A Little Broken (6 page)

“Jessie! What a surprise seeing you here. I didn’t know this was where you worked!” Dominick said, smiling up at her. Something in his tone told her that it wasn’t really a surprise to him, and that he was here, in her section, on purpose.

“Donald, right?” Jessie said, secretly enjoying the look of indignation that filled his face as she called him the wrong name. She knew his name, how could she not? She’d been thinking about their encounter for the last two days.

“Dominick. Dominick Wace,” he corrected her, still smiling.

“Ha. You sound like James Bond. Okay,
Dominick
, what can I get you to drink?”

“Hmm, how about a coffee?” he answered, eyes sparkling.

“Sure, I’ll be right back,” Not giving him a chance to saying anything else, she went in search of Courtney.  She found her in the prep area, giggling with Layla, Jessie’s serving partner for the evening.

“Courtney, did he specifically ask to be seated in my section?” Jessie asked as she poured Dominick’s coffee, and gathered sugar and fresh cream from the cold storage.

“Yeah, and good for you, girl! He’s so hot!”

Unsurprised, she walked the coffee over and placed it in front of Dominick.

“You
do
know that stalking is illegal in all fifty states, right?” she asked him, trying to make it sound tart and unfriendly, but failing.

“Stalking is only illegal if it has malicious intent. I don’t think the law says anything about a man’s determination to get a beautiful woman to agree to go out for coffee. I mean, it’s
coffee
.
Everyone
loves coffee, right?”

“I’m allergic to coffee,” she told him.
Liar, liar pants on fire
a small voice, that sounded a lot like the ‘old’ her sounded off in her head.

“Why, Pinocchio, I believe your nose is growing,” he teased.

“Okay, so I’m not allergic to coffee, you caught me.”

“Go out for coffee with me, Jessie. You won’t regret it. I promise to not hog the cream and sugar.”

Jessie thought about it. For every reason she had to not go, she came up with four more on why she should. If she were to tell the truth, she didn’t really want to go home. Every night she was home alone, with nothing but her own thoughts. Maybe Toni was right, maybe she should get out, make an effort. But with that thought, she was scared. She’d built up a wall between her and the world, and wasn’t sure she could handle it breaking down.

“I can’t,” she said, holding up a hand to stop him when he opened his mouth, “I have to work. You have, after all, come to sit in my table, keeping me from being cut for the evening.”

“Oh, that’s an easy fix,” he said, casually.

“It is?” she asked him, staring. His complete confidence shook her as well as intrigued her.

“Sure it is. UNCLE!” he called out, loudly, causing several of the few customers to turn to look at him. He just shrugged at them, and looked expectant as he sat there. Within a few seconds, Mr. C came out of the back office, walking toward them both with a small smile playing on his face.

“Ah, Dominick, I thought I heard you out here, harassing my staff,” Mr. C. said, laughing as he took Dominick’s hand and clapped him on the back in a familiar hug.

“Now, Uncle, I’m not
harassing
your staff. We do have a bit of a dilemma here, though. You see, I’ve asked this pretty young lady to accompany me for coffee twice now. The first time, she turned me down flat, if you can believe that! This time that I asked, she said that she can’t because she has to
work
.”

Mr. C’s smile widened, as he looked from Dominick to Jessie. Jessie was sure that she was turning six shades of purple from the attention, and for not seeing the familiar qualities between the two sooner. She really was off in her world.

“Ah, a beautiful woman turning
you
down? What is this world coming to?” Mr. C teased.

“A travesty, Uncle. A travesty, I tell you!”

Jessie couldn’t help the grin turning up her lips as she watched the two men banter back and forth. Mr. C chuckled deeply from his throat.

“Well, truth between family and all, I cut Jessie ten minutes ago. She just doesn’t nag me about it like my other employees,” he said, winking at Dominick. Jessie was starting to feel like there may be an underlying conspiracy going on.

“So, Jessie, there’s no reason you can’t go for coffee with me,” Dominick said, his smile lighting his entire face.

“Fine,” Jessie sighed in agreement. She could admit when she’d been beat, and she couldn’t hold a candle to the manipulations of these men.

