Double Mocha, Heavy On Your Phone Number

by June Kramin

“We do fine.”

  “I’m sure you do, but you could do better. Much better. Trust me.”

  She let go of his hand. “Did you put together something that gives me an idea what this will cost?”

  “I did actually. You’ll be amazed at what a little added expense it will be.”

  He pulled out a two-page proposal and explained it in detail to her. He showed her the two local providers in town and what they charged for what bandwidth, which meant nothing to her, and showed her what he recommended for a router.

  “You could set up a security code to access it and charge people, but I wouldn’t.”

  “I thought that was the idea?”

  “The idea is getting them here and keeping them here drinking coffee and ordering snacks. It’s such a minimal monthly expense I wouldn’t try making your money that way.”

  “Then what do we do from there?”

  “Once you’re set up, it’s basically just there. There’s nothing to stop someone from sitting outside in their car and using it, but it costs you no more so you’re really not out anything. The idea is offering the service. Word will get out and you’d be amazed what a difference it makes. Run a few ads and I’ll promise you that you will see a boost in business. I will buy back the equipment myself if you don’t see an improvement in two weeks.”

  “Two weeks? You think so?”

  “I know so.”

  “I don’t see a computer price on here.”

  “I have one I threw together that you can have to see how it goes.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because that’s what friends do, Ellie. I have time to kill and I want to help. Don’t let what happened last night get in the way of you helping your boss and in turn, helping you.”

  “Will you install this gizmo for me or is there an installation fee you’re not telling me about?”

  “I can take care of it in nothing flat. I’m making it sound easier than it is, but not going to pad my time for you.”

  “Will you show me the basics so I don’t look like a total idiot?”

  “No I.D.-ten-T errors, I swear.”

  “I.D.-ten-T?”

  He wrote it out for her and she smiled. I.D.IO.T. “You computer geeks and your inside jokes. You’ll really help?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “When can you do it?”

  “Got the router in my car and the Internet people said they’d be here at eleven.”

  She slapped his thigh hard. “You little shit. You set this up already?”

  “I knew I’d have you convinced.” His smile made her stomach do flip-flops again and she had to look away. “I have to go talk to Fred.” Ellie stood up. “Do what you gotta do, Slick.”

  He stood up and took her hand. “I’ll eat ol’ Bessie if I’m wrong.”

  “I’d like to see that. Go get your toys, city boy. The clock is ticking.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  The cable people came and left and Ellie stood there watching Bix as he mounted the wireless router to the wall.

  “How do we know if it’s working?”

  “I have a laptop in the car. I’ll grab it and test it in a second.” He sunk the last screw and walked over to the countertop door. Just then, a customer with a laptop walked in. “Hey. You guys have wireless?”

  “Sorry, we don’t,” Mandy answered.

  Bix corrected her. “Actually, they do.”

  “We do?”

  “You do now.” Turning to the customer he said, “How would you like to be their first guinea pig?”

  “I’m all right with that. Can I get a tall coffee and one of those scones?”

  “I’ll bring it over to you,” Ellie said from behind Bix. “Black?”

  “Yes, please. Just give me whatever one you like. He was obviously flirting with her.” Bix held back his annoyance at the simple gesture. It was only days ago he had done the same thing.

  Ellie brought the items over to him after a couple of minutes. “Is it working?”

  “Works great. You have an awesome speed going here.”

  “Great to hear. Since we are abusing you, these are on the house.”

  “Not necessary, but thanks. Hey, I’m only in town for a night. You free tonight?”

  She tried to put on a polite smile. “I’m flattered, but I’m afraid my boyfriend wouldn’t appreciate that.”

  “Sucks to be me. Thanks for the coffee and scone…” he hesitated while he read her nametag. “Ellie.”

  “You’re welcome. Be sure to stop back if you’re in the area.”

  “I’ll do that.” He nodded before directing his attention back to his screen.

  Ellie joined Bix behind the counter. He smiled at her. “Boyfriend, huh?”

  “Don’t flatter yourself. I find it easier and more polite than saying, ‘Fuck off’ sometimes. Are you done yet?” She huffed as she crossed her arms.

  “I was going to set up that computer if you have the time for another quick lesson when it’s up.”

  “Fine. Let’s just get this over with.”

  “I don’t know why you’re so upset all of a sudden. It was barely turned on and you already had your first customer. Are you pissed I was right?”

  “I’m not pissed! Just do what you need to do and come get me when you’re ready for me. I need to take an inventory and get an order called in.”

  “Where do you want me to set up the desktop?”

  She looked over to the far wall by the door. There was a short counter against the wall with a single tall stool. “Set it up over there. It’s out of the way and won’t take up any more seating than it needs to.”

  “Looks like a good spot. It’ll just take a minute. I’d hold off on the printer. People will go crazy with printing stuff and end up costing you a fortune in ink. I can network it to the one in the office if you want. If there’s an emergency, I can show you how to send the document there and you can charge what you want for the page. If you give me a model number for it, I have a catalog that tells you what the cost per sheet is on the ink so you can figure out prices.”

