The Coffee Shop

by Lauren Hunter

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, I…just…someone I know died.”

  “Oh no, Derrick.” She wrapped her arms comfortingly around his neck, holding him tightly to her. “I am so sorry. Did I know them?”

  Derrick was finding it hard to maintain his composure, and closing his eyes he held on to Annie. “I…don’t know.” He felt Annie’s hand gently cradle the back of his head as the tears flowed openly down his face and onto her shoulder.

  I can fix this. All I need to do is look up old newspapers that covered the story, he thought.

  The phone rang, and he reached out picking it up. “Hello?” But there was no answer. “Hello?” The phone rang again.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Derrick opened his eyes, wondering what had awakened him, and the phone rang again. Rolling over, he picked it up. “Yes?”

  “Your limo, Mr. Sloane. You wanted me to call when it was ready.”

  “Oh God, Brian. I was going to…Um, thanks, Harold. Something has come up, and I need you to…” Derrick paused and sighed, a heaviness coming over him at what he was about to say. “If Dr. Taylor comes by, I need you to…I need you to deny him admittance to the building.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll inform all security personnel of it immediately.”

  “Thank you, Harold. I know you’ll do whatever is necessary.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Oh, and could you tell Lawrence that I am sorry, but I won’t need the limo just yet.”

  “Yes, sir. Right away, sir.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, sir. Good day, sir.”

  Slowly Derrick replaced the receiver. Throwing the covers back, he swung his legs out onto the floor. He raked a hand through his hair, and leaning forward he rested his elbows on his knees. If what he had just dreamed was true, then the only way he could keep his best friend was to give him up. The only way he could be certain not to be the cause of his death was to never see him, or speak to him, again. And he couldn’t offer any explanation of any kind. He had no way of knowing what had happened, the specifics of what occurred, determining the exact cause of his death, and without those specifics he could not take that chance. It could be something as simple as sending a note that set into motion the series of events that led to his death. And he just couldn’t risk it. Not if he wanted Brian to live.

  A sick feeling rose within him, and he tried to push it back down. To end a lifelong friendship so abruptly and without explanation, how cold and unfeeling that would seem to Brian? But he had no choice. Without more information, he was trapped in a decision not of his own choosing. But one he had to act upon nevertheless.

  Standing, he went into the washroom and ran a shower. He stood beneath the warm water, letting it run down his face and chest. He could not shake the feeling. Was he doing the right thing? But he couldn’t risk it, he just couldn’t. Not at the expense of Brian’s life. Not if it meant keeping Brian alive.

  Climbing out of the shower, he dragged a towel over his skin, burying his face into its plush softness, the way he used to when he was a kid. But he wasn’t a kid any more, when Brian would come over to hang, always getting him into trouble.

  Dressing in one of his best suits, he stood before the mirror and stared at the man before him. This man loved Annie, only she didn’t know it yet. But she would. It was hours before she’d be finished her shift, and trying to distract himself, he turned on the television, but it wasn’t working. He couldn’t concentrate. So he ordered something from the five-star restaurant on the ground floor. It didn’t matter what, just something to fill this emptiness that wouldn’t go away. His phone rang. It was Brian. Staring at the name on the screen, he let it go to voice mail, before turning it off and slipping it back into his coat pocket.

  Somehow, the hours passed, and arranging for the table and meal in the park, he climbed into his limousine. The moment he stepped in the door of the health food store, all his doubts fell away. There was Annie, just as he had remembered her. And taking her to the park, he watched as she ate the hamburgers, smiling as she talked and laughed as before. Everything happening just as it had in his dream. And when at last he dropped her at the mall, he took his cell phone out and turned it back on.

  It rang, and he answered it.

  “Is this soon enough?”

  “Annie?”

  There was a pause. “Were you expecting some other girl to call?”

  “No. No, it’s just that I only just left you. I wasn’t expecting a call so soon.”

  “Well, I bought a cell phone.”

  The doorbell rang, and Derrick answered the door. “Brian!”

  “What? You say that like you weren’t expecting me. We do have the right night, don’t we? You did say it was tonight, didn’t you?”

  “Of course we did, Brian,” Annie offered, slipping up beside Derrick. “Derrick is only pulling your leg, as usual.”

  Brian smirked. “Oh, so he’s not pulling my chain then?”

  “Yes, well I think we can all let that one die a much needed death.” Derrick had said the words before he even realized it was him talking. Brian laughed and handed Derrick a bottle, patting him firmly on the back.

  Brian and Denise stepped past him into the penthouse, Annie linking her arm with Denise as she led her into the kitchen. Closing the door Derrick turned to see the dining room table set for four. Reaching out, he grabbed Brian by the arm, pulling him aside he looked him in the eye. “This is going to sound like a stupid question.”

  “Just the way you say that, makes it sound like a first for you.”

  “To use your own words, that sounds like the Brian we all know and love.”

  “Aw, you love me. Idn’t dat sweet.” He tweaked Derrick’s cheek, grinning up at him.

  “Okay, I’m just going to say this, how long have we been friends again?”

  Brian stared for a moment and took a step back. “Was there a time when we weren’t friends?”

