by T. I. Lowe
“We’ve got a few fishing trips planned,” Crowley said, swiping another oatmeal bar.
“I’ve never been fishing,” Leah said as she wrapped the bars in parchment paper and placed them in a basket for display.
“No way.” Crowley shook his head. “We’re just gonna have to correct that injustice after the guys head back home.”
Ana rolled her eyes. “Leah, honey, you are not missing a thing. Trust me.”
“I wouldn’t mind trying it.” Leah shrugged.
“Cool. It’s a date. We’ll introduce you to Old Man River sometime soon,” Crowley said as Leah refilled his glass. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“You’re welcome.” Leah smiled.
Crowley realized something was missing from the café. “Say, where’s Lulu?”
“She’s already headed out for the rest of the day,” Leah said.
“What?” Crowley couldn’t believe his ears.
Ana laughed. “Leah practically shoved her out the door earlier.”
“A bunch of her lady friends came in and begged her to go to some flea market with them. So I insisted she go. That stubborn woman is always turning them down. I told her to quit being so rude to her friends, so she really had no choice but to go,” Leah said.
Crowley roared with laughter. “Lulu got told what to do! Man, what I would have given to have seen that!” He gestured around the café. “You got all of this covered, Lee?”
“Yes, Crow. I can manage just fine. The soup is already done. The salad and sandwich prep is finished. You can go check if you don’t trust me.” Leah challenged and Crowley shook his head no. “Also Kara and Alice will be here soon to help finish out the day.”
“Just asking.” He raised his hands in surrender.
“What’s with this Lee and Crow business?” Ana asked, confused.
Leah pointed at Crowley with the knife she was about to take to the kitchen sink. “He started it. As a matter of fact, Crow started it the very night of your big New Years’ date,” Leah said as she walked to the kitchen. She hoped it made Ana as uncomfortable as she had made Leah all day.
It did the trick too. Before Leah could return to the counter, Ana had slid off her stool and headed to the door. “I’ve got something more important to do than to entertain the likes of you two.” She stopped at the door and looked at Leah. “Come see me after work today so we can get started on you with a proper dating wardrobe. I’ve got a few hot dresses with your name written all over them.” Ana did a little finger wave and sashayed next door.
“Finally,” Leah said after Ana was gone. She turned and saw Crowley helping himself to another oatmeal bar. “You keep it up and I’m gonna have to make another batch.” Leah batted at his hand.
He talked around a mouthful of oatmeal, “Sorry. I missed breakfast.” He washed it down with the last of his tea. “Don’t worry, Lee. You’re free from me the rest of the day, too.” He handed her a ten-dollar bill and headed towards the door. “I’ve got some shopping to do before my company arrives.”
“Oh. Buy something pretty, Crow.” Leah grinned. Crowley turned and held Leah’s gaze for a few moments, wearing an odd expression that she couldn’t decipher, before heading to his truck.
“What was that about?” Leah whispered to the empty café.
Two days later, Crowley came in with a herd of guys. Each was on the tall side, but none meeting Crowley’s impressive stature. They were all nicely tanned and gave off that outdoorsy vibe. They went straight to rearranging a few tables together to form a large rectangular one in the left corner of the café.
“Good grief. Did Crowley attend the Tall, Dark, and Handsome University?” Leah said to Lulu. Both ladies stood behind the counter, taking in the view.
From the men’s bulky forms came booming laughter and steady conversation. They all seemed to have limitless issues to catch up on among one another.
Lulu handed Leah an order pad. “Good luck.”
“What? I think you should handle them.” Leah tried to hand the order pad back to Lulu, but Lulu had already moved to the other end of the counter to take an elderly man’s order.
Leah gave an exaggerated huff in Lulu’s direction to express her attitude for the task at hand. She walked over to the boisterous table and stood by Crowley, who was seated at the head of the table. She nudged him on the shoulder to interrupt him in midsentence.
