Once in May

Chapter 3: Coffee and Cold Sweat

Chapter 3: Coffee and Cold SweatJohn sat in his Jeep and waited for the lights to come on inside Jen’s café. It was harder to see now when the mornings were bright. Sometimes she didn’t even turn the lights on in the sitting area until she opened. Those days John didn’t enter. Today, he was pretty certain she would come looking for him, though.

He glanced at the dashboard clock: seven minutes past seven. Maybe she hadn’t come in yet. Sometimes she didn’t come in until a quarter past. He swallowed and wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans-clad thighs. Maybe he could go home. It wasn’t like he’d promised to be there. He had nodded when she’d asked, but that didn’t mean much.

He looked around the parking lot. The man wasn’t there. Maybe John had misinterpreted the look in his eyes—no. They had been glittering as they’d swept over him, and he knew what it meant.

As his stomach knotted, he regretted coming to town today. Maybe he could ignore his rules for a week, or maybe he could count it as a breakfast even if he didn’t leave the safety of his car. No. He knew the rules, he had made them up himself.

Number one: breakfast in a public place at least once a week, preferably two, but one was okay. In Nortown, that meant Jen’s café, but he was allowed to go into Northfield, or even Whiteport if he was up for a ride. He wasn’t. John had been in Whiteport twice since he’d moved to Nortown.

Number two: he had to talk to someone in person once a week. Jen was safe. Jen was, in fact, so safe she hardly counted anymore. Or, of course, she did but he ought to try talk to someone else.

The lights came on inside the café, and John’s heart slammed against his ribcage. Safe. Jen was safe to be around.

She went up to the door and peeked out into the parking lot. Then she waved and unlocked the door, holding it open while she waited for him to exit the car.

He hated when she did that. If she simply waved and unlocked the door, he could take his time, look around before he exited, and hurry inside without her wondering why he had run across to the café.

He took a deep breath and reached for the handle. Opening the door slowly, John put one foot and then the other on the paved ground. His legs turned to jelly, but he forced them steady and started walking towards Jen. He kept his eyes on her all the way, telling himself it was just Jen, and Jen was safe.

“Hi, John.” Her voice turned soft, and he noticed how a lock of red hair already had escaped her ponytail. “You hungry?”

John cleared his throat to prepare to speak, but in the end, he simply nodded. He wasn’t hungry. He had been when he’d left home, though, so he didn’t consider it a lie. It was in the rules: no lies. Unless it was absolutely necessary, of course.

He crossed the threshold and moved towards his table in the corner behind the one in front of the TV. He could still see the TV from there, and he had his back to the wall.

“What can I get you?” Jen beamed at him. John should have felt guilty about coming to the café before she’d opened, but she had never made him feel bad for doing so.

“Coffee, if you have it.” He was always amazed when she heard him. It was like she had developed a skill to understand his whispers even when it should be impossible, or maybe, just maybe, he actually spoke a bit more audibly now. He hoped so, even though he didn’t dare believe it.

“I would be in trouble if I didn’t.” Jen smiled. “Anything else?”

He glanced at the clock on the wall: twenty-five past seven. Plenty of time to eat and get out of there before she officially opened. “I’d like some fruit and yogurt, and a toast, if you—”

“Yeah, I have it.” She laughed, and John fought the blush wanting to rush to his cheeks. “One coffee, fruit and yogurt, and one toast coming right up.”

* * * *

John swallowed the last of his coffee and glanced out the window. Two burly, bearded men came walking across the parking lot. It took a second or two before the panic slammed into him with full force.

It was the man from the shop.

The clatter from where he dropped the cup on the plate made him flinch. Crap! He shouldn’t have accepted another cup. The coffee had tasted unusually good this morning, and he’d enjoyed listening to Jen talking to her son, Luke, while she made him breakfast. It was nice, and it gave John a feeling of normality even if he was only an observer. He shouldn’t have stayed, though. The man had brought a friend, which made things even worse than John had feared.

Cold sweat broke out as he watched the men turn and head right for the door. Of course, they were coming here; it was only stupid to hope for something else. One of them stopped, not the man from the shop but the other one. He gestured wildly while the man from the shop scowled. John began to tremble. They were going to take their frustration out on him.

He needed to get out of there. He needed to run. The chair banged against the wall behind him before he knew what he was doing. Jen’s head shot up from behind the counter. “You okay?”

John stared at her, unable to find his voice.

“It’s all right, sweetie.”

John winced at her words. He hated when she let on how much of his anxiety she actually picked up on. Most of the time, she pretended he was like everybody else, but, of course, he wasn’t. He was going to be sick. He wanted to go to her, wanted to pay so he could leave, but his feet wouldn’t cooperate.

“It’s okay, John. You can leave.”

“I haven’t paid.” He hated the way his voice shook, but he couldn’t do anything about it. His throat closed up as he caught movement outside the door.

They’d arrived.

She dried her hands and hurried out from behind the counter, closing in on him. John didn’t know where to go. They were coming at him from different directions.

But Jen didn’t come at him. She walked around him, leaving plenty of space between them, and headed for the door. “You can pay double next time, or I wouldn’t mind p*****t in eggs.”

“That’s illegal.” John would happily give her eggs. Why he hadn’t before, he didn’t know. He couldn’t pay with them, though. It wasn’t right.

“We’ll sort it. Now get out of here.” She smiled, and John almost wanted to hug her. Almost.

The bell above chimed as she opened the door. “Zachary Fane.” She giggled and John was struck by how young she sounded. “I never thought I’d see the day. When did you get back?”

The man from the shop grinned and scooped her up in his arms. John almost choked. God, he’s big. Broad and tall, and arms so thick John wanted to shrink back before they could snake their way around him, too.

The man must’ve sensed John’s eyes on him because he looked right at him while still hugging Jen. Without thinking, John let his blond tresses fall like a curtain over his face and kept his head tilted forward, glancing towards the door in hopes of finding an opening to sneak past them and out to his car. It was pathetic to hope; not even Jen could save him from them now.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the large man take a step in his direction. Every muscle in his body tensed as he braced himself, but then Jen was there. With one small hand on the man’s arm, she guided him and his friend towards a table away from John and the door.

As soon as all three of them had their backs turned, John slipped out, thankful for Jen’s manoeuvre.