Kristina Springer: The Espressologist

"I think you better come up with Plan B. Here comes Gavin," she says. I turn toward the door to see Gavin walking in. He looks more attractive than usual today in beat-up jeans and a rust-orange sweater over a T-shirt. His loose dark blond curls frame his face perfectly. It's a little too "surfer dude" for Chicago, but it somehow works on him.

"Hi, Gavin!" I say brightly. "I was hoping you'd come in today."

"You were?" He returns my smile.

"Yeah," I answer. "Can you stay for a few? I want to talk to you.

"Sure, you want to sit?"

"Yeah, gimme a second and I'll bring your drink to you." Gavin walks over to a table at the far end of the store and sits down.

I start to make his iced vanilla latte and Em comes up next to me. "What are you going to talk to him about?"

"No clue. I've got to stall him, though, and see if Simone comes in," I tell her. "Gav," I say, raising my voice.

"It's going to be just a minute. I have to run in back for more vanilla." That should buy me some time.

"Okay, I'll be here," he says.

I walk to the storeroom to pretend to look for the syrup and run smack into Derek. "Hey, Derek. How are you doing?"

"Fine," he replies, clearly irritated. "Listen, I just stopped in for a minute; I have a date. You need to do inventory tonight and have the order for next week's supplies faxed over to corporate before you leave. Here you go." He dumps a stack of papers in my hands. Yikes.

"You've seen me do it before, right?"

"Oh sure," I say, "dozens of times." Have I seen him do it? Hmm ... no idea. Well, it can't be that hard.

"Good, then you'll have no problems," he says, brushing some invisible dirt from the right leg of his jeans.

"No problems at all," I say. "Have a great date." He gives me a sneer and heads for the door. God, I wonder what poor girl he suckered into going on a date with him?

Okay, I think I've stalled long enough. Time to get back to Gavin. I head to the front of the store with a new bottle of vanilla syrup in my hands. Oh, luck! Simone is here.

"Hi, Simone!" I say loud enough for Gavin to hear.

"It's SO good to see you!"

"Hi," she replies hesitantly, once again looking at me like I'm a nut job.

"You want a medium dry cappuccino, right?"

"Yeah." She looks at me in puzzlement. "How did you remember?"

"Steel trap." I tap the side of my forehead. "Hey, Gavin," I call, and turn in his direction. "I'm making your drink now. Sorry it took so long getting the syrup." Simone looks at Gavin and I can see her eyebrows rise in appreciation.

"He IS hot," she whispers to me as she hands me her money for the drink.

"And sweet," I tell her. "Hold on and I'll introduce you." I quickly finish Gavin's drink and yell out, "Medium iced vanilla latte."

"That's me, obviously," he says, smiling as he approaches the counter.

"Corporate rules state I must yell each customer's drink at them before handing it over," I say, and both Simone and Gavin laugh. "Gavin, this is my friend Simone.

Simone, this is Gavin." They grin at each other.

"Hi," Gavin says.

"How are you doing?" Simone asks.

"Oh, crap," I say, and they both look at me. "Sorry." I smile weakly. "Now I'm missing medium coffee cups. I have to run and get them. I'll be just a minute." Em looks at the stack of cups clearly sitting behind the counter and smirks.

"I'll help you." She follows me to the storeroom. "No cups, huh?" she says once we get there.

"Yep," I reply, opening a cabinet door and retrieving a package of cups. "And I totally need your help carrying them out there, too."

"I figured!" She laughs. "I'll carry one end and you carry the other." We wait another minute and then head back up front. Both Simone and Gavin are still smiling.

I notice Simone write something on a brown recycled-paper napkin and hand it to Gavin. I add a few more cups to the stack already there and make Simone her drink. "Medium dry ..." I start to bellow, and Simone laughs.

"Right here," she says, taking her drink and turning to Gavin. "Talk to you soon," she tells him.

"Definitely." He watches her leave.

"What did I miss?" I ask innocently.

"We're going to get together this weekend," he says.

"Now, what did you want to talk to me about?" Oh, yeah.

I told him I had to talk to him, didn't I? Think fast.

"You know, I just wanted to see how you were doing since your breakup with Anne, but it looks like you are doing fantastically!"

"Yeah, I'm doing well. Thanks for caring," he says, and smiles warmly at me.

"Sure, see you later," I say. Gavin heads out into the cold night air. I turn to Em, who is now beside me at the counter. "I did what I could; it's up to them now."

Em chuckles and begins wiping down the espresso machine.

On Tuesday afternoon, I'm walking briskly down Wabash on my way to work, feeling proud of myself. I went back to school today and actually sat through all my morning high school classes and my two afternoon college classes, taking notes and everything. I even swapped e-mails with this girl Courtney in my chemistry class who said she'd help me get up to speed. The college teachers were all really nice and understanding about me being gone the last couple of weeks to take care of my poor sick grandma.

(I had to say something, right?) My study hall teacher never even noticed I was gone; my home ec teacher assigned some make-up raspberry tarts and a cheese strudel to cover my missed assignments; and my ceramics teacher was so laid back all he said was that it was "cool" to see me. I walk into the store and instantly I can see that Derek is pissed.

"What's wrong?" I venture, not really wanting to know, in case it has something to do with me.

"What did I ask you to do last night? What did I specifically stop into the store and ask you to do?"

Uh-oh. The inventory. I totally forgot. "Oh, Derek, I'm so sorry. I forgot."

" 'Oh, Derek, I'm so sorry. I forgot,' " he mocks, in a really silly high voice. I so don't sound like that. "Yeah, well, a hell of a lot of good that does me. I guess we just don't need stock for next week, huh?"

"I'm sorry, I really am. Is there anything I can do?" I ask. Please don't fire me, please don't fire me, I chant silently in my head.

"You did quite enough," he angrily huffs. I notice Sarah hovering in front of the cash register with a slightly amused expression, pretending not to listen.

"Well, is there someone I can call? We are only half a day late with the order. I'm sure they can still take it."

"Never mind," he says. "I already took care of it."

"We'll still get our stock in for next week, then?" I ask, wondering why he is freaking out at me.

"Yes, we'll still get our stock in for next week." He slams a box of cups into a cabinet and stomps off to his office.

I look at Sarah with my jaw dropped in a "what was that?" look and she mouths, "Bad date."

"Oh." I giggle and she joins me.

"So, hey," Sarah says, "Simone called me a little while ago on my cell. She said that you set her up with Gavin."

"That I did," I say proudly. "Aren't they freakin' cute together?"

"Totally. Simone is in heaven. She said he already called her and they talked for two hours last night. They have a lunch date for tomorrow."

"That's great." I'm happy that my plan seems to be working.

"I didn't know you were into matchmaking. Maybe you can hook me up with someone? I haven't had a date since Halloween."

"Really? You want me to set you up?"

"Sure, why not? Simone is happy and I want in on it, too. Go for it."

"Okay. Let me think about it for a while and I'll see what I come up with."

"Cool," Sarah says. "Hey, are you okay for a few? I'm going to run to the bathroom."