The Coffee Shop Read Online Free PDF

“True.”
    He grinned at her antics. “Oh, and did I hear you correctly before? Did you call my car a big ass limo?”
    Annie’s eyes went up once again, as if searching her brain for the memory. “Did I?”
    “Yes, you did.”
    She laughed, her face becoming hot once again. “I guess I have my moments when I’ll let it slip. Just don’t get me drunk, because boy, oh boy.” She realized what she had just said, and looking to see him watching her closely, she bit her lip. “Okay, you did not just hear that. We are going to go back in time, and that will never have happened.”
    “I’ll see what I can do. Waiter, have them include a bottle of champagne with that order, if you will please.”
    “What?”
    Derrick laughed.
    The burgers arrived quickly, and she watched Derrick as he ate, insisting he had them both. “You’re not planning on trying to impress me like this every time we go out, are you?”
    “Are you saying you wouldn’t mind going out with me again?”
    Feeling coy, she smiled. “No, I wouldn’t.”
    “Good to know.”
    His answer surprised her, and she looked up from the tablecloth to see him smiling at her.
    “Figured that would get you to look at me.”
    “What?”
    “I wanted to look into your eyes, so I said something that I thought would get you to look at me.”
    “That wasn’t very proper of you.”
    “Well, if I asked you to stare into my eyes, would you have?”
    She smiled. “No, I suppose not.”
    “Well then.” Resting his elbows on the table, he leaned over his plate.
    “Don’t you know it’s rude to put your elbows on the table?” she teased.
    “I knew you were going to say that.”
    “You did?”
    “Uh-huh. You see, I’m already getting to know your little quirks.”
    “Quirks?”
    “Consider it a term of endearment.”
    “Endearment?”
    “Okay, if you keep repeating everything I say, then that just feels like high school all over again. And then I’d just have to ask you if you’d like to go steady.”
    She giggled, and looked up to see him staring at her. “Oh, you were serious.”
    “Well?”
    “Oh…uh.”
    “Oh, that’s not good.”
    “What?”
    “I ask you if you’d like to go steady and your answer is: ‘Oh…uh.’”
    “No! No, I didn’t mean anything by that. I was just taken by surprise, is all.” He continued to stare at her, and she realized he was still waiting for an answer. “God, but you do make me feel like we are in high school all over again. What is that about you?”
    “My boyish charm?”
    She smiled and nodded her head. “Yes. I’d like that.”
    “So do I need to get you a promise ring or something? How does that work? No, I’m supposed to let you wear my letter jacket. Didn’t they use to pin girls? What does that mean anyway?”
    “You didn’t belong to a fraternity, did you?”
    “Nope. Never could understand all that need to join and belong.” She watched him carefully as he spoke. “But hey, you could wear my letter jacket.”
    “Okay.”
    Derrick stared. “What?”
    “I’m kidding.” She reached over, patting his hand for reassurance, that little boy lost look bringing out the mother in her.
    He looked to her hand on his and didn’t move.
    She knew he understood she wasn’t quite ready for that yet.
    “So, now that we’re going steady, maybe it would be okay to have your phone number?”
    She hesitated, thinking on it, and he looked at her anxiously.
    “I don’t have a phone.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “I know. I always get the same look whenever I tell people.”
    “How can you function without one?”
    “Well enough, apparently. I manage to get by. I know what my shifts for work are in advance. I don’t have need for one really.”
    “You’re not?”
    “What?”
    “I was going to say a Quaker.”
    She laughed. “I had one, once, but I never used the thing. I had no reason to call anyone, and no one called me. Oh, but I did get wrong phone numbers. You know I would get these phone