No Place Like Home - Love in Seattle

by Christina Butrum

  Shortly before seven a.m., she shut the bathroom light off and ventured downstairs to the kitchen. She needed to fix a pot of coffee and drink the whole thing, or this day wouldn’t go smoothly at all.

  Pinned to the fridge by one of the magnetic clips she had made in kindergarten, her parents had left her a last-minute note telling her again how much they appreciated her staying in Seattle, following up at the bottom with x’s and o’s and the address of their destination. Leaving it clipped to the fridge, she made her way to the coffee pot. After pouring two heaping scoops of Folgers coffee grounds into the filter, she grabbed ingredients from the fridge for a much-needed breakfast—eggs, bacon and toast. She contemplated cooking pancakes too, but decided against it because she was sure there’d be a few doughnuts available on the way to the coffee shop, and she needed to save room for at least one in case she gave in to the temptation.

  While waiting for her breakfast to cook, she wrote down a to-do list—combining her mother’s list with her own—she kept opening the coffee shop at the top; not that she needed to write it down, but the list served as a reminder, in case she lost her mind between now and then.

  ***

  Eight a.m. on the dot, she unlocked the doors and people swarmed in. She had forgotten how crazy this place was in the rush of morning hours. People of all kinds, from all walks of life came in for coffee and their daily newspaper. She made a mental note to come earlier than she had today so she had plenty of time to prepare for the crowd.

  “Good morning, Janelle,” a petite, spunky blonde barista greeted on her way around the counter.

  Janelle had no idea who she was as she took a look at the girl’s nametag—Kelsie. Kelsie extended her hand in front of her, offering to shake hands with Janelle. “I’m Kelsie. JoAnne said you’d be here today. I’m looking forward to working alongside you for the next few months.”

  “Don’t remind me,” Janelle said, with a sarcastic chuckle, trying to make light of her duties.

  “I take it you’re not thrilled to be here?”

  Shaking her head, Janelle laughed and said, “Oh no, that’s not it at all. I actually love the coffee shop. The other work I have to do, from Cincinnati, on top of everything here, not so much.”

  Kelsie made steady progress on the first few orders, all while engaged in conversation with Janelle. “What do you do in Cincinnati?”

  “I’m a journalist.”

  Kelsie’s eyes grew wide with amazement. She tightened the lids on three cups and handed them off to customers, wishing them well on their way. “You’re welcome, have a good day.”

  “Caramel macchiato?” she asked the next customer. “Coming right up.”

  Without losing a beat, she picked up right where they had left off. “A journalist? As in writing for newspapers and stuff?”

  Janelle had to give the young girl credit for making friendly conversation, but she really didn’t want to talk about her job back in Cincinnati. The thought of what she had to get done loomed over her head—overwhelming her enough as it was.

  “I work for the Cincinnati Enquirer,” she replied, making sure she didn’t sound too crabby.

  “That would be so much fun!” Kelsie said, handing yet another round of cups to the line of customers. She was good at this. It had only been ten minutes and nearly twenty customers had been in and out quickly—credit given to Kelsie for her mad skills.

  “You’re really good at this,” Janelle pointed out. She had no idea what she was doing, but Kelsie was definitely rocking the show. Taking the folded list of things to do out of her pocket, she asked, “How long have you been working here?”

  Stopping for a minute to figure it out, Kelsie counted through the months out loud, “January, February, March, April... this month will be five months.”

  Impressed by how good Kelsie was performing this job, with only being here for a short time, Janelle congratulated her and made it a point to tell her again how well she was doing. In the last ten years, she was certain no one had been able to do this as well as Kelsie was in the first year.

  Leaving Kelsie to fend for herself, she walked to the office, located to the right of the counter. She could have sworn her parents had scheduled more than one person on each shift. Double checking the schedule revealed she had been right. Looking at the name listed in the left side column by the shift, Josh was spelled out in bold, capital letters.

  With the schedule in hand, she walked back out to where Kelsie was finishing her last espresso. The crowd had finally died down. Knowing it would be short lived, Janelle brought the schedule to Kelsie’s attention. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know about Josh, would you?”

  Raising an eyebrow, Kelsie asked, “Your mom didn’t tell you?”

  Reading through her notes and double checking for any other notes left under the clipped schedule, Janelle shook her head. “Nope, it appears that must’ve slipped through the cracks.”

  Kelsie motioned for her to follow her to the office. Something that needed to be talked about in the office couldn’t be good. Kelsie shut the door behind them.

  “Wait, you need to keep the door...”

  “Josh is a pain in the ass,” Kelsie said, her eyebrows furrowed with frustration. “He shows up when he wants to, which adds up to half of his scheduled hours. Most days it’s like today. I’m busting my ass by myself... no offense...”

  Janelle shook her head. “None taken.”

  “With Josh nowhere to be seen,” Kelsie said. “Most of the time he’s a no call, no show.”

  Confused and unsure about what to do with this information, Janelle scribbled on a Post-It note and pinned it to the board next to the desk. Her parents needed to look into this, if they hadn’t done so already. “Does my mom know about this?”