  “Good God. Is there anything you can’t do with computers?”

  He looked off to the distance, pretending to think about it. “Nope.”

  “I’ll be in back for a bit.” Ellie walked away. Twenty minutes later, Bix came into the back room looking for her.

  “Hey,” he said, sneaking up from behind her, causing her to jump. “Sorry, Ellie. Maybe you should lighten up on the coffee intake.”

  She slammed her pen and yellow notepad onto a shelf next to some individually wrapped biscottis. “Maybe you should stop sneaking up on people!”

  He reached behind her and helped himself to one that was labeled white chocolate, raspberry and almond. As he unwrapped it, she blurted out, “You’re paying for that.”

  “Take it off my tab. You ready for a quick run-through?”

  “Sure.” Ellie sighed and tried walking past him. He took her by the arm, stopping her. “Let me go, Bix.”

  “You stop with the attitude and I will. I’m not doing this for my health, Ellie. I’m trying to help you. Take it down a notch before I kiss that sour frown right off your face.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.” She tried to pull away, but he held her tight. He placed his other hand behind her neck and covered her mouth with his. Again her body gave away her feelings and she was helpless as his tongue found hers. His hand left her arm and found its way to her lower back, pulling her closer to him. A moan escaped her throat, snapping her back to reality. She pulled away.

  “Stop doing that!”

  “Why?”

  “Because I asked you to.”

  “I know that ‘no’ doesn’t mean ‘yes,’ but your body tells me what your lips don’t, Ellie. What are you afraid of?”

  “I’m not afraid. I just don’t want you, Bix. Can’t you just let it go?”

  “You suck at lying.”

  “I’m not doing this here. Just sho
w me what you need to and please go.”

  “After you,” he said, motioning towards the door. “And by the way, you have another customer out there on a laptop.”

  “Already?”

  “I’m not gonna say I told you so…but I told you so.”

  He sat down next to her at the desktop computer he set up. “There are no fancy programs other than Word on here. Someone may want to type up a resume or something and that will do fine. Most people can maneuver the Internet well enough so there’s really not much to expect for trouble other than simple pebcak errors.”

  “Pebcak?”

  He wrote it out for her. “P. E. B. C. A. K. Problem exists between chair and keyboard.”

  She gave him a cold stare. “Can we possibly stick to English please and can it with the computer nerd acronyms?”

  He ignored her crankiness. “You know the basics as far as the Internet from our little lesson the other night. You know how to help someone set up e-mail in Yahoo! or Google?”

  “I thought people coming in for this would already have services like that.”

  “Usually, but you may get some hick that will go, ‘Oh boy, a computer. I’ve always wanted to see what all the fuss was about,’ and want to hop on and browse around. It’ll be good to know the extra steps.”

  “I do know the basics, Bix. Thanks. If that’s all I have to worry about then I guess I’m good to go.”

  “All except for the printer. I’ll need to run a cable to network the two or…” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a 2GB flash drive. “You can keep this handy and just save the documents to it if someone needs to print something out. It’s an easier fix.”

  “A memory stick?”

  He smiled. “Very good. You’re a good student.”

  “I never said I was an idiot; it just doesn’t interest me.” She took the flash drive from his hand. “Add it to my bill. Are we done now?”

  “We’re done.” He stood. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  “What’s at seven?”

  “I’m taking you out to dinner.”

  “I don’t recall agreeing to that.”

  “Did I leave that out? It’s part of the deal. I like black dresses with low backs. See you at seven.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Bix showed up at Ellie’s at seven sharp. She answered the door in her pink fleece pajamas.

  “There’s a sexy outfit,” he said, admiring the Tinker Bell print.

  “I think so, too. Thanks.” Ellie pulled out the side of the pants and curtseyed.

  “I had a feeling you’d try to get away with a stunt like this.” He brought his arms around from behind his back, revealing a large brown paper bag.

  “What’s that?”

  “Dinner. Chinese. I took the liberty of ordering a little of everything.” She didn’t move from the doorway. “Are you just going to leave me out here?”

  She huffed and stepped back, letting him in. He started unloading the bag on the table while she retrieved plates and silverware.

  “What if I answered the door in a low-back, black dress?”

  “Then we’d be giving that couch of yours another workout.”

  “Honestly, Bix. Could you at least try not to tease me about sex every chance you get?”

  “Who said I’m teasing?”

  “Did I tell you I have shotguns?”

  “Lighten up.” Bix took the plates from her and placed them on the table. “Grab some serving spoons.” She came back to the table with them and he continued. “If you were dressed, we would have gone out and I’d be looking at lunch for the next four days. I think I know how to read you pretty well though, Ellie.”

  “I don’t like being told what to do.”

  “I figured as much, but if I wait for you to make up your mind and admit you like me, I’ll be an old man.” He placed a spoon in each container and sat down. “You done pouting? Can we eat now?”

  “I’m not pouting.” She pulled out a chair and sat down. “You’re being a jerk.”

  “A hungry jerk at that.” He pulled four bottles of iced tea from the bag. “I wasn’t sure what flavor you’d like.”

