CHAPTER 12
∞∞∞
Sitting in what’s quickly becoming my own seat at Roots, I’m drinking a chai latte and I try to get some words out. I was hoping it would’ve gone better, but it didn’t. Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that I’m highly caffeinated, and it makes me a little shaky. It tends to screw up my thought process as well and I kind of need that to write. At the moment I’m the only one at the café which is normal for a Wednesday morning. It’s just the way I like it, because I love the peace and quiet when I write.
Shelby’s cleaning some tables, while I hear Dean fumbling in the kitchen. I’ve got no idea what he’s doing, since he has no other customers besides me. Maybe he’s prepping for the Wednesday afternoon rush that would come in eventually.
Staring at the keyboard of my laptop, I try to will some words to come out, when my phone rings. My mother’s face lights up the screen and I answer the call.
“Hey mom.”
“Hi sweetheart,” she says. It’s late in the afternoon in France from where she’s calling. They travelled to France a few days back and are indulging in all the country has to offer. “How are you doing? Where are you? I don’t recognize where you are.”
“I’m doing fine,” I say, opting not to tell her about Celia or any of my escapades with the boys. “I’m at Roots in town. I spend most Wednesdays here, writing. How’s France?”
“Horrendous.”
“Horrendous? I would have thought you’d love France!”
“Your father convinced me to eat snails.” She pulls a disgusted face and I hold back a laugh.
“Aren’t they a delicacy?”
“That could be, but I want nothing to do with them anymore. It was snotty, chewy garlic.”
“So I’m guessing the frog legs will be a no-go as well?”
“I’ve banned your father from choosing what we eat. From now on, I’m holding the reins and I make the decisions.”
“Bossy, I like it!”
I get startled when someone knocks on the window of Roots. I look up and see a very cheery Meggy waving at me. She starts walking to the door of the café to head in.
“Mom, I’m going to hang up, Meggy’s here. Give my love to dad?”
“I will! Love you, say hi to Meggy from us!”
“Love you too, don’t eat anything I wouldn’t eat!”
With that we hang up and I lay my phone back down on the bar. Meggy has found her way in and is pulling back the bar stool beside me. She leans in and gives me a hug, her red curls covering my face, before she sits down.
“Fancy running into you here, lady of the fair,” she greets me as she gives me a wink.
“Hello yourself, you harlot.”
She chuckles as she puts her bag down and pulls out the menu. “What are you doing here? Are you here because of the gorgeous chef in the kitchen? I bet you want to be around him all the time after I saw you guys making out at the fair.”
Shelby, who had just walked over to take Meggy’s order, hears what my friend says. She abruptly turns around and struts over to the kitchen.
“Dean, get your ass over here. Did you kiss Morgan?”
Dean sticks his head out of the kitchen and looks at me in confusion. I can see the wheels in his head turning as to how the hell his sister found out. When he sees Meggy, figuring out how his sister got this knowledge and realizing just how much information she got, he just grins.
“Sure did,” is all he has to say about that.
“You’d better be treating her right!” she says as she pricks his shoulder with a finger. She gives off a very serious vibe, I think it’s described in the girl-code manual. Somewhere in the chapter on how to stick up for your girlfriends.
I just sit there and watch how this conversation unfolds.