  Rolling her eyes, Kelsie opened the door and walked out. She hollered over her shoulder, “She knows. He’s been reprimanded more than once because of it.”

  Not that it was any of her business how her parents ran theirs, it concerned her that this was happening and Josh still had a job here. Beyond being highly unprofessional, it was a complete lack of respect to his co-workers and her family’s business.

  Following Kelsie to the counter, Janelle asked, “So, it’s a toss-up if he shows up or not? You just wait and see if he does?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “I’m going to give him a call,” Janelle said, turning to walk back to the office. She stopped and asked, “Are you good here for a bit?”

  “Of course. Good luck getting hold of him,” Kelsie called out behind her.

  Grabbing the office phone, she dialed Josh’s number. Frustrated when he didn’t answer, and then hearing a robotic voice tell her that the number she had called does not have a voicemail set up, she slammed the phone down into its receiver and walked back out to the counter.

  “That was a waste of time,” she told Kelsie, who gave her an I-told-you-so look. Day one and she was already almost stressed to the max. It drove her insane to think of one of the employees without a care whether he showed up or not. Mixing her own caramel macchiato, she went heavy on the cream, she decided to forget about it until later, when she would have more time to think about how she would approach the situation.

  “Hey,” Kelsie said, distracting Janelle from her irate thoughts. When Janelle didn’t stop stirring her coffee, Kelsie grabbed her arm. “It’s not a big deal. Don’t let it get to you.”

  Janelle had no choice but to let it get to her, for the simple fact it wasn’t her nature to allow someone to disrespect her parents like that, nor was it her nature to allow someone leeway to miss work without so much as calling in and giving a heads up.

  The bell above the door chimed as a tall, dark haired man wearing a suit, carrying a laptop bag over his shoulder, walked in. He was less than ten steps in when she could smell him—not a bad smell at all, but rather his good-smelling cologne was a bit on the overbearing side for her senses. She watched him as he chose a place to sit, opened
his bag, and as he displayed his items on the table around him.

  “He’s going to take a mix of cappuccino and hot chocolate,” Kelsie said, nudging Janelle’s attention back to reality.

  “People drink those mixed together?” Janelle asked, scrunching her nose at the thought of the taste.

  “Yes... Have you ever tried it?”

  “Of course not. That sounds disgusting.”

  “You should try it before you knock it,” Kelsie said, as she handed her half a glass of the mix.

  After Janelle refused to take it from her, Kelsie set it down on the counter and said, “You have no idea how good it is.”

  “I’ll take your word for it and prepare his,” Janelle said, grabbing a cup from the stack and mixing half hot chocolate and half cappuccino.

  The guy had managed to make his way to the counter before Janelle saw him standing there. “I still think this drink would be gross.”

  Kelsie’s eyes widened as she cleared her throat and directed her eyes toward the other side of the counter. Taking her cue, Janelle looked over and was instantly mortified to see the handsome man standing there, shaking his head. Tightening the lid on his drink before handing it to him, she kept her mouth shut. She had started the day off on the wrong foot and was now kicking herself in the butt for allowing her parents to talk her into coming here in the first place.

  Grabbing his drink from her, he held it up and said, “If you’re talking about my drink, it’s actually really good. You’ll have to try it for yourself, though. Don’t take my word for it.”

  Waiting for him to go back to his spot before she said anything more, Janelle leaned on the counter holding a hand over her face.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Kelsie said. “It happens a lot around here.”

  “He looks familiar,” Janelle said, studying the man from a distance.

  Kelsie busied herself with wiping counters and sweeping the floor. “Him?” she asked, pointing in his direction. Janelle quickly swatted at her hand, knocking it out of view. She had already made a fool of herself once, she didn’t need him to think that she was talking about him.

  “He comes in quite often,” Kelsie said, sweeping the remains from dirty shoes into a dust pan. “I’m surprised you don’t know him.”

  Watching Kelsie dance around as she swept the remaining floor space, Janelle leaned against the counter with a puzzled look on her face. “Why’s that?”

  Kelsie emptied the dust pan into the garbage and rested the broom against the wall. “I just figured, since he’s a good friend to your parents, you would know him.”

  Janelle refocused on the man at the table, who was now talking on his phone and scribbling something into the notebook next to his laptop. She studied his facial features for a long moment before she turned to Kelsie. “Nope, can’t say that I know him.”

  Shrugging, Kelsie turned and restocked the Dixie cups along the counter. Janelle was happy to see that Kelsie seldom stopped for more than a few minutes at a time. It was good to see an employee doing what they were supposed to be doing.

  The man at the table, once again, had Janelle’s attention. She watched him as he strategically typed on his laptop, scribbling notes here and there in his notebook.

  “His name is Colin,” Kelsie offered, leaning against the counter next to Janelle. “Are you going to stare at him all day?”

  Getting her act together, Janelle pushed away from the counter and brushed her hands over her outfit. “Of course not,” she said foolishly. “I’m trying to place him from somewhere is all.”

  Sighing, Kelsie motioned for Janelle to follow her to the office. Pointing to a few articles that hung in frames on the wall, she asked, “Have you seen these?”

