Coffee Scoop Read Online Free PDF Page A

into the top drawer and grab her purse from the bottom one. “I’ll be right down.” She picked up a fresh notepad and tucked her tape recorder into her purse then bolted for the elevator.  
    “Carrie, hey!”
    Millie. Carrie slowed her pace to allow her friend to catch up.
    “Where you headed, girl?” Mille Townsend’s long-legged strides told the world her last job had been as a basketball player. Her smile and perfectly coordinated outfit, purse, and shoes marked her for a fashion writer.
    Unfortunately, the Times’ fashion writer had come into the job during the Nixon administration and wasn’t planning to leave any time soon. Swearing she would someday have that job, Millie toiled away in Fact Checking with high hopes and an eye for detail.
    “Interview.” Carrie pushed the down button. “Ryan Baxter’s leaving town and I’ve got from here to Hobby Airport to find out everything there is to know about him and his company.”
    Her best friend smiled and stepped onto the elevator ahead of her. “Well then, we’d better hurry.”
    “What do you mean we ?”
    Millie feigned disappointment. “Do you mean to tell me you don’t intend to introduce me to Mr. First Class?”
    Carrie pretended to consider the question. “No, I’m not introducing you. And his name is Ryan.”
    The doors opened and Carrie stepped out into the lobby with Millie at her heels. “All right,” Mille said. “How about a quick introduction and then I’m out of there.”
    “No.”
    “Carrie, girl, you owe me.” She stepped in front of Carrie. “Remember the time you made that date with the guy who gargled his water? Who came and picked you up so you wouldn’t have to ride the Metro home?”
    She gave her friend a sideways look. “All right. I will introduce you but that’s all. He’s in a hurry. He’s got a plane to catch.”
    “And I’ve got a man to check out. ”
    At the curb, Ryan’s limo awaited. Carrie made the introductions then, true to her word, Millie excused herself to go back to work.
    Forty minutes later, she had the beginnings of a great feature article and an invitation to visit Costa Rica and the Heavenly Beans offices any time she liked.
    Little did Ryan Baxter know, but before the limo left the airport Carrie had already begun planning her trip.

    * * *  

    When Ryan emerged from Juan Santamaria Airport into the overcast Costa Rican afternoon, Alvaro’s face was the first one he saw. His friend enveloped him in a bear hug then grabbed his bag and threw it into the truck.  
    “It’s good to see you, my friend,” Alvaro said. “I’m sorry you chose to end your trip so soon. We could have lasted a few more days here sharing the extra work.”
    Ryan shrugged. “I achieved what I set out to do. It’s more important that I be here.”  
    He pictured the geriatric force of nature whose injury had caused him to cut his trip short and tried to think of what would come of them should Maria Conchita Elena Zamora no longer live in the brightly painted cottage that served as headquarters for the orphanage. Among the locals, the Tico , Mama was revered as a woman whose love for children knew no bounds.  
    Most of the adult staff at Heavenly Beans had once rested in Mama’s care, but only Alvaro de los Santos could claim an actual relation to her. He was Mama’s grandson, the only child of Mama’s deceased daughter, and the reason Casa de Dios had come to exist.  
    “If my Alvaro can grow to be a man of God and a pastor besides, then so can anyone,” she was fond of saying. Always, the statement was punctuated with a chuckle and a wink. Mama did have a sense of humor, although rumor held that Alvaro had not always followed the Lord so closely.
    “How is Mama?”
    “Much improved,” he said. “Asking for you, of course.”
    “That’s a good sign. Any idea how she fell?”
    “Answering the door in the dark again.” Alvaro turned the key and the truck roared to life. “I tried to tell her she