh canvas. I flare my nostrils to breathe in the scent before I sketch the outline of a dragonfly. My hands move like liquid as I add detail to the wings.
When I’m done, I stand back with a thumping heart and a smile on my lips. It’s perfect. As I lay down color on my blank canvas, Mars is all I can think about. He’s a song that’s stuck in my brain.
The next time I see him, he won’t catch me off guard. My belly clenches at the thought of seeing him again. Just like that, I’m already making plans for tomorrow.
Mars
“You did good, kid,” Dave says, as we walk out the back door of The Grind House.
I shrug his praise off and give Haley a wave, but she’s already hightailing it over to her pink Jetta. Pink. That girl and pink go together like peanut butter and mayonnaise. They don’t.
“Seriously,” he tells me as we walk toward our vehicles. “Haley’s a great girl, but she is not a customer favorite. There were several new reviews online saying the new barista was a keeper.”
I’d been genuinely shocked at all the tips we’d earned tonight. Haley and I split them, and I still walked out with thirty bucks in cash. The coffee shop was way busier than Jimmy’s could ever dream of. Between my hourly wage and the tips, working here just three days a week, I probably won’t even need my job at Jimmy’s.
“Thanks,” I tell him. “See ya Wednesday.”
We part ways and I hop into my truck. Dave remains in his car, waiting for me to leave, but of course my vehicle has to act like a dick and fail to start.
“Come on,” I grumble, as I turn it over for the third time to no avail.
When someone raps on my window, I jolt in surprise.
“Need a jump?” Dave asks through the glass.
Embarrassment has my neck burning. All I can do is nod. He pulls his car to where it sits in front of mine, before popping his hood, and hopping back out. I yank on the latch of my hood. While he sets to attaching the jumper cables, I try to think of anything other than my shitty situation.
My mind drifts to her.
All night, that’s where it ended up.
Any time we had a lull between patrons or as I was making a drink.
Sage.
Fitting too. Her eyes were green—the color of sage. With tiny flecks of gray, like splintering flint. The moment I saw her, I wanted to know more about her. To watch her face and cheeks turn red. To admire how cute she was as she stumbled over her words and fidgeted in my presence.
I didn’t want to fuck her.
I mean, she’s attractive as hell and intrigues me, which is why for the first time ever, I wanted to ask a girl on a date with no other motives other than hearing more about her.
“We’ll leave them connected for about fifteen minutes,” Dave calls out. “I’ll call my wife while we wait.”
Scrubbing my palm over my face, I let myself once again think about Sage. They acted like she was a regular. Which means I will no doubt see her again. Maybe she’ll want to grab a bite to eat with me one day.
I’ll have to pick her up in my rust bucket.
That’s annoying as fuck, since it isn’t the most reliable vehicle on the planet.
She was nervous and shy, but there was more hiding behind those grayish-green eyes. Something brilliant just beyond the surface. Something I want to see.