  Janelle had read these articles when they were first published in the Seattle Times newspaper. Her parents had been proud of them and had framed them to acknowledge their accomplishments. The Seattle Times favored new business owners and offered discounted advertising for small businesses in the city. Her father had noted it was the best investment they had ever made.

  Each article, outlined in a shiny black frame, was dated for every year the coffee shop had been open—since the early 2000s. Harper’s Café was a popular stop along the way for many people traveling North 45th on their way to work; this caused an increase in business and a high profit margin for her parents.

  “Do you see the name on these articles?” Kelsie asked, pointing to the top of each page where a name, typed in bold, stood out.

  “Colin Davis?”

  Kelsie nodded with a smile. “Bingo.”

  Confused, Janelle had no idea what all of this meant. “What does that name have to do with anything.”

  The minute Kelsie gave her the are-you-freaking-kidding-me look, it hit her. A light bulb clicked on, and she damned near stammered as the words came out of her mouth, while she pointed in the direction of the man’s table. “That’s Colin Davis?”

  Nodding, Kelsie answered her question.

  “My parents are friends with Colin Davis?”

  “Yes, that’s what I told you,” Kelsie reiterated. “He gives them a discount for advertising and other promotional articles.”

  Janelle didn’t have time to be upset at the fact her parents had chosen one of her main rivals in college as their friend and journalist for Harper’s Café. She was flabbergasted by it. Setting aside, for the time being, the issue she had with him, she refocused her attention on the fact of how much he had changed in the few years.

  He was taller, averaging a head taller than the last time she had seen him. He had a different hair style than he had worn in college. Today, his hair was buzzed short, unlike college days when he had left it long and shaggy—claiming it to be a chick magnet. Aside from his hair being the first noticeable change, he now had definition of muscles underneath his business attire. Whether or not he actually worked out was beside the point. He was good looking and had a rather appealing charm that he had obtained since she had seen him last.

  “I have to get back to the counter,” Kelsie said, interrupting Janelle’s thoughts.

  Shaking her head, Janelle motioned a hand to the counter. “Yeah, go ahead. I have to get some things done back here. Are you all right by yourself for a bit?”

  “Of course,” Kelsie called out as she twisted a knot on the too-full garbage bag and lifted it out of the can. “This place stays pretty quiet throughout the day. The rush has already been here this morning.”

  Yanking her laptop from its case, she carried it to an empty table opposite from Colin’s. She needed to have her mind clear and off of him while she worked on her column for the Enquirer. Pulling out her notebook, she jotted down a note to have a conversation with her mother about Colin Davis. She wanted her mother to know her thoughts on the guy who had once been her rival in class. Despite the fact that she was acting a bit childish, she shrugged it off and opened her laptop.

  Typing the headline for her column, Baking with Janelle Harper, she tried to focus on this week’s article. She was thankful for Carolyn allowing her to continue submitting her articles for the column while she was here in Seattle. Even though she had a lot on her plate, she was determined not to let Carolyn or her parents down.

  “So, I hear you have your own article in the Cincinnati Enquirer?”

  Looking up from her laptop, she found Colin’s eyes on her as he stood across the table from her. Thoughts raced through her mind as she debated whether to ignore him or talk to him. Choosing to be professional, and not allow him the benefit of ruining her time here in Seattle, she said, “Yes, that’s correct.”

  Pulling an uninvited chair away from the table, he sat down while he kept his attention glued to her. “That’s good to hear.”

  Not impressed, she nodded, as she tapped her fingers on the table next to her laptop. “Yep.”

  “Your mom was telling me that you’d be back here for the summer.”

  Of course. Her mother would have told the whole world
if she could have. Hell, she was surprised she hadn’t published an article in the newspaper announcing Janelle Harper’s return for the summer at Harper’s Café.

  “That’s correct, also,” she said, not adding much to the conversation he clearly wanted to have.

  “Baking with Janelle Harper, right?”

  Correcting her focus back on him, she said, “Yep, that’s my article.”

  Holding up a finger, he said, “I’ll be right back.”

  She watched him walk through a maze of tables until he reached his destination. He pulled something from his briefcase and walked back to her table with some kind of paper in his hand. He held the creased and crumpled page out for her to see it. Looking at the top of the familiar page, she recognized it was her article from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

  Giving him a puzzling look as she leaned back in her chair, she asked, “Why do you have that?”

  Smiling sheepishly, he shrugged and said, “I read it every Saturday morning while I eat breakfast.”

  She contained the laugh she so badly wanted to blast in his face. The thought of him reading anything of hers was no doubt the funniest thing she had ever imagined. There was absolutely no way that this man sitting across from her was telling the truth.

  “You don’t believe me?”

  Allowing a slight laugh to escape, she leaned forward, grabbing the article out of his hand. Sure enough, it was last week’s article on baking Rhubarb Strawberry Crunch—a dessert that had been her favorite in springtime.

  Before she had a chance to say a word, he had gone back to his table only to return with a pile of newspapers in his hand. Plopping them down on the table before sitting, he said, “I have every article from the time you began writing them, until now.”

  There weren’t a lot of things she was sure of at the moment, but one thing she was definitely sure of now: Colin Davis had lost his mind.