Behind - @hollanovmicrofic - 573 words
“Goodmorning,” Shane said from behind the coffee machine. “Welcome at Your morning shot. What can I get for you?” He stepped to the register, handing the drink he just made to his colleague before turning his full attention to his next customer.
In front of him was not a daily sight; the man was tall, with blondish curls and bright blue eyes. Objectively, he was very handsome, but his defeated posture and the big bags under his eyes weakened his obvious charisma. His exhaustion was probably related to the even blonder girl on his hip. While she had brown eyes, their family resemblance was undeniable from the curls and the form of her face. The kid, probably around three, smiled angelically at him and Shane couldn’t help but smile back.
“A double espresso, please,” the probably-dad ordered shortly. His voice had a foreign lilt–it sounded slavic. Maybe Russian? Shane put the order in. “One double espresso. Something else?” The man shook his head when the girl opened her mouth. “Cookie,” she said.
The man sighed. “We have cookies at home, zolotse.” But the girl frowned. “Coffee at home too.” The girl’s English sounded more native, but the slight Russian accent did sound very cute on her. Did she have an English speaking mom and was she getting raised bilingual? Or maybe this man was raising her all by himself, doing his best to teach her a language he didn’t even fully master himself?
“The machine broke. I need it here so I can go play with you after, yes?” Shane knew what was happening, and the man did too, going off on his quick look at the queue and his growing tenseness. “I need cookie!” the toddler yelled.
Instead of getting mad at his daughter, the man just smiled and shook his head with a sigh. “Fine.” He looked at Shane again. “No coffee please, but one cookie.” And didn’t that hurt Shane’s heart. This overstimulated man, on the brink of sleep, getting his girl what she wanted before what he probably really needed. His decision was made quickly.
He put in the cookie, let the man pay and scribbled an additional double espresso on the order note. He was allowed to drink as much coffee as he needed so… no one should know. He smoothly switched so he could give the man his order.
The shock was real when he saw the coffee too. “I didn’t order-” Shane waved his protests away. “You earn it.” He still didn’t seem to understand. “For free?”
Shane chuckled. “Yes, for free. So you can take care of your little megamind.” That got a sincere smile out of the man and damn he was definitely handsome. Just to keep talking to him a little longer, Shane bowed over to the girl. “You want whipped cream with the cookie?”
He got a wild nod while the man groaned. “Nooo, the sugar rush.” However, he made no move to actually stop Shane and actually smiled with a bit of teeth when the girl had some cream on her nose after the first bite.
“Thank you very much,” his eyes darted to his nametag, “Shane.” The barista could do nothing but smile back. “No problem at all. Have a good day!” The girl waved at him while her dad walked away and Shane couldn’t help but wave back. He hoped he would get to see this man again sometimes.