He looked at her and smiled politely. “Guys, I’d like you to meet Lulu’s number one sidekick, Leah.” Crowley commenced to introducing the large group as if Leah would be able to remember their names. “Leah, this is Todd, Josh, Ben, Greg, Brad, Rob, Matt, Than, Jake, and Will.”
Leah tried to stifle a laugh at how each guy had a nickname. She thought Crow was perfect for Crowley and wondered why no one else called him that.
“You guys ready to order, or are you going to let me do what I do with Crowley and just bring you whatever I see fit?” She smiled.
“No. We’re big boys and can make our own decisions, unlike our buddy, Crowley,” answered the tall, dark, and bright blue–eyed guy, who Leah thought was Matt.
“Hey now. I just try to be easy going on these ladies, but you creeps always have to be complicated.” Crowley laughed.
Each guy started rambled off his massive order quicker than Leah could write. She thought that it was going to be a long time before she insisted on Lulu taking an afternoon off again after this.
“I want two spinach omelets and an order of French toast,” said tall, dark, and chocolate-brown eyes.
“I’ll take two sausage and eggs sandwiches on English muffins and oatmeal,” ordered the tall, fair-skinned, strawberry blond.
“I want...” continued until Leah had three pages full of orders.
She was about to head off to the kitchen when Crowley stopped her. “What about me?”
“You’ll eat whatever I bring you, big boy,” she said, earning a roar of laughter from his friends.
Leah quickly went to work on the massive order. While the breakfast meats cooked and the oatmeal boiled, Leah delivered the drink orders, along with a basketful of freshly-baked banana-nut muffins, to hold the guys over until she had their orders finished.
The group gave her a round of applause after she successfully delivered each order correctly to its owner. She served Crowley a huge, overfilled western omelet with wheat toast and a side of fruit and yogurt.
“Not bad, Lee,” Crowley said, using her nickname without paying it much attention.
“Lee?” a few guys asked.
“It’s Leah if you want me to answer.” She smiled, poking Crowley in the side. “Poor Crow has a hard time pronouncing Le-ah.” This got a few whoops and hollers from the group.
“Crow?” Jake asked, laughing. “I like it, Leah.” Leah remembered his name. He was intriguing to look at. There was something about his caramel skin tone and bright, green eyes.
Leah gave him a smile and headed back to the kitchen. She reached the island where Lulu stood, pulling more muffins out of the pan. “Good grief, Lulu,” she said as she took a much-needed drink of water from her glass. “I hope you ordered extra food for this week.”
“Sure did, don’t worry,” Lulu said and continued her task. “They’ll be heading to their beach house this evening for the next two days, so we’ll get a small break.” Lulu playfully bumped into Leah on her way to the display case with the muffins. “Besides, those boys will tip you more than you make in two regular weeks. It’ll be worth the extra work.”
Lulu was right about the tip. Lying on the table after the guys left was an extra one-hundred dollar bill for her. The same happened after they inhaled a massive lunch of two turkey burgers each, extra-large orders of potato wedges, and side salads.
Leah was relieved when they announced their departure for the beach. Lulu loaded them up with an assortment of goodies for their trip. The next two days were quiet, but a bit lonely.
The guys returned to their claimed corner of the café
with deeper tans and more tales to share during a late lunch of soup and sub sandwiches. While the guys finished up their meal, Crowley made his way to the counter to speak with Leah before he headed out for an evening of fishing. “You missed us, didn’t you?” he teased.
She smiled as she refilled some glasses and returned them to customers at the counter.
“You go shopping yet?” he asked.
“I think you missed me, Crow.” She grinned. “Yes, I went shopping in your absence and found something super sexy that I think your friends will find interesting.” She raised her eyebrows and leaned close to whisper, “But I want to show you first. Come on.”
Leah led him out the back door and pointed to a teal-blue beach bicycle that almost matched her Jeep’s color. The retro-style bike was decked out with chrome finish and whitewall tires. The bike was complete with a black wicker basket.
“Sexy bike, Lee.” Crowley laughed.
“Found that beauty at a yard sale yesterday at the park. Only paid thirty bucks for it,” Leah said as Crowley sat on it to try it out. The back door banged open with Ana staring the two down.
