Chapter 8: A Meddling Sister

After a deep sleep, Willow felt better. Slightly. The image of the wolf head still disturbed her but her resolution to keep a large distance between her and the Brochade family had strengthened here. Here is something that she can control. She will avoid their neighborhood and anywhere else that they are known to frequent, which isn’t much in this town.

The sun had just risen as Willow unlocked the café’s front door. She is soothed by the smell of roasted coffee beans and the quiet of an early morning. Despite being tired, she loves working the entire day. Nothing quite feels as accomplished as seeing the business through from start to finish.

Locking the door behind her, she walks to her small office in the back and dumps her purse onto her desk. Even though it has only been about a day, she feels as if she hasn’t been here in forever. She runs her hand lightly over the back of her leather office chair, the first thing that she had purchased for herself after opening this place.

She grabbed her apron and twisted it around her waist. After taking a deep inhale of the French roast, she poured the beans into the hopper and clicked the industrial size coffee pot on. She double-checked that everything was ready to go, the pastries were unwrapped and placed into the case, the newspapers fanned artfully on the front table, and the chairs pushed in.

She unlocked the door and turned the stereo on, preferring the acoustic station to anything else. Coffee should be a relaxing experience, she always thought. Her goal was to have people come and stay for hours which is why she invested in the plush leather chairs and rehabbed the old fireplace. She wanted it to feel like a home away from home.

The first hour went by in a blur, the morning rush keeping her on her feet and running from the espresso bar to the cash register. Finally able to have her own coffee, she stood leaning against her wooden counter, sipping on her extra hot latte.

“Excuse me,” his voice flowed over hers and she froze, her cup halfway to her lips. She had nearly forgotten how blue his eyes were. Unlike the other day, his eyes were more open. She saw no anger lurking in their cerulean depths. She set her latte down, hands shaking slightly.

“Yes? What can I get you?” She would stay professional. She didn’t know why he was here except for the fact that she had the best coffee in town. Dammit, her preference for perfectly roasted beans would get her murdered.

“A medium latte please and a, hey sis,” he called over his shoulder and she saw the stunning blonde from the other evening walk up behind him, a large smile plastered on her face. “What would you like?” he asked her.

“A chai please, no water. I’m Audrey by the way,” Willow stared at her from over the espresso machine.

“Willow,” she offered after a moment, pulling the shots.

“I love this café. I told Garin you have the best coffee and chai, in town,” she carried on and Willow saw a faint blush touch his cheeks.

“Thank you. I believe in quality,” she replied, harsher than she had meant to. She couldn’t help it. Here were her enemies directly in front of her and they were making small talk?

“It shows,” Audrey pipped and turned to look at Garin. He nodded once, looking awkward.

“So I am just showing him around since he is only in town for a few more days, well a week actually,”

“Great,” Willow replied automatically and set the drinks on the counter in front of them.

“How much do we owe you?” he asked, looking her over. Her cheeks flamed.

“On the house,” she replied, not wanting to touch him again. She wasn’t sure if she was more terrified if the spark was still there or gone.

“You don’t have to,” he began.

“I know. It’s fine. Have a nice day,” she turned her back and began scrubbing the blender furiously, despite not using it today.

“You too,” his voice sounded a bit sad. What the hell? What was this day? Maybe she was dreaming now. She was probably at home, in her bed, barking coffee orders like a lunatic.

She knew they were gone when his scent had dissipated. Heart hammering, she went back to her daily chores, her mind still a blur.

Garin and Audrey continued on to a small patisserie down the street.

“We could have eaten there,” she said, gesturing back towards the café.

“I think she preferred that we leave. She didn’t even charge us for our drinks,” Garin replied and took a deep drink. Audrey was right, this really was exceptional. He was not looking forward to going back to sucking down cheap college sludge in a week.

“Well, what do you expect? We did kind of ambush her,” Audrey said with a mischievous grin.

“Your idea,” he replied, pointing at her with his cup.

“I wanted you to see that she isn’t a threat. She is rather nice. I mean, I’ve never personally met her before today but dad made me scout her for awhile. She is the kind of person that takes injured birds home and nurses them back to health.”

“Maybe not in her human form. You don’t know what she’s like when she shifts,” he commented, his eyes roaming over the menu.

“That’s the thing. She doesn’t shift a lot. And when she does, she mainly just goes for runs. Occasionally she has hunted deer or elk but other than that, she just stays home and reads. She’s a nerd, like you.” Audrey said and leaned over the table. Garin rolled this over in his mind. The few times he had seen her, she didn’t feel like a threat. She only seemed like she wanted to get away from him.

“I concede. For now, I’ll trust you on this,” he said. She leaned back and smiled pulling her menu up.

“She’s also pretty cute,” she said from behind her menu.

“I hadn’t noticed,” he replied, pulling up his own menu to hide his face.

“Liar, you couldn’t take your eyes off of her at the restaurant.” Audrey chided.

“Yeah, yeah. I was just making sure she wasn’t going to go teen wolf and slaughter the room,” he couldn’t hide the smile from his voice.

“She noticed you too,” Audrey said as she pulled down his menu and looked into his eyes, her meaning obvious.

“A wolf and a hunter?” he scoffed.

“It’s been done before,” she replied in her singsong voice.

A wolf and her hunter, he thought and stared back towards her café.