Lattes & Lace

by Annora Green

  Sophia knew that voice. Her breath caught and she momentarily forgot why she was in the cafe. In fact, the sound of that voice instantly transported her to an earlier time in her life.

  “Vera?” Sophia sucked in a breath and turned to look at the tall woman next to her, tall and platinum-haired, a ghost from a distant part of her past, completely anachronistic in the present setting.

  Vera smiled vaguely at her in her deliciously tall, confident way. She was wearing a pinstripe suit and fedora, looking ever-so slightly like a modern iteration of Annie Hall.

  “Veronica... you know Sophia?” Ari asked.

  “We are acquainted,” Veronica said, her icy blue eyes gazing down at Sophia.

  Sophia’s entire disposition changed in the woman’s presence. She calmed down, softened her gaze, parted her lips in a smile.

  “It’s good to see you,” she said nervously, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

  Veronica did not reply, instead sitting down on a stool. Sophia was tempted to sit down next to her her, her little altercation with Ari quickly feeling very unimportant; certainly something she’d rather not continue in front of Veronica.

  “How do you two know each other?” Sophia asked Ari curiously.

  “Veronica’s the one who helped me make sure this establishment didn’t look half-assed,” Ari said, working the espresso machine as she talked. “She’s my interior designer. The one I hired for this place.”

  Ari made Veronica a demitasse of espresso. She took it, nodding a thanks and raising it to her ruby lips.

  “So, how do you two know each other?” Ari asked Sophia and Veronica.

  “We’re old friends,” Veronica said before Sophia could answer, a small, knowing smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

  “I didn’t know you’d gone back to work,” Sophia said to her.

  “I’ve been doing a few projects here and there,” Veronica said vaguely, taking another sip of the liquid.

  Then she looked at Ari.

  “Now why is it that you two girls are arguing? What kind of drama did I just step into?” Veronica asked.

  “Sophia’s not thrilled with some of my marketing tactics,” Ari said.

  “Right, because this is a cafe in Palo Rosa, not a car wash in a sketchy suburb where you can just send your leggiest employee out on the sidewalk to hand out coupons and wave people in,” Sophia said lightly.

  “I hadn’t noticed,” Ari muttered sarcastically.

  “Sophia has a flair for drama,” Veronica said in a bored tone. “Sophia, dear, it’s a coffee shop. Not exactly threatening your domain. And most of your business is conducted online, anyways.”

  “It’s the principle,” Sophia protested. “What is so wrong with me wanting to maintain the integrity of this area? What my neighbor does impacts me.”

  “Have you ever considered that it’s the same for me? And my neighbor trying to quell all of my creative ideas is going to be bad for my business,” Ari replied.

  “Well, Ari, perhaps you will want to show up at the town meeting tonight,” Sophia said.

  “Why? What meeting?”

  “We’re going to discuss this cafe, your role and duties as a business owner in Palo Rosa, and the potential obstruction and damage your cafe has caused to the members of the Retail Association. We may even discuss the compatibility of your business here.”

  “Her role and duties are to make a damn delicious cup of coffee, and I’d say she does that splendidly,” Veronica said calmly, sipping the last of her liquid from her demitasse and smiling condescendingly at Sophia. “What kind of nasty little chip is on your shoulder these days, dear, to set you off over a bit of coffee?”

  “I don’t have time for this,” Sophia stated, standing up to leave.

  Veronica and Ari watched her go, then Veronica turned to Ari.

  “You should be careful, Ari. Sophia has some powerful connections. If you want to stay in business, you might want to find a way to get into her good graces. As difficult as she might seem, and as rude as she can be, she actually is a very intelligent woman and can be quite helpful and loyal towards her friends. Getting on her good side, as undesirable as it may seem to you now, is far better than dealing with her other side... trust me.”

  ¨°¨

  After perusing the overly detailed Palo Rosa website for any and all information about what Ari was beginning to discover was a shockingly regulated town for new retailers and restaurateurs, she left her part-time employee, Athena, in charge of closing up the cafe that evening so she could duck out of work early to scope out the Monday night town meeting.

  Town meeting.

  Attending a town meeting sounded like an activity from a 1950s movie about some middle America state. What kind of place had a town meeting these days?

  As Ari walked, she realized she was craving French fries, and promised herself she would stop by a diner that she liked just off the highway after work on her way home. It was where Athena moonlighted on the weekends. Her family had owned the joint for generations, and they had the absolute best fries in the entire state, she was sure. Freshly cut from an actual potato, fried to a golden crisp, served piping hot. Athena’s mom insisted she had learned the recipe from her father, who was from Belgium.

  The Palo Rosa town council meeting took place in not a town hall but a small municipal office a few streets away from The Little Cafe. She arrived at 6:50, and a small crowd - though larger than she would have predicted, considering it was a Monday night close to Christmas - had already assembled.

  Sophia was sitting at a small table at the head of the room along with two others. One was an older woman that looked kind of like an auburn-haired version of Ari. She had a stern, disapproving expression on her face and deep red lips. They were also sitting with a somewhat scruffy-looking guy in a plaid shirt and leather jacket.

