Despite how miserable and sleepy she felt, she yawned and shook her head adamantly. “No way, Matt. I’m not about to leave you here by yourself on what’s actually supposed to be my shift. You were supposed to go home an hour ago. The only reason you’re still here is so you can keep me company,” she insisted.
“Please, Maggie? You look so tired. You’ve been working so hard lately. You need to take a little break,” he pleaded. “I don’t want you to get sick from all this stress and lack of sleep and everything. Please just go home and get some rest.”
She sighed, ready to give up, and looked over her shoulder at him. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m positive,” he assured her. She really did look tired; she had bags under her eyes, her skin was getting rather pale, and her attitude lacked the enthusiasm it normally had. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll be fine. We close in an hour anyway. And besides, it’s not exactly busy. You know it never gets busy this late at night.”
“Fine, I guess I can go, then, if you’re sure you’ll be okay without me,” she groaned. He spun her around and placed his hands gently on her waist, and she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his for a short, sweet kiss. Then she pulled away. “Bye, sweetheart. I love you,” she said as she untied her apron and slipped it off. Then she decisively put it back on. Something in her was telling her she should stay, and for some crazy reason, she listened. “You know what? No, I’m just going to stay here. I only have a little bit longer to go, and I really don’t wanna leave you here.”
“Meg, I don’t understand you. I really don’t.”
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll leave in a half an hour.”
Half an hour later, as promised, she hung up her apron and started to walk out as someone else walked in. “Meg?”
She spun around, almost positive she knew who it was. She could never in her life forget that voice, no matter how hard she tried. She had listened to it far too many times to be able to forget it. When she finally gathered the courage to look up and her suspicions were confirmed, she dropped her purse, then quickly bent over to pick it up and regained her cool…well…sort of. She was rather surprised, to say the least. “Oh my God, Nick, what are you doing here?” She pushed a few strands of hair out of her face and quickly ran her fingers through it.
“Wow, this is déjà vu. I just came here to get my sister some coffee. I’m in town visiting her again, and she needs to study for another test. I had no idea you guys still worked here,” he said. He watched her play with her hair and almost snickered, but held it in. She probably didn’t even realize what she was doing.
“Well, I’m leaving, so it was nice to see you,” she said quickly. “Bye, Matt. I love you.”
Matt couldn’t meet her eyes in fear that he would start laughing. It was just like her to try to make an ex-boyfriend jealous, especially Nick. “I love you, too, Maggie. I’ll stop by a little later, after I’m done here.”
Making sure Nick was watching, she gave him a sexy smile and winked before turning and leaving.
“So you and her…you’re together now?” Nick asked softly as the door closed.
“Yeah, almost two years.”
“So pretty much since she and I broke up.”
“Yeah.”
“Good for you,” he said with as much sincerity as he could muster. “I’ll take two medium mochas please.”