“Where? I don’t see him.”
“Walking toward us, behind the couple pushing a stroller.”
I caught a glimpse of him, or a glimpse of a guy dressed like him.
“Let’s make our own bet,” said Christy with excitement. “The first one of us he says hello to has to give him a compliment loaded with sexual innuendo.”
I laughed. “I don’t think I could do that.”
“Please,” she said incredulously. “I saw you flirting last night.
“I mean, I don’t think I could come up with a sexual innuendo on the spot.”
“It could be anything. He’s a guy; it doesn’t have to be good. He’ll be flattered. How about...” She looked up at the sky like that’s where the sexual innuendos gathered. “How about: Back so soon? I don’t mind a man who’s bad at playing ‘hard to get’, as long as he’s good at playing ‘getting hard’.”
“I’m not saying that!”
“Well, think of something,” she said softly, “Here he comes.”
As he approached, he looked straight ahead as if he wasn’t planning on turning and coming into the cafe. For a moment I thought he was simply going to pass us by. Whatever I was telling myself, ‘I’m not interested; I’m not ready to date,’ I couldn’t deny that for that moment I felt disappointed, almost crushed.
But then he turned and walked up to the front door.
I took a step back and held my breath.
He gave Christy a slight nod and walked right past her. “Hello, Gwen.”
“Hi, Taylor.” I caught Christy behind him, looking at me with wide eyes and expectation stamped on her face. Maybe because it was just a silly game—a game the boys started—I felt no inhibitions. “Back so soon?”
I hesitated, searching for some kind of sexy innuendo I could say. In doing so, my eyes went up and down his well-trimmed body, highlighted by the tight-fitting running shorts and T-shirt.
In my hesitation, Taylor cut in. “Did you miss me?”
“I managed to get by,” I said. Behind Taylor, Christy’s facial expression went from expectation to frustration. She frowned at me. I wasn’t as quick on my feet as she was: out of practice.
“I was just on my way to the pier,” said Taylor. “I was hoping to grab a cranberry muffin. Please tell me you have cranberry muffins.”
“I see. You just came by for a quicky.” My eyes swept up and down his body again. “Well, I’m happy to oblige.” I glanced at Christy and resisted the temptation to stick my tongue out at her. She smiled and gave me a thumbs up.
I walked back to the counter with Taylor following. “Does it have to be cranberry? I have apple cinnamon and banana nut.”
He rubbed his chin while he looked through the glass at the options on display then he looked at me. “I had a very specific craving, you understand.”
I nodded. “I hate to disappoint. I can only offer you a nut and send you on your way.”
Christy, from beside the entrance door, burst out laughing. She quickly covered her mouth. Taylor turned to look at her. He laughed too.
“Forgive me,” said Christy. “I have a dirty mind.”
“Having a dirty mind is no crime at all,” he said. He turned back to me and, with the affectation of a bad porn actor, said, “I’ll have one of each. I’ve got quite the appetite. If you know what I mean.”
I answered with my own porn-voice impression. “Just let me bag those muffins, if you know what I mean.”
When he left, we watched him walk down the sidewalk until he was out of sight. Then Cindy turned to me and stuck up her hand. “High five.”
“I can’t believe I did that,” I said. “And to a customer!”
“I’m proud of you.”
I was proud of me, too.
Business was slow in the late afternoon. I was about to head home, just waiting for Jenny’s shift to start, when Taylor came back. He wasn’t in jogging shorts or a T-shirt, but in smart slacks and a pressed cotton shirt. For a second I thought it might be his doppelganger.
“Hello Gwen.”
“Hello Taylor.”
He looked around at the empty tables then back at me. “Slow day?”
I tilted my head and smiled. “Well, I have had one customer, a repeat customer.”
Taylor raised his brow and offered a knowing grin. “Is that so?”
“It would seem he can’t get enough.” I leaned against the counter in a way that the counter pinched my dress, hiking it up a bit so I could show off some leg in my pose. “He came by for a quickie, got his ‘nut muffin’, if you know what I mean, and then came back for more.”
Taylor wiped the grin off his face, but it came back immediately and wider. “It’s funny you should say that.”
“Is it, now?”
“I was hoping I could get a quickie, too.”
“Sure,” I said and I tossed back my hair like I was in a shampoo commercial. “And would you like a muffin, too?”