  Ari took a seat off to the side of the room, next to a table that was stacked high with file folders, pamphlets and brochures. An older man who was seated on her other side appeared to be half-asleep.

  “Good evening, everyone,” the man with a scruffy beard and a slight Scottish lilt said, stepping up to the lectern and dimming the room’s lights so everyone could see the presentation that lit up a screen behind him. “If I could have your attention please, we’ll get this meeting started and I’ll explain our agenda...”

  Ari stifled yawn after yawn while some sort of sidewalk maintenance funding proposal was discussed, the type of bio-fuel used in the buses was explained to two concerned environmentalists who had shown up that night, noise curfews were loudly debated by three middle-aged women who had various facial piercings, and letters were read from several constituents, most of which needed serious editing and had little to no relevance to anything that was being discussed.

  As one hour turned into two, Ari wondered if Sophia had simply made empty threats. There was no indication of her coffee shop on the agenda that had been presented earlier, and she had been sitting there for over an hour without any verbal mention of it at all.

  “Finally, as always, we will conclude with a word from our President of the Retail Association, who will also take questions and address any concerns from the public related to businesses in our town,” the scruffy-bearded guy said. “Madam Black?”

  Sophia stood up from the table, smiled politely, and took his place at the lectern.

  Ari’s stomach sank.

  “Thank you, Mr. Hill,” she said, smiling sweetly. “And thank you all for being here this evening-”

  “She’s the President of the Retail Association?” Ari whispered to the older man seated next to her.

  He nodded, and replied in a thick accent of some sort.

  “Yes. And that’s her mother next to her. She is mayor.”

  “Are you serious?”

  He nodded.

  “She’ll probably run for mayor soon when her mother’s term is done. Her whole family’s in local politics, see. They do politics for fun. Very in
fluential people here. Very, very rich.”

  “A rich family in politics,” Ari muttered to herself. “At least that explains the entitled attitude.”

  The man nodded. “Don’t get in their way, they won’t bother you. Get in their way, you will be out of business instantly.”

  “Right,” Ari said, sighing, wondering if it was too late already.

  Ari focused back on Sophia, who was confidently delivering a speech about community and organization and cooperation. Ari sat up straight, on high alert. Was Sophia going to take out her grief about The Little Cafe here, in front of everyone?

  “We all understand the importance of maintaining order, beauty and harmony on our streets and sidewalks,” she said, pausing as two people applauded. One of them was the older woman at the head of the table, who Ari now knew was her mother and the mayor. The other was the scruffy guy. Mr. Hill.

  Someone in the audience coughed, and a phone rang.

  “Therefore,” Sophia continued, “I would like to propose new amendments to the downtown code that will gently enforce stricter requirements - and penalties - to retailers who infringe upon the public space of the sidewalks, or in any way negatively impact the beauty and serenity of our downtown streets and pedestrian shopping district.”

  The presentation on the screen behind her switched over to a new slide, where a list of about 20 points was displayed in small print. Ari squinted and tried to read them as quickly as she could. Around her, people shifted in their seats, impatient.

  “Does anyone oppose any of these new guidelines? I’m sure we can all agree that we want to keep our main shopping street as orderly as possible. I know we want to maintain Palo Rosa’s reputation for a quality, curated selection of retail stores and restaurants.”

  Silence. Then another cough.

  “Well then, I’m sure we are all eager to get home after a long day. I put it to the town council for a vote,” she said, glancing back at the table with her mother and the scruffy guy.

  Her mother, the mayor, nodded, urging her on.

  “I object,” Ari called out, jumping to her feet, not sure what the proper protocol was, but feeling she had been silent long enough.

  Sophia - along with most of the others in the room - turned to look at her.

  “Ah, hi, there” Ari said awkwardly, glancing around at everyone in the room. “Yeah, I think we should all read that slide over before anyone votes on it. I see some things I’m not so sure about, like-”

  “Like what, Ms. Little?” Sophia asked, crossing her arms.

  “Like the fact you can barely read anything on that screen. I think we all have a right to know what these new ‘guidelines’ are, uh, Ms. Black. Mrs. Black?”

  “You may call me Madam Black,” Sophia said in a grandiose manner.

  Seriously? Ari thought, but she decided to play along.

  “Right... Madam. So, I’m just saying everyone should have a chance to look that over. Especially the business owners who will be impacted by this.”

  Sophia pursed her lips. “Do you have any specific concerns that you would like to share with us here tonight?”

  “Yeah, I have some concerns. But first I need to read this stuff over before I can tell you what all of them are. Can’t you vote on this next month?”

  “Ms. Little, I believe this is a simple matter. There’s very little to debate, or understand here. It’s merely to ensure that shoppers and business owners alike are protected and...”

  “Can you at least hold off on voting, so we can just evaluate it ourselves?” Ari pressed.

  “Ms. Little, please. That seems like a waste of time for us all,” Sophia laughed nervously.

  “You can wait one month, what’s the problem with that?” The old man piped up from the seat next to her.

  Sophia paused, pursing her lips. “I am sure that everyone here would agree that it would be best to push this through so we can all forget about this dull business and enjoy the holiday ahead...”