“Whatcha doing hiding back here together?” Ana asked.
“Showing Crowley my big find from the yard sale yesterday,” Leah said.
“Oh, that’s a sweet bike, Leah,” Ana said in approval. “I got me a bike too. Let’s load them up and spend the day at the beach tomorrow.”
“Sure, but after church. I already promised Lulu I would go,” Leah said. Ana rolled her eyes but nodded in agreement.
“You two ladies have a good time,” Crowley said as he climbed off the bike and walked back into the café.
“He didn’t seem too sincere.” Ana said after the door was closed. She waved her hand as if to dismiss the thought. “I’ve got a huge surprise for you, my friend.”
“What?” Leah eyed her friend.
“Oh, you’ll see . . . real soon.” Ana smiled.
Chapter Seventeen
The fraternity brothers’ visit ended up stretching for over a two-week period. The married friends kept the original departure time, which left six guys behind. Leah had enjoyed getting to know the guys, but craved some alone time as well. She and Ana had struck out a couple of times to the beach, with their bikes loaded in the back of Leah’s Jeep and Ana at the wheel—she insisted.
After work on the following Friday, Leah was hidden behind the back shelves of the bookstore. She had her long legs draped over the arm rest of an oversized stuffed chair she had dubbed her favorite. Her bare feet rested on the chair beside hers. She was enjoying a new mystery suspense novel she had just purchased, along with an iced coffee.
Leah’s mind had wandered mid-page. The week had been filled to the brim with excitement and chaos. Ana had fallen head over heels for Crowley’s friend Jake and had worried Leah to death about it—wanting her opinion on what to wear, should she call him or wait on his call, if it was wise to date a friend of Crowley’s, and other whatnot. After the stunt Ana pulled on Leah, the Brazilian southern belle had better be glad Leah was still talking to her, Leah thought. She huffed at the memory.
“The book that bad?” Crowley asked quietly as he lifted her feet and sat beside her.
“No. Trying to decide on whether I want to pinch Ana’s cute little nose right off her face,” Leah said as she put the book down and looked at her unexpected company.
“What’d she do now?”
“She did exactly what she’s been threatening to do. Yesterday, she snuck into my apartment and stole every stitch of clothing she could find.”
Crowley laughed and patted Leah’s feet, which were now draped lazily in his lap. “Did she at least replace them with new clothes?”
“Yes.”
“Then I don’t believe that merits pinching her nose off.” He grinned.
“No? Well, I rummaged through my new wardrobe at four-thirty this morning for something to wear to work. I threw this T-shirt on with these jeans and went on to work.” She pointed to a chocolate brown and teal T-shirt with some southern girl logo at the top left.
Crowley shrugged his broad shoulders. “What’s so bad about that?”
“Your buddies came in for breakfast without you this morning and enjoyed pointing out what the back stated.” Leah stood up and turned so Crowley could read the back—Once You Go Southern, You Ain’t Gonna Want No ‘Othern.
He couldn’t help but laugh. “I bet the guys got a kick out of that. I hate I missed it. You know that’s a true statement.” He tapped his finger to the saying on the back of her shirt.
“I can’t believe you weren’t hospitable this morning to your guests,” she said in mock disapproval, turning around to face him.
“Had business to tend to, Miss Leah,” he said as he grabbed up her ice coffee and took a sip. “Yuck, Lee. You know Nick has sugar behind the counter. All you gotta do is ask for it.” He handed the coffee over to her.
She shrugged and took a sip. “I’ve finally gotten used to it without.”
“Tomorrow night is the last night before the guys head back home. They want you to join us for supper at the townhouse tomorrow.”
“You mean that massive pot of chili Lulu and I started working on today?” Leah asked as she gathered her stuff.
“Yes, ma’am. Hey, don’t let me run you off here. I’ll get going so you can enjoy your peace and quiet,” Crowley said as he stood.
