Chapter 4

Jessica tossed and turned that night, waking up in sweats. It was 2 hours before she had to start work. Jumping out of bed, Jessica reaches for her wrap towel hanging on the back of her computer chair and stumbles into the hallway. The coast is clear. Perfect. Jessica thinks to herself as she walks to the bathroom to shower.

The water is cold and shocks her body, she grabs her loofah and quickly washes up. As the water warms, the bathroom becomes steamy. When she climbs out, all the mirrors are fogged. She leans over the sink to wipe one clean, there you are, Jessica thinks to herself when she sees her reflection. "It's a new day." She says to herself, in an attempt to brighten her mood. Wrapping the towel around herself, she sneaks out to her bedroom. She scans her closet for something that matches her apron and decides on a pair of black dress pants and a tight-fitting black tee shirt. Tying her hair into a bun, Jessica gives herself a reassuring look in her bedroom mirror before heading downstairs. Mom is in the kitchen toasting bagels. "Hey, honey!" She calls out to her, "Do you want a bagel with cream cheese?" Jessica's stomach rumbles, but she doesn’t have an appetite. "Can I take it for lunch?" Jessica asks, stopping at the door to put on her shoes. Her Mom laughs and wraps the bagel in wax paper.

"Here is your breakfast," her mother says passing her the bagel. Then she grabs a brown paper bag and hands it to Jessica. "And here is your lunch. Eat what you can, no skipping meals!" Her Mom kisses her on the cheek, Jessica knows her Mom loves her. Her job as a nurse keeps her away from home a lot, but when she's here, she makes it count. "Thanks, Mom," Jessica says, feeling sensitive. "What's wrong, sweetie?" Mom asks. How does she always know? Jessica thinks to herself trying to come up with an answer. "Nothing Mom, just stressed." Jessica hopes her Mom will be satisfied with the answer. Not sure if she was still upset with Tom or afraid of meeting someone new, Jessica didn't know why she was feeling this way. Mom just wraps Jessica a big hug before she runs out the door. Hearing the bus coming down the road, Jessica picks up the pace and jogs down the road. "Good morning." She says out of breath to the driver. "Morning." He says back. "Don't worry, I won't leave you behind." The driver asked kindly. Jessica nods before taking her seat close to the front. "Thanks." She says.

Jessica presses the button on the bus for the next stop. She waits for the bus to come to a halt and wishes the driver a good day as she exits the front doors. She's early so she takes her time walking to the Café. When she arrives, nobody is outside at the tables, and she can see the image of the cup and saucer with the word 'Café' painted on the glass. The door opens and the little bell rings, announcing her entrance. Erika is at the counter with their friend, the homeless man and they both wave and smile at Jessica. She returns the smiles and waves and walks over to the counter. The Café is such a warm and inviting environment. "Good morning." She says to them. The homeless man nods to her and takes his usual seat by the window. "Good morning! No fancy blouse today?" Erika asks sadly while wiping the counter. Jessica pretends to be offended. "Even supermodels have laundry days!" The girls laugh and Jessica leaves to get ready in the back.

She grabs a towel and spray bottle and starts wiping tables, working her way from the back of the lobby to the front. "Good morning." A man's voice says behind her. Jessica looks over her shoulder, the homeless man is sitting at his usual table behind her. Straightening up, she smiles and says "Good morning. Can I get you a refill?" The man holds up his hand and shakes his head no. "Are you enjoying working here?" He asks her politely. Jessica nods and says "Very much, it's a wonderful environment, very friendly and welcoming." The man nods in agreement. He smiles at her, his green eyes piercing hers. Jessica stared into his eyes, observing his long black eyelashes. He breaks their gaze and looks down at his coffee. Jessica awkwardly turns around and returns to cleaning the table. "Jessica, can you help me with something?" Erika calls from behind the counter. Jessica calls back, "coming" and she collects her cleaning materials and heads to the counter. The man watches her closely over his shoulder.

Erika waves her around to the back shipping door. "I need your help with the new espresso machine. I have no idea how heavy it'll be, but the last one was really big." Erika waves at the truck driver, who is watching from the mirror. He reverses the delivery truck, lining it up with the shipping dock. The driver puts the truck in park and pulls paperwork from the cab, he then hops out of the truck. "Morning." He calls out waving folded papers in the air. Erika turns to Jessica and explains the shipping process. "He's going to bring up the invoice. We sign a copy and then he gives us a copy. You will compare what was received against what was ordered and sign off again if everything looks good." Jessica nods and watches the driver, he opens the back door to the truck and reveals piles of boxes, strapped and wrapped in what looks like cling wrap. "Delivery for Miss Erika Charles." He says passing Erika the paperwork, she signs it and shows Jessica what was done. Then she smiles at the driver and hands him back the documents. "This is Jessica, our newest member," Erika says proudly. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you!" The man said, tipping his hat and passing her the papers. "I'll see you next time." He said as he walked away, leaving the box at their feet.