  “Plenty of times I wondered at the wisdom of it.”

  Brian laughed. “Yep, that sounds about right.” Reaching out a hand he poked Derrick in the chest. “What I think you mean to say is, when did you decide to start talking to me again.” He smiled. “I never stopped being your friend, Derrick. Sure I admit I can be a royal pain in the ass sometimes, but I never stopped being your friend.”

  “So, when did I start talking to you again?”

  “Derrick, what is this?”

  “How much do you remember of that dream I told you about the day I met Annie?”

  “You mean that dream where you said you saw the future?”

  “Yes, that one.”

  “I’ll admit you had me going there for a minute. You were pretty convincing at the time.”

  “I continued to have those dreams, seeing the outcome five months into the future. Only I had no idea what had happened in between to bring about the altered outcomes I was seeing.”

  Brian laughed. “Okay, I’ll bite. Altered outcomes?”

  “That first dream with Annie showed me a relationship with her as it was intended to unfold. Only when I started to live it, I must have done things slightly different, because the next time I dreamed Annie had changed. Oh, it was just little things, calling me honey, her ears were pierced, things like that, nothing life altering.” Derrick laughed, realizing what he had just said. “So I had to have done something different, only I couldn’t be certain if it was just the one comment from the first day, or a number of things over time, that had changed the Annie I knew to the one I was seeing. So I called you, two days ago, here in the future, and you told me I hadn’t spoken to you since the day we had the fight. Only problem is, I hadn’t lived that day yet. We hadn’t had the fight you were telling me about, and I had no idea why I wouldn’t have talked to you again. That isn’t me. I would never do that. But the next day when I awoke, the fight occurred just as you had said it would. I decided I would let you cool down for a day and then talk to
you about it the next day. Only that night when I dreamed it was the next day in my future, five months after the fight, and when I called you Denise told me you were dead, and I was the cause of it. That when I went to fix it, I somehow caused your death. But I had no way of knowing what happened. So when I awoke from that dream I knew in order to keep you from getting killed, I had to have nothing to do with you. Not talk to you, not see you, not even send you a note. I couldn’t take the chance any one of those things was the trigger that brought about your death. To be honest, as I had no idea when it happened, I couldn’t risk approaching you. So you can imagine my shock when here you are, alive and well, and on my doorstep.”

  “You do realize I never had that conversation with you two days ago, as we have been talking for a couple of weeks now.”

  “You do understand why I couldn’t see you, don’t you?”

  “Well, if I were to believe all this nonsense then maybe. But for some reason you believe it. And that you believed you were protecting me…I’m not sure what to say about that.”

  “Perhaps, now, it’s best we say nothing.”

  “If that’s what you want to do.”

  Derrick shook his head. “At least I know I will be able to talk to you again. I’m just going to have to wait about five months to do it is all. Oh, just how was it we — ”

  “Denise and Annie, it was all their doing.”

  “Leave it to Annie to be the one to fix this.”

  “Considering she was the reason I picked that fight with you in the first place. Let me tell you, you made a good decision when you chose to see her that day.”

  “I am sorry, Brian.”

  “For what?”

  “For not meeting you like I said I would. For leaving you in the dark for all these months. You must have thought I had been possessed. You didn’t think this was Annie’s fault did you?”

  Brian was silent. “It had occurred to me that you may have been avoiding me because you thought I didn’t approve of you choosing her over me.”

  “But you know now that’s not what happened, right?”

  “Are we going to keep gabbing about this or are we going to open that bottle of wine?”

  Derrick poured the wine, and they all sat down to dinner, Annie serving up the dishes the chef had prepared for them.

  Brian looked at Denise. “You see, this is how you do it. You have someone else do all the cooking for you.”

  Denise stared back at Brian. “Well, don’t look at me.”

  They all laughed, and Annie stood up taking their plates into the kitchen setting them in the sink. “You seem to forget something, Brian. Both Derrick and I are culinarily challenged.” She laughed. “That’s hard to say, if such a word even exists.”

  “Oh, good excuse for getting out of all that work.”

  “I tell you what. Next time we invite you over, I’ll cook for you, and then you’ll leave here with a whole new appreciation for our acknowledging our…”

  “Total lack of ability? Talent? Knowledge? Expertise?”

  Annie frowned. “Remind me again, why I invited you over here?”

  Derrick grinned at Annie’s remark. “That, is a question I have been asking myself all evening.”

  Brian stared at Derrick through narrowed eyes. “Careful, you are at risk of becoming a bad host.”

  Piling the rest of the plates and platters together, Annie stood staring down at Brian. “No, what I was going to say, before I was so rudely interrupted, was that we know our limitations and we adapt accordingly.”

  “Is that a fancy way of saying you get someone else to do all the work?”

  “When it comes to what we eat. Yep!” She smiled down at Brian, and taking the platters to the sink, she rinsed everything thoroughly before putting it in the dishwasher.

  Brian watched Annie stack the dishes. “Do you two do anything for yourselves anymore?”

  Annie closed the dishwasher and turned it on. “Do you, Brian?”

  Derrick leaned back in his chair and burst out laughing. “She’s got you pegged!”