  She chose a lemon one without a thank you. He stopped her, removing the bottle from her hand. “I can’t have that one?”

  He opened it up and handed it to her. “You can now.”

  “I’m pretty sure I could have opened it.”

  “I’m pretty sure you could have, too, I’m just a little old school, Ellie. Try not to take my face off if I open your car door when we do go on a date.”

  “You still keep assuming we’ll go out on a date.”

  “Nothing wrong with two friends going to a movie.”

  “Then don’t call it a date.”

  “Whatever.” He reached over with his chopsticks and stole a cashew off her plate.

  Scrunching her eyes half-closed into the look Bix’s sister would have called the “evil eye,” she stole a baby corn from his plate. She placed it between her lips and slowly pushed it into in her mouth.

  “That’s dirty pool.”

  “If you can’t take the heat…”

  Grinning at her, he shook his head and continued to eat.

  “How’s Gramps?”

  “I don’t know his routine well enough to know if I should be worried or not. He seems to sleep a lot, but that may just be how he is. He’s getting up there in years, maybe that’s what old people do.”

  “Is he on any heart medications or anything?”

  “He has got a cabinet full of pills, but I don’t know what any of it is for.”

  “He diabetic?”

  “That much I know. No, he isn’t.”

  “Is he stubborn about going to the doctor when he’s sick?”

  “Not that I’m aware of, but again, I wouldn’t know. My guess is he goes regularly with all those meds. He did have a by-pass a couple years back, but that’s it for hospitalization and my knowledge of it.”

  “Just keep an eye on him. If it stays the same, that’s just his routine. If he starts sleeping longer and longer, there may be a problem. I’d address it then. He seemed okay to me the couple days I was there. Nothing in particular that made me have doubts about his health.”

  “Did you have some kind of medical schooling?”

  “That’s just an observation,” she said, instead of an answer.

  “That’s not answering my question.”

  “Where I went to school and what I used to do has no effect on anything, Bix. I wish you wouldn’t continue to ruin every conversation we have by bringing it up.”

  “I don’t understand what the big deal is.”

  “Obviously not or you would drop it.”

  “Fine. No school, no sex. That brings us back to work again. How was your day, dear?”

  “This computer jackass got fresh in the store room.”

  “Want me to kick his ass?”

  “I’d like to see that.”

  “Any more computer users?”

  “Two actually. Is there some kind of odor that the wireless gives out and you geeks can smell it or what? I swear hardly anyone even asked before.”

  “It’s a secret how us geeks do it. I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. Did you contact the paper about an ad?”

  “Fred did. He actually got excited about it.”

  “Do you know who does his website?”

  “I didn’t even know we had one, remember?”

  “Check with him. I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes if it’s a friend, but I could take it over and save him some money if he didn’t know what he was doing and is paying through the nose.”

  “Why don’t you ask him? I hate to be the middle-man talking about something I have no idea about.”

  “That means I’ll have to come in there.”

  “I’d still rather that than play middle-man.” She put down her chopsticks and looked at him. “Is that what this is all about?”

  “W
hat do you mean?”

  “You just wanted in my pants to get a client for your new business? That’s cheap.”

  “Right. That’s my ploy. Sleep with every coffee shop manager in the state so I can set up wireless routers and computers for trade. You figured me out, Ellie. I’m a java junkie and can’t afford my habit.”

  “You have to admit it’s more than a little fishy. How convenient for you that my job happens to lack the one thing you can offer.”

  “I don’t only have one thing to offer. I just didn’t think you’d want me working your street corner so I went the Internet route.”

  “Are you ever serious?”

  “Serious doesn’t get you riled up.” He walked over to her chair and turned it away from the table. He got on his knees in front of her and put his hands on her waist, pulling her to him as he did so. “And I like to see you riled up.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Ellie’s alarm went off at five the next morning. She lay there for a few minutes listening to the weather, grateful there was no fresh snow in the forecast. Reaching next to her, she picked up one of the spare pillows and hugged it to her chest. Closing her eyes and inhaling, she could still smell Bix. Damnit.

  They had made love again; only this time they made it to the bedroom. She knew why she was trying to keep him away, but didn’t understand why she couldn’t. He had to be one heck of a glutton for punishment for putting up with what she was dishing out. The sex was outstanding and she was almost embarrassed for the way her body responded to his.

  After they had made love last night, she lightened up with him and opened up a lot more than she had previously. They lay wrapped in each other’s arms and just talked. Ellie mostly told him fond memories of when she was younger and all the mischief she got into with her brothers. Bix did more listening and laughing than he did adding to the conversation.

  They had made love a second time before Ellie finally admitted she needed to go to bed. It was almost midnight. She kissed his chest and let out a soft moan.

  “I have to be up at five a.m. tomorrow, Slick. I need to go to bed.”

  “Is that your way of kicking me to the curb?”

  “Mmm-hmmm.” She kissed his chest again and gave his back a few gentle strokes. “I’m worn out. Can you lock the door behind you?”