@txleratkins 10:45am, Saturday, 9/21 - Talk is Cheap
It was rare that Evelyn found herself at the local coffee shop on a weekend, unless she was pulling a bizarre emergency overtime shift for Gabe. She came here often, if not to purchase coffee for Gabe himself, then to buy it for some of his associates for a meeting - yes, she was that woman that men gave their coffee orders to without even checking to see if she was a part of the meeting.
Honestly, on days like that, the only joy was in the possibility that she might run into a particular barista.
She didn’t know Tyler deeply - Evelyn wasn’t the sort of woman to trouble a hospitality worker or pretend they were friends when she knew deeply how frustrating it was for clients to assume they owned a piece of her that they didn’t. But Tyler had a certain smile, a certain wit, a certain drawl that kept things interesting, and on a draining day like today, Evelyn thought she might deserve that.
Fortunately, things weren’t very busy when she arrived, dressed down for once in a simple light sweater and jeans rather than to the nines that her job, in Evelyn’s mind, required. With no one in line, Evelyn went straight to the counter with a smile, waiting for Tyler to notice her.