Cocoa Remix

Chapter Four: A Problem with an Opportunity

When the office door opened again and James walked in, Avery was tapping away a response to one of her eMails, looking for all the world as if nothing strange was going on. Well, she was making a good go of it anyway. James paused in the doorway to give her a critical looking over before going to sit down at his own desk, which was much more cluttered than hers. 

James took the ‘if it’s really important then it won’t get lost’ approach to paperwork organization, which annoyed Avery to no end. Thankfully, after relatively few major blowouts, she’d convinced James to confine his avant garde filing system to his desk. Or, his half of the office. Really, as long as the mess didn’t bleed to her side of the room, she wasn’t all that bothered. Well, she was, but she could contain her annoyance to muttering under her breath and the occasional pointed look. She gave him one now, as a pile of precariously placed papers shifted, and half of them fluttered to the floor. James said nothing, deflecting the daggers her eyes sent at him by simply not acknowledging their existence, and dutifully bent down to pick the papers up. He smiled wanly, though not at her, as he shuffled the papers into a stack, and set them back on top of the rest.

As Avery was no longer looking pale and drawn, the color having returned to her cheeks with the sudden rush of irritation, James started going about his business for the day. This left his partner free to frantically scour the internet for information on Cocoa Remix - which she did as soon as she hit send on the email she’d been composing. Her search turned up some vague, but also interesting results.

Since she was an avid fan of sweets, Avery thought she had a pretty good idea of all the best chocolate shops in the city, their offerings, and locations. She assumed Cocoa Remix was new when she saw the ad for it on her phone, because she’d never heard of it before. To her surprise, the shop had been around for a long time - and even appeared to have franchises in other cities.

Most of the reviews were fulsome, and many included photos of the shop as well as the beautiful chocolates. The negative reviews mostly complained about the high price of their products, though several reviewers did say the shop was difficult to find. A few reviewers said that they couldn’t find regular hours posted for the shop anywhere - not even on the shop’s front door. What kind of shop didn’t have hours? It was strange, and the thought lingered in the back of her mind as she continued reading.

Avery was scanning through a review that someone had written for the Paris branch of Cocoa Remix, when she came across a photo that just happened to catch the profile of a familiar face behind the chocolate shop counter. The same face that had smiled at her when she entered the Darcingtowne branch.

That’s when she started comparing photos from the different branches of Cocoa Remix, and realized that they were eerily similar. While it was true that the whole point of a franchise was offering a consistent product and experience, she also knew that the most successful franchises adapted their brand in order to appeal to the peculiarities of different cultures. There was no way that a branch in Japan should be an exact carbon copy of the branch here in Darcingtowne; and yet, from the photos she was looking at, every branch of Cocoa Remix was identical down to the most minute of details.

“That’s the same guy, the same everything...” Avery sputtered aloud.

“Hmmm? What guy?” James asked, tilting his head out from behind his computer screen so he could catch her eye.

“Ah, it’s no one important. Don’t worry about it.” Avery said, quickly closing her browser - even though she knew that James couldn’t see it from where he was sitting across from her.

It was bizarre - and its existence seemed to confirm that the memories she had of the previous day were real. From the photos and reviews, the shop was exactly how she remembered it. Though, maybe that was just her brain playing tricks on her? Maybe she’d seen the place before, and forgotten about it? That just didn’t feel right. She would have remembered a place like that. 

She wasn’t sure what to make of it, but knew that it would probably be better if she saw it for herself. Reviews and photos were great, but it wasn’t the same as seeing a place in person. She’d just have to stop by the chocolate shop after work; and if she ended up taking some chocolates home with her, all the better. It was still Valentine’s Day, after all.

“Should I be jealous?” James said, sarcasm coloring his voice as he spoke. 

Avery snorted, wondering how his girlfriend would feel about him being jealous. Then, she remembered that at this point in time, James didn’t have a girlfriend. Not yet.

“Are you jealous?” Ava replied, her lips tilting up at one corner into a flirty, half-smile.

James chuckled lightly, and turned back to his work, leaving her unsure whether or not  she should push things any further. 