Mr. C surprised her by clasping her hand gently.

“Have a good time, Jess. You deserve it,” he said softly, before nodding goodbye to his nephew.

Standing, Dominick held his hand out to her. “Come on, pretty lady. Let’s blow this pancake stand.”

Jessie stared at his hand, unsure if she should take it. Her uncertainty must have shown on her face because Dominick stepped a little closer to her.

“It’s okay, Jessie. It’s just a hand. It’s just coffee. No big deal. Well, except for the coffee. Coffee
is
a big deal.” He wiggled his hand a little bit, and as a small chuckle escaped her, she placed her hand in his. She gripped it, holding on tightly, and wanted, for once, to not just let go.

Chapter Ten

As the pair made their way out of the diner, hand in hand, Dominick stopped for a moment.

“So, since you don’t get in cars with strange men, I figured we can walk to the Starbucks down the way. Is that alright with you?”

“Yes, that will do,” she said, surprised that he wouldn’t mind walking.

He tugged on her hand gently, and they walked side by side in the quiet of the night. Jessie warred in her head on what to say. It had been so long since she’d had a real conversation, and she was the least exciting person to be around. There was a time that she would have talked to a wall, even if it didn’t talk back, but not anymore. Now, she had no idea what was going on in the news, knew of no movies being released, and couldn’t begin to tell you what songs were big on the radio. She decided to keep quiet and let him talk. After all, he’s the one who wanted to go for coffee so badly anyway. But he didn’t. Dominick just held her hand, and led her down the sidewalk.

While they walked, Jessie noticed an elderly couple walking together, on the opposite side of the street. The woman seemed to be struggling a bit, leaning on her cane with each step. Her husband walked close beside her. What caught Jessie’s eye was that despite her struggles, the woman kept her left hand firmly in her husband’s. The sight warmed her, and it wasn’t until Dominick pulled a bit on her that she realized she had stopped, and was watching the couple intently. He stopped pulling, and caught Jessie’s gaze to the couple.

“
That
is love,” Dominick whispered, breaking the deep silence they had fallen into. “Timeless, true and unending. Do you see how his hand, the one not holding hers, never quite falls to his side? He keeps it up, just in case she stumbles so he will have the chance to keep her from falling. Things like that? Give me hope.”

They stood there, watching as the elderly man escorted the woman he loved across the street, and around a corner. Jessie sighed when she lost sight of them. There was something so touching, having watched the other couple. Dominick was right, they exuded unending love, and more importantly, the hope that she had long since lost.

Smiling, she squeezed Dominick’s hand. He grinned back down at her, turned, and guided her to the Starbucks down the block. Though they said nothing else during the walk, it was in a perfectly comfortable silence.

***

“Go ahead and sit down, I’ll get us some coffee. Any preferences?” Dominick asked, letting go of her hand.

Shaking her head, she found a table by the glass windows that overlooked the street. While the cafe wasn’t packed, there were more people than she would’ve expected at ten o’clock on a random Wednesday night. A few were seated with laptops, typing frantically, at the bar area. Another was seated on a leather couch, curled with feet up, reading a book. The aroma of coffee beans and sugar was soothing and she smiled as she people watched.

A large tray hitting the table startled Jessie out of her people watching. She looked to see at least a dozen different sizes of cups on it - tall hot drinks, small cold drinks, a couple frozen drinks. Dominick then put another tray filled with pastries, cookies, and other sugary goodies next to it. He smiled as he tried to arrange things so he could put straws, plates, and silverware on the table.

“Well, you said you didn’t have a preference.” He looked sheepish as he said it.

“So you decided it was a good idea to buy the whole store? Please tell me you didn’t just purchase a franchise, too.” She had no idea what most of it was, or even where to start with all of it.

“Thought about it, decided against it. Figured it was bad form on a first date. Ladies first,” he said, motioning to the fiasco on the table.

Jessie stared from Dominick to the assorted drinks. She figured she should choose her coffee before a snack, but couldn’t decide among the options. Apparently, coffee wasn’t just coffee at Starbucks. She struggled for a moment, and decided to tell him the truth.