"You ready?" Asked Erika, with raised eyebrows she squats down to the package and tips it to get a grip under one corner. With wide eyes, Jessica drops down and does the same. Erika counts them out. "Okay, on three. Ready? One, two, three." The box lifted with ease and the two carried it into the café together. "This isn’t so bad," Jessica told Erika as they walked. "Well, I might have miscalculated since the last time I did this by myself." Jessica's jaw dropped and Erika laughed. "Just place it here on the counter," she gestured to the open space in the back room. They placed it securely on the countertop. "Mind checking the front?" Erika said to her, Jessica nodded and ran to the front counter. No new customers, just the homeless man by the window. Jessica thought checking up on him might be useful before returning to Erika. She grabbed a fresh pot of coffee and wandered over. "Do you need a refill?" She asked him sweetly, he smiled at her and nodded politely. He started to rummage around his pockets, looking for change. "I’d like to buy one of your delicious scones." He tells her, pulling a small amount of change from his pocket. "Please," Jessica told him, placing her hand gently on his. "My treat." She said smiling.

Jessica places the pot back onto its warmer and grabs a napkin then places it on a plate. Jessica picks the biggest, scrumptious-looking scone with tongs and places it onto the napkin. She walks carefully back to the man and presents him with the scone. "Ta-da!" She says handing it to him. He laughed and said, "That looks delicious, thank you so much!" Jessica smiled at him, said warmly "Enjoy." and then walked back to Erika. In the back room. Erika had already stripped the machine of its cardboard containment. Surprised, Jessica observed all the new parts of the machine and its shiny appearance. "Ou." Jessica said, "Ahh" Erika replied mockingly. "It's so pretty." Said Jessica, Erika nodded in agreement. "Pop Quiz," Erika said to her slyly. "Where does the coffee go?" Jessica looked from the machine to Erika in disbelief. Erika laughed, "I'll show you. First, let's double-check the invoice." Jessica sighed in relief and followed Erika to the small space in the back that they called the office.

Just then, the door opened to the café sending the bell into a song of jingles. Erika looked at Jessica with disappointed eyes. "There'll be more deliveries," Jessica reassured her then she walked out to the front counter. A young man and woman were standing reading the menu. "Hi there, what can I get started for you?" Jessica said to the couple as they rambled off their drink orders. Erika listened from the back, feeling proud of the effort Jessica had been putting into her new position. She was impressed at how confidently Jessica greets customers and the warm language she uses with them. She'll go far. Erika thought to herself as she finished her process. Erika files away the documents and starts up the machine, there is a humming and then a grinding, and then a light comes on near a door on the top of the machine. FILL COFFEE. The light flashes and Erika is blown away by her new toy.

She reads through the instructions and fills the machine with fresh coffee beans. She then sets the grind and selects her option, latte, with foam. After pressing a sequence of buttons, the machine hums into action, happily crunching beans and heating the fresh milk Erika just poured into its compartment. "Wow, you're a real pro at this!" Jessica says, she places down the mug she was drying and walks over to Erika, who is wiping her head from imaginary sweat. She laughs and nudges Jessica. "This is our new baby." She says to her proudly. "What can it do?" Jessica curiously asks, observing the machine a little closer. "What can't it do?" Erika corrects her, "Let's just say I'll be able to extend the drink menu to add 'fancy' options." Erika pauses a moment. "Are you artistic?" She asks Jessica. "Not really, why?" Erika sighs and walks over to the office. "I mean, I can like color within the lines if that's what you mean," Jessica says in a desperate attempt to save her job. Erika jots something down on a piece of paper and then adds a block to the schedule.

"Training?" Jessica asks puzzled looking at the schedule. "Yeah, looks like I need to teach you coffee art. We'll start easy by decorating steamed foam with sauces and then, if you're ready… I'll teach you how to pour a cappuccino with a leaf pattern on top." Just then, Jessica remembered her initial reason for applying at the café. She loved coffee! She would stay up all night watching people on Pinterest pouring decorative coffee beverages, some hot, some cold, and all beautiful works of art. "So you'll be starting with me at 6 am tomorrow. Don't sleep in on me!" Jessica shook out of her daydream and nodded to Erika. She was so excited she could barely find words, but Erika could see it on her face. "I'll make the deal sweeter okay?" Erika put up her hand to whisper in Jessica's ear. "I'll let you drink as many of the practice coffees as you want. But you have to try your best, okay?" Jessica nodded and told her, "Deal!"