They had always had a mildly flirty relationship, and were widely considered to be ‘work spouses.’ Funny how it was fine to have a quote-unquote work spouse, but less fine to actually marry someone you work with. She could understand if there was some kind of power imbalance between them, but they were the partners in the truest sense; partners to the point that when it came time for annual reviews, James advocated for them to be given the same raise when they tried to offer her less than what they offered him.

She only learned about that after one of her friends in the accounting department let it slip over one too many after work cocktails, but it was the first of the many little reasons why she’d started developing feelings for James.

Those feelings were still there, but so too was the sting of his rejection - she felt it keenly, the way that you might not feel a cut until you look down and see the blood, but going the opposite direction. In her case the blood was gone, but the pain lingered, and she could still feel the slit in her skin where the cut had been.

Part of her wanted to take advantage of this situation; if she really had been sent back in time, wouldn’t that be the point? Shouldn’t she try to change things? But, another part of her was afraid that no matter what she did, she would still end up brokenhearted and drinking alone in her apartment. Failing again after having been given a second chance would be so much more painful.

Avery turned this quandary over in her mind for some time, before deciding on a compromise.

“James, do you have any plans for dinner?” Avery said, trying to sound nonchalant.

“No. It’s a bit early to place an order, though. Were you really wanting to work late tonight?” James replied easily. He’d taken out his reading glasses. Avery was one of the only people in the office that he wore them around; it was his one rather cute bit of vanity.

“No, no.  I was thinking maybe we should do it up a bit. Instead of working late and ordering in, let’s go out. It is Valentine’s Day.” she said, shrugging. “Maybe we can snag a last minute reservation somewhere uptown.”

“Avery Marks, are you asking me to be your Valentine?” James asked, lifting an eyebrow as he looked at her over the top of his glasses, a smirk playing out across his lips.

“Depends on whether or not you’re paying for dinner or not.” Avery said, fluttering her eyelashes prettily, lips pursed in a mockery of girlishness.

“Ah, I see how it is. Fine, but that means I pick the restaurant, and you have to pay for the drinks after work today.” James said, pushing his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose, glancing back to his computer screen.

“Now we’re getting drinks after work, too? Oh, my. How romantic. All right, but I want to stop by a chocolate shop before we hit any bars. Don’t worry, I’m not expecting you to pick up the tab for my sweet tooth.” Avery wanted to preempt any potential complaints; James knew she had a taste for fine chocolates, but he probably had no idea just how much she was willing to spend on them. She liked it better that way. It was good enough that she was spending the evening with him instead of on her own - even if it wasn't exactly a date.

“Sounds like a plan. What’s Valentine’s Day without some candy.” James said, his voice a tad distracted. His eyebrows had knit together slightly, and he began tapping urgently away at his keyboard as he continued, “Did you see this campaign proposal that the head office sent over? Oof. I think we’re going to need to have a chat with their design team. I’m not sure this is going to work for our market.”

“No, not yet.” Avery said. She had, in the previous timeline, but she didn’t really recall it clearly. Sometimes, she barely remembered what she had for breakfast by the time afternoon rolled around - though most of the time the answer would have just been ‘a cup of coffee’ anyway. She was not much of a breakfast person.

Avery turned her attention back to her work, opening up the eMail that James was referencing. As she opened up the various attachments, she found she actually did remember this campaign; she remembered how it blew up in the head office’s face. She also remembered the solution that they came up with. As these memories resurfaced, Avery’s eyes lit up. 

This foreknowledge wasn’t just good for her romantic prospects; it was good for her career too. A year’s worth of foreknowledge could catapult her and James’ sales performance if she played her cards right. The real trick would be staying on top after her foreknowledge ran out - but who knows how things would shift as she made new and different choices. Who knew if she would even wake up to a tomorrow that was actually...tomorrow?

All she knew for sure was that, right now, she had a solution to a problem that didn’t yet exist. The smart thing to do was to prepare everything she would need to jump in and save the day when the problem, or opportunity as it were, presented itself. With that thought in mind, Avery buckled down and started working in earnest.