Read The Coffee Shop for Free Online Page A

should speak for myself, huh. I’m sure there are people out there that love to do that kind of thing, or consider people like me lazy for not doing it. And I have tried it, but then…”
    “What?”
    “Oh, you’ll think it’s stupid.”
    “No, I won’t.” He could see she was hesitant, and he smiled encouragingly.
    “Well, I find it’s a reminder that I am alone, and well, I hate it. I mean here I have this table with all these prepared dishes and then one lonely plate set at it. It just looks really sad to see. That’s all. When I think of all those dishes, I visualize a family around a big table all helping themselves and passing them along. Smiling and laughing, talking, and sharing stories. You know.”
    “I take it you’ve been alone for a while now?”
    “Yes. But I’ve gotten used to it.”
    “Does that have anything to do with why you left your home town?”
    She looked at him and turned away. “Very astute, Mr. Sloane. Is there something in that from your own life then?”
    “You never answered my question.”
    Leaning on the kitchen counter, she ran her finger over its worn surface. “It got hard. Everywhere I went, everything I did, it reminded me of them. That and the looks I would get from people in town. You know, that, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry for your loss,’ expression that never seemed to leave their faces.”
    She shrugged and then straightened. “It got hard. So I left. Now what about answering my question?”
    He laughed at the look on her face. “I didn’t like the small town life. Everyone knows everyone. You can’t sneeze without the guy on the other side of town saying Gesundheit . Oh, and God forbid you screw something up, because everybody and their cousin will know. Talk about being under a microscope.” He felt uncomfortable discussing himself. “So, here I am.”
    “Yes, and I bet they are all proud of you. The great Derrick Sloane.”
    He laughed at her comment.
    “You aren’t proud of your accomplishments?” she asked.
    “Oh, don’t you know? You’re not supposed to be. Oh no, that’s a mortal sin. Yes, sir. Don’t you dare show pride, God forbid, or say anything to suggest it.”
    She was staring up at him.
    “Oh…God, I’m sorry, Annie. Here I am unloading my issues on you.”
    “No.”
    She smiled before turning away, and if he didn’t know better he would have sworn she was wiping a tear away from her eye.
    “You okay?”
    “Yeah, I’m fine. I just get that way sometimes. Something I guess I should have warned you about. I’m kind of mushy that way.”
    “Mushy is okay. I like mushy.”
    She smiled, and reaching over, she ran her hand down his arm.
    He liked it, the way it felt, just then, her touching him like that in that moment. And he wondered what it would be like to have her around like that all the time. Comforting him and smiling at him.
    “So, did you decide on a restaurant?”
    “Do you have a favorite?”
    She shrugged. “I’ve tried all of those. I guess…” She reached for the menus, spread out before her like a deck of cards.
    “What?”
    “Oh, just looking at those, the way you have them fanned out like that, I was expecting you to ask me to pick a card.”
    “Ah, another one of my failings, I’m afraid.”
    “Failings?”
    “Card tricks. Never could get them to work. Wound up embarrassing myself more than anything. But I kept trying. Only it got to be a joke, me that is. So I stopped.” Once more her expression became sad. “Maybe I should just shut up. I seem to be depressing you with all this talk.”
    “No. No, I’m okay, don’t mind me.” Looking at the menus, she pulled one out. “Here, try this one. They haven’t let me down yet.”
    “Okay. What do you want?”
    “Oh anything, I’m pretty much open to whatever you’d like. I’m not choosy that way. Meat, no meat, veggies. It’s all the same to me. I like it all the same.” Derrick looked at her as she stood there talking. “What?”
    “You’re