Play (Stage Dive 2)

“And you didn’t invite me? Damn, A. I like a couple of their songs. That San Pedro album wasn’t bad. Their new stuff is shit, though, gotta say.”

“I love the new album. “Over Me” is a great song.”

He snickered, the corner of his mouth lifting. “It’s a song about someone doing your friend.”

“I choose to ignore that aspect.”

An elderly woman in tie-dye wandered in, heading straight for the self-help/philosophy section. Two teenagers started making out next to the new cookbook display. Sweet, but this was hardly the place for it. When a hand wandered too far south I cleared my throat, loudly. “Keep it above the waist, boys.”

The bell above the door jangled crazily as they bolted from the shop at light speed. One turned on the most amazing blush. I almost felt bad for him. Guess he’d wanted that grope real bad.

Reece chuckled. Well, he might. He picked up regularly within these four walls. A habit he’d hopefully grow out of one day soon. “Calm down. They weren’t hurting anyone.”

“There’s a time and a place.”

The little bell above the door dinged again as about the last person I expected strolled on in. Evelyn entered with a cup of coffee in hand and a hesitant smile on her face. Despite only working a couple of blocks away, I don’t think she’d ever been in the shop before. For certain, she’d never delivered coffee to me. If that was what was about to happen.

I stared in surprise.

Reece perked up. Then he spotted her humongous wedding engagement ring combo and perked back down again. Coming in from across the river, he didn’t go past Ruby’s Café like I did. Ev was unknown to him.

“We missed you this morning,” she said, sliding the tall cardboard cup of coffee onto the counter in front of me. “You didn’t stop by for your regular. Figured I’d bring it to you.”

“You’re wonderful. I woke up late for some reason.”

“Fancy that.” She smiled.

I took a sip of the superhot brew. Perfect. It was f**king perfect. Evelyn was basically the patron saint of the coffee bean. What I’d do in a few weeks when she left to go on tour with the band, I had no idea.

Cry, most likely.

Ev’s long blond hair was tied back in a braid. Like me, she wore head-to-toe black. Only she wore a pencil skirt while I’d gone for skinny jeans. “Ruby’s Café” was plastered across her bounty of boobs while “Lewis’s Independent Book Store” was written over my more sedate mounds. Apart from the chunk of ice on her finger she could have been any other local girl. Why she kept working as a barista when she’d married a millionaire I had no idea and it wasn’t my place to ask.

I turned to introduce her to Reece but he’d taken the opportunity to disappear out back, all interest in Ev gone as soon as he saw the ring.

“I also wanted to apologize for last night,” she said, resting her arms on the counter.

“What for?”

“The part where Mal tackled you onto the floor, mostly. Unless there’s something else I missed I should also be apologizing for?”

“No.” I waved her words away, smiling. No need to bring up my shouting abuse at her guest earlier in the evening. “That was fine. He was just playing.”

“Yeah. He’s kind of like a puppy on steroids. Doesn’t know his own strength.” She looked around the shop, face open, curious. “This place is great. Why haven’t I been in here before?”

“Time, probably. When you weren’t working you were studying. Now you’re married.”

“True.” She beamed. “It was good to see you last night, Anne. I’m glad to hear Mal didn’t do any permanent damage.”

“No, I’m fine. And thank you very much for the coffee. I seriously needed it. I don’t know how you handle getting up so early after the late nights.”

She lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “Things wound down pretty much straight after you left. Ben and Mal went out, taking everyone with them. David and I crashed. We don’t do the party thing often. If we did I’d be ruined this morning.”

“Ah.”

“Sooo, David said you were talking to Mal out on the balcony for a while.…” Which was about when her coffee-bearing visit started to make sense.

“Yeah, I was,” I said. “And then David asked me if he’d said anything. I still don’t know what that was about.”

Ev’s lips pressed tight. “Mm.”

“He sent you to ask me about it,” I guessed. Correctly, if the flash of guilt in her eyes was any indicator.

“You deserved coffee, anyway. But yes, he did ask if I would mind talking to you.”

“Okay.” I licked my lips, buying some time to get my thoughts in order. Out of sight my foot fidgeted, doing its best to wear a hole in the carpet. “Honestly, we didn’t talk about much, nothing particularly personal or private. Just some nonsense about my ex-roommate.”

“Lauren mentioned.” Pity filled Ev’s eyes.

I shrugged. “Yeah, never mind. I’ll figure it out. But really, Mal and I didn’t talk much about himself. Mostly, he just teased me.”

“He does that.” For a moment longer, she looked at me. Trying to gage the truth, I guess. She was clearly pretty worried about Mal, but the fact was we didn’t know one another well enough for this sort of heart-to-heart. It felt awkward, stilted.

“Thanks for letting me know,” she said at last. “Mal’s been acting strange since he came up a week ago. Manic … more so than usual. Then other times he just stares into space. We’ve tried talking to him, but he says nothing’s wrong.”

“I’m sorry.”

“We don’t know if he’s depressed or on drugs or what. And after having Jimmy go through rehab so recently …” She gave me a small, sad smile. “I’d appreciate you not mentioning this to anyone.”

“Of course.”

“Anyway, I’m done for the day. I’d better get going. David will be wondering where I am. It was good to see you.”

“You too.”

“Come over again soon, okay?” She backed toward the door, waving good-bye. The request seemed genuine. It soothed my heart. After the horror of Skye I could do with some real friends.

“I will. Thanks again for the caffeine.”

She gave me the rock-star chin tip and then she was gone.