“I’m sorry. To be honest, I don’t handle making decisions very well. It’s a bit overwhelming, and as I don’t know what this is, why don’t you choose for me?” She held her breath, unsure of what he may think of her. What she didn’t tell him was that her inability to make decisions stemmed from not caring for so long.

He looked at her for a long moment, searching her face for something. Jessie wasn’t sure what he may or may not have seen, but he nodded and surveyed his purchases. He moved two of the drinks to the side, glanced out the window a moment, and moved another. He seemed to be weighing his choices, and it was driving her crazy watching him do it.
Just pick one, for Heaven’s sake. It’s just coffee
she thought to herself. Just as she was about to say
to hell with it
and grab the one closest to her, he placed a medium-sized cup in front of her.

Without asking what it was, she took a sip. Heaven. She had just died and though undeserving, found Heaven. It was hot and sweet with the most perfect coffee flavor she’d ever tasted.

“What is this?” she asked, in awe of its goodness. She took another drink, enjoying its rich flavor as it warmed her. Despite the warm night, she was always cold these days, and the warmth was wonderful.

“That, is a Carmel Macchiato. Full of caramel goodness,” he informed her, chuckling a little. “You should see the look on your face. So happy, from a cup of coffee.”

“For me, coffee has always just been coffee. Basic. The Mr. Coffee kind of coffee. All of this,” she motioned at the spread on the table, “is a little beyond me.”

“Stick with me, Grasshopper. I can show you to the land of Oz. Well, the land of coffee Oz, at least. I lived off of Starbucks and Red Bull to get me through college.”

She just looked at him blankly. She understood the reference to the Wizard of Oz, though she’d never actually seen the movie, but his talking about college had her worried that he was going to start prying into her life, into her past. She couldn’t blame him, that’s what people do to get to know someone. Jessie wasn’t sure how she was going to get through any sort of “get to know you” dances.
Didn’t think very far ahead, did you?
she asked herself. Could she even do this? She wasn’t sure, but it was too late to back out now.

“Jessie? Earth to Jessie,” Dominick said, waving a hand in front of her face.

“Ah, sorry. What did you say?” she asked, blinking quickly.

“I asked what brought you to Florida?”

“Oh. Um, a car. You know, I drove? It’s safer than flying, driving.” She tried to misdirect his question, hoping he wouldn’t push for more.

“Ah. Trying to distract me from my question, with an irrational fear of flying? While I sympathize with being afraid of a ten-thousand-mile drop from the air, I still want to know what brought you here.” He was smiling when he said it, though it was tighter at the corners of his lips than before, strained.

“I…” she started, almost answering, but changing her mind last minute. If she couldn’t tell him the truth, she could at least tell him another truth. Jessie knew that she wouldn’t be able to avoid all of his questions, and that if she at least told him something, then at least she wouldn’t make him angry.

“I’m trying, Dominick. Here, with you, I’m trying. But, I feel like you should know that I’m just not…comfortable, answering super personal questions. I think maybe with time? I don’t know. I will understand if you want to leave, and consider me a complete loss-”

“Jessie, stop talking. I’m not going to leave you alone just because you’re going through things. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I want to spend time with you. I want to know you, but on your terms. We can talk about anything. Hell, we can talk about the weather if you want to, and that’s a safe enough topic.” His face, so sincere, so earnest, had Jessie relaxing into her seat some.

“The weather?” she asked, scrunching her face up. “The weather is really stinking hot. I keep forgetting that this is October. I mean, Halloween is coming up. It’s unnatural for it to still be so hot. Is it always like this?”

Dominick stared at her for a moment, and proceeded to burst out laughing. His laugh was deep, delighted, his eyes sparkling with it. Jessie realized that he had very kind eyes – how could she not have noticed them before? They were warm honey, with flecks of yellows and reds, like autumnal leaves.

“Why are you laughing at me?” Her lips were involuntarily turning upwards as she asked him. She couldn’t help it, his amusement was infectious.

“I’m not laughing
at
you, per se. I’m more laughing at the fact that you were able to talk so much about the weather here. I guess living here, I take advantage of it as the normal. To answer you, yes. October is always this bloody hot – Do you like Halloween?”