  “I think you should let us read it, and we’ll let you know if we have any problems with it at the next meeting,” said a woman who Ari thought she recognized from the sushi restaurant down the street.

  Sophia raised her eyebrows and shifted at the lectern, clearly growing more uncomfortable with the restless crowd. She glanced over at the table. The scruffy guy nodded at her.

  “If you insist,” she finally conceded to the crowd with a faux-smile.

  “And now, I believe that concludes tonight’s meeting,” Sophia’s mother, the mayor, said, and everyone instantly stood up.

  The scruffy-beard man returned to the lectern as everyone was gathering their things. “Have a good holiday, and we’ll revisit this at our next meeting in January,” he said.

  As Ari followed the small crowd out of the room, she felt Sophia’s eyes on her. She didn’t care if she’d hit a nerve with the woman. At least she bought some time to strategize on her next move, and she’d figure out what to do before the next month’s meeting.

  She had worked too hard opening up her coffee shop to go down because of one nasty, mean woman.

  In fact, she was pleased with herself that she had stood up to Sophia, despite the fact that the woman was clearly irritated with her now and apparently everyone in the town was at least somewhat afraid of her.

  Good, Ari thought to herself, smirking.

  Let her be irritated. Sophia Black did not seem like the type who was used to being challenged very often. Let her fret that she might not get her way... clearly that did not happen to her very often. It was about time that it did.

  ¨°¨

  Sophia put on her long black trench and gathered her things from a table in the corner of the room. She politely said goodbye as the town councilors and people who showed up for the meeting trickled out.

  “Well, that was an interesting evening,” said George Hill, who always officiated the meetings and had been sitting with her and her mother at the table in the front of the room all evening.

  He scratched his scruffy chin and leaned up against the wall next to her, and Sophia scrunched her nose ever-so-slightly in distaste.

  “It was,” she replied, placing some documents in a folder.

  “The new barista is an irritating one, isn’t she?”

  “She is. But I am always up for a healthy debate,” Sophia said nonchalantly.

  George studied her for a moment as she finished packing up her leather bag. He studied her red lips, then her eyes, heavily embellished with dark eyeshadow and eyeliner and either narrowed in concentration or frustration, he wasn’t sure which. He had told her once that her eyes and skin were beautiful without makeup, and she didn’t need all of the cosmetics she wore every day.

  “I know I don’t need it,” she had said. “But what I need even less of is you telling me what I should or shouldn’t do. I like wearing it, and that’s that.”

  He backed off after that, but still quietly thought she wore too much makeup.

  George pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket. “Want one?”

  “No. You know I stopped for good months ago.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “What a bore you have become, Ms. Black.”

  “Remember to smoke those at least 9 feet away from any public building... town code.”

  “You liked her,” he said, smiling slightly.

  “I liked who?”

  “The new barista in town. What’s her name? Ari. Someone finally stood up to you, fought you. You enjoyed it.”

  Sophia glared at him. “That’s ridiculous. She’s a nuisance.”

  He raised his eyebrows again. “I know you like a challenge. You don’t like things that are handed to you, Black. You prefer to fight for them.”

  Sophia laughed lightly. “Whatever you say, George.”

  He chuckled. “Care to grab a coffee on the way home?”

  Sophia continued to arrange the folders and papers in her bag. “Sure. Just not with you.”

  She kn
ew George was not asking for her to go get coffee.

  How she had ever ended up hooking up with him last year, she will never understand... in his late 20s, the man was too young, aloof, and quite honestly, dull, for her.

  Then again, he was also incredibly gorgeous.

  He had been a little dalliance, nothing more. Every once in a while, since they had stopped their nighttime escapades months ago, he would drop a subtle hint that he was game for another round, but she had resolved that she was beyond that particularly unsavory time in her life.

  At least he was a good sport about taking no for an answer and not holding a grudge or making things awkward at the town meetings.

  “Fine. And I rest my case.”

  “What do you mean?” she sighed.

  He shrugged, put on his jacket, jammed the unlit cigarette in his mouth, and walked out of the room.

  With everyone else now gone, Sophia clicked off the lights and locked up the building.

  “What did you mean?” she asked George again, as he walked out into the parking lot in back.

  He took the cigarette out of his mouth and exhaled. “You know she’s exactly your type.”

  “Ha.”

  “I’m serious. We both know you like women like that. Pretty girl, of course, with that wavy blonde hair and those legs,” he said, letting out a low whistle.

  Sophia rolled her eyes and walked towards her car. George caught up to her.

  “But also, and more importantly, she’s a sharp, driven one, isn’t she? Makes a damn good cup of coffee. I stopped in the other day. And most importantly for you, she seems like she won’t let you get away with everything. Something that us mere mortals haven’t been able to manage,” he said, taking another drag of his cigarette.

  “Thank you very much for that assessment, George,” Sophia said, growing impatient and getting into her car.

  “Sophia Black finally met her match,” George said. “Never thought I’d see the day. She’s a rare one. Don’t wait too long, or the barista will slip away.”

  Sophia made a low noise under her breath and started the engine of her black BMW.

  “Good night, George,” she said, and shut the door.