  “Hey, I do plenty for myself, I’ll have you know.”

  Pouring another glass of sparkling apple juice, Annie came back in and sat next to Brian at the dining table. “Like what, for instance.”

  Derrick leaned forward on the table, his interest piqued. “This ought to be good.”

  “All right, you two. That’s enough of ‘let’s pick on Brian.’”

  Denise turned to look at Brian. “No, I’d like to hear this answer too, if you don’t mind?”

  Derrick attempted to suppress a burgeoning desire to keel over laughing, but it was no good, and even though he pressed his hand to his mouth, he couldn’t stop the rising chuckle.

  “What is this, a conspiracy?” Brian turned a sinister look upon Derrick. “You put her up to this, didn’t you?”

  Derrick sat back shaking his head. “Hey, don’t look at me. You got yourself into this.”

  “Some friend you are.”

  “And just how many times have you heard me say that about you?”

  “Too many.”

  They both laughed. “I missed you, Derrick.”

  “And I’m going to miss you, Brian.”

  Annie and Denise looked at each other. “What does that mean?” Annie asked.

  Brian looked from one to the other. “Don’t ask.” At this Annie and Denise stared once more at each other. “It’s a guy thing.”

  “Oh, you are not going to hide behind that pathetic excuse are you?”

  Brian thought on it. “Yeah, actually, I am.”

  They finished their wine and finished their conversation, and finally Brian and Denise said good night as Derrick held the door.

  “You want to watch an old movie on TV?”

  “I spent the evening visiting with an old friend, why not finish it watching an old movie? A nice synchronicity, don’t you think?”

  Somewhere about the middle of the movie, Annie dozed off, her head resting on his chest as she hugged him to her. He let her stay like that, enjoying her sleeping on him, Derrick starting to nod off himself, and so he turned the television off, lifting her into his arms and carrying her off to bed. Laying her down on the bed, he leaned over her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Good night, Annie.” Straightening, he reached up to turn off her light, the bedside table now heaped with books once again. “Your books.”

  Half opening her eyes, Annie hugged her pillow to her. “I know, I know, I have too many books.”

  Derrick grinned to himself, and nodded. “Right.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Derrick noticed Angela staring at him as he walked through the front door of the store, a pizza delivery pouch in his arms.

  “Oh, my God. Aren’t you just the sweetest thing!” she said.

  “I’d like to think so.” He leaned forward, lowering his voice, and winked. “Now if only she’ll think so, then I’ll have it made.”

  Angela laughed and smacked him on the arm. “Oh, you’re just awful.” But then she leaned over the counter. “She is going to love you so much. She is so tired, what with taking Amber’s shift on her day off, when she didn’t have to, and being up all night working on those questions.” She waved her hand.

  “What questions?”

  “Oh, didn’t you know? She loves to do high IQ tests for fun. She can work on one question for days, making graphs and researching formulas and stuff.” Derrick stared at her, and she straightened. “Then again, maybe I should just shut up about that.”

  “No, I’d love to hear about it.”

  “No, I shouldn’t have said anything. Oh, now she’s probably going to kill me.”

  “Why?”

  “Derrick!”

  He turned to see Annie coming up to him.

  “What’s this then?”

  “When I didn’t get through to your cell, I called the store, and Angela told me you were working Amber’s shift for her. And, as your shift finishes at si
x and you’d be tired, I thought I’d get us something for dinner.”

  “Oh, you didn’t have to do that.”

  “I wanted to.”

  “What is that? It looks like one of those pizza delivery pouches they use to keep the pizza hot.”

  “Oh this? I bought it off the guy.” She was staring at it. “With what I paid him he can buy a lot more.”

  “Okay. Well, I guess we can go then.” She turned to Angela. “Oh, do you need me to help you close?”

  “You go. I can handle this just fine.”

  “You sure?”

  “I’ve been doing it for years. So, I’m sure.”

  “All right then.” Annie pulled off her apron and grabbed her purse, motioning past Derrick to the door. “After you.” The ride in the limousine was short, and as they stepped up before the door of her apartment, she smiled self-consciously. “Um, I was hoping to get here before you and tidy up a bit.”

  “Are you trying to tell me you are a slob and you don’t want anyone to know?”

  “No. I am a normal person that actually uses their living space but who doesn’t always get a chance to tidy as they’d like to. You know, this thing called life has a tendency to, I don’t know, get in the way now and then. I’m sure you understand what I’m trying to say.”

  He frowned, pretending he had no idea what she was talking about.

  “Oh stop it.” She slipped the key into the lock but didn’t turn it. “So, if you wouldn’t mind waiting out here for a few minutes while I tidy up.”

  “Are you asking me to stand out here in the hallway, Miss Maddock?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Why, isn’t that just a little rude?”

  “You are bound and determined to see my messy place aren’t you? You’re thinking by seeing me at my worst, you’ll get some sort of insight into my psyche, or some nonsense. That’s it, isn’t it?”

  “No.”

  “You know, if you’re going to try and pull that one off, you’re going to have to be a lot more convincing than that.” She shrugged. “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She wagged a finger in front of him. “And no judgments!”