Coffee Scoop Read Online Free PDF

was lucky she only suffered a fall and not the blows of a robber’s fist.” He paused. “Or worse.”
    “You know Mama,” Ryan said. “She would never risk turning away a child in need.”  
    “ Si . Perhaps now is the time to disconnect her doorbell.”  
    “You know that won’t work,” Ryan said. “I wonder if we can’t figure out a way to have Mama’s route to the door lighted. What do you think?”
    His friend smiled. “I think that’s an excellent idea. I’ll see what I can come up with.”
    The pair lapsed into a companionable silence as Alvaro wove his way around a collection of taxis and buses to point the truck toward the airport exit. Soon they merged into traffic heading west on the main highway toward San Ramon.  
    Layer by layer the city fell behind them until nothing lay ahead except the mountains, thick gray clouds shrouding their green peaks. The sign for Rio Rosales slid past and soon the exit for home loomed ahead. Ryan’s heart soared.
    “I never get tired of this drive, Alvaro,” Ryan said. “Look at those mountains and tell me God didn’t favor this little corner of the world.”
    His companion nodded. “Most certainly He did, my friend.”
    A few minutes later, they exited at Grecia and began the last leg of the journey to Rincon de Salas. The old truck rattled and shook on the poorly maintained road, but it was a welcome rhythm for Ryan. A ride in Alvaro’s truck suited him   much better than the extravagant transportation he’d been provided in Austin.
    Austin.
    The image of Carrie Collins came to mind. What would she think of this truck, of those mountains, of Alvaro and Mama and the others? Perhaps someday soon he would know. For now he preferred to believe she would look favorably on each.
    He also preferred to think she might miss him just a little. After all, she had asked for his email address.
    Sure, she’d said it was standard procedure with all her interviews but he wondered - no, he hoped - she wanted to get to know him better. He certainly would like to get to know her better.
    “It’s good to be back?” Alvaro shot Ryan a sideways grin.
    “It is very good,” Ryan said. As the truck wound its way down the last few kilometers of narrow roads under Alvaro’s expert guidance, Ryan felt the last of the tension melt away. He noticed his friend giving him a sideways look. “What?”  
    “Nothing.” Alvaro shook his head. “No, that’s wrong. There is something.”
    “Okay. What?”
    “I can look at you and see how very glad you are to return to us.” Again he paused, this time to navigate the overlarge truck around a significant hole in the road. When they were rattling along again, he reached over and gave Ryan a playful jab in the arm. “You are here and yet something tells me you left a bit of your heart in the States.”  
    Ryan frowned. Had he?
    Alvaro braked and made a right turn. “You did not answer. Am I wrong?”
    Another three kilometers and they would arrive at the village of Rincon de Sales.   Just past the crossroads was the dirt road leading to the humble collection of buildings that comprised Heavenly Beans headquarters. Beyond that lay the coffee plants that provided the best beans in Costa Rica.  
    Even at their slow pace, the entire drive would take less than ten minutes. If he kept his mouth shut and his attention focused on anything but Alvaro, he might get away with ignoring his friend’s question.
    If.
    Alas, Ryan knew he could not.
    “You are not wrong,” he said in Spanish. “There was someone.”
    “The woman you mentioned? The journalist?”
    Ryan regarded his friend with a mixture of surprise and fondness. How well Alvaro knew him.  
    “Yes,” he said. “But I believe the Lord sent her to help us with the cause.”
    To his relief, Alvaro did not laugh. “What makes you think this?”
    “She’s a journalist, a newspaper writer in Austin. From the moment she sat next to me on the flight out of Los Angeles I felt