Leah slipped on her new flip-flops. “No I’ve got to go put up with Ana for a little while. Miss Busy Bee forgot some important wardrobe needs.”
“You finally got some flip-flops, Lee. I’m impressed.”
“Yeah, they work better at the beach than my tennis shoes. I’ve sort of fallen in love with them, actually.” She smiled, and Crowley’s tanned face responded with a smile of his own. Leah noticed his hair was lightening up even more from all of the recent outdoor excursions.
“What did Ana forget to give you?” Crowley asked.
“Umm…What do southern women say? Unmentionables?”
“Ana left you panty-less?” Crowley laughed as he pretended to grab the waist of her pants to confirm.
“Hey buddy. You better watch it.” Leah batted his hand away. “Those friends of yours are bad influences on your gentlemanliness.”
Crowley nodded. “True. Very true. Say Lee, let me restore my gentlemanly standing with you.”
“How do you propose to do that?” Leah asked as she headed to the door.
“I’m not busy right now. I’d be happy to help you shop for your unmentionables.” Crowley grinned.
Leah playfully punched him in the stomach. “You’re pushing it today.” She waved bye to Nick as she opened the door.
“See you kids later,” Nick said.
Crowley waved and whispered to Leah as they reached the sidewalk, “I think Nick heard our conversation.”
“Great. You can mosey on back to your buddies now. I think I can handle shopping on my own.”
“Only if you are absolutely sure.” Crowley grinned. “I promise I won’t mind one bit.”
“Absolutely.” Leah knew there was no way she would ever be able to pick out bras and panties with the likes of Crowley Mason around.
“You never gave me an answer about supper tomorrow night.”
“Oh…the privilege of being invited to the great Crowley’s humble abode. How could I possibly refuse such an invitation,” Leah said in her fake southern accent.
Crowley laughed. “Great. I’ll leave you to your unmentionable chore.”
****
The next afternoon, Crowley drove up to the café about an hour after closing. He unlocked the front door and caught a glimpse of Lulu and Leah in the kitchen, finishing up his meal. They were working quietly as Crowley sauntered into the kitchen. The first thing he did was pop a corn muffin in his mouth as Leah was boxing them up.
“Wow, Lulu. These are the best muffins you ever made,” he said as he chewed a mouthful of muffin.
�
�Leah made those,” Lulu said as she nodded her head towards Leah.
Crowley looked in Leah’s direction and was surprised to see her in a hot pink T-shirt and jeans that hugged her body instead of her usual baggy black garments. She had her hair down with a black-and-white swirly headband secured neatly in her pale blonde curls.
“Wow, Lee. You look good.”
“Thanks,” she whispered. “Ana thought I might catch one of your buddies tonight, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it.” She looked up at him with squinted eyes.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“She’s had a migraine headache all afternoon,” Lulu said as she stirred the large pot of chili.
“Then why didn’t you send her home?” Crowley asked in a bossy tone. He walked behind Leah and gently massaged her neck, slowly working his way up to her temples. Leah closed the lid of the muffin box and leaned into his hands.
Lulu put her hands on her hips and looked Crowley dead in the eye. “Because she refused to go until we finished your supper.” She turned towards Leah. “Everything is done now, Leah. Crowley can load this by himself.”
“Okay,” Leah whispered. She gave Crowley and Lulu a weak smile and slowly made her way upstairs.
Once the door shut, Lulu turned towards Crowley and whispered, “Two investigators came in today flashing a photo of a woman they were looking for. Leah avoided them as best as she could, but they finally cornered her to show her the picture. The girl looked like she was about to faint.”
“Did you see who was in the picture?” Crowley asked.
“Yeah. It was some Hispanic woman I had never seen before.”
“Did Leah seem to recognize her?”
“No. She looked right relieved with the fact of it too.” Lulu shook her head as she pulled Crowley’s strawberry cream pies out of the refrigerator. “Shortly after the investigators left, she started rubbing her neck. I could actually see the headache come upon her.”
Crowley scooped up the large pot of chili and started towards the door. “You think she’s ever going to tell us what happened to her?”
