SugarCOAT

30. The Man 💪

"Sir, I'm a foodie. You just made me want what you're getting, but I still want the iced coffee."

A.B. placed his hand on my shoulder. "Jamie, you can get both. It's my treat."

I smiled brightly. "Gracias."

After getting our three drinks, A.B. carried them to an empty table in the far corner of the coffee shop. It was the only spot that didn't have a window. A.B. placed the drinks on the table. "Here's a caramel iced coffee for you, a strawberry lemonade with strawberries for me, and a sweet tea with strawberries for you."

I went straight for the iced coffee. After the first sip, my eyes were wide open. "This is so good," I told him. "Tell me why you only stayed here for one week? With iced coffee like this, I could live here."

A.B. took a sip of his drink. "I see it as more of a vacation spot."

"What if you were with someone else?"

He replied, "I would have to be with someone who doesn't mind how slow paced it is here."

"I don't mind it." Jamie, slow down! You're getting into unknown territory. Careful!

A.B. looked at me and smiled.

Oh, no! He knows. He knows. I quickly broke our eye contact to stare at my iced coffee. "Is your meeting about to start?"

"In a few minutes." He took another sip of his drink before looking at his phone. "More like in two minutes." He began tapping on his phone. "It's not going to be long. Twenty minutes at most."

"Take your time. I have two drinks." I held up two fingers.

About a minute later, A.B. leaned his phone against his drink.

"I'm going to the restroom," I whispered.

"It's by the entrance doors." A.B. guided me.

"Okay. Be right back." I stood up and stretched.

"Mr. Bravos!" I heard a man say.

"Mr. Douglas! You have to forgive me. I don't have my headsets. I'm inside a coffee shop."

I started to walk away.

"No problem. This won't be long at all, because Mr. Rivers couldn't make it. However, he is interested..."

I continued walking to the restroom, scratching my brow. I opened the Women's restroom door, and there was a line. There were only three stalls, and four or five women ahead of me. That's when I remembered I didn't bring my phone with me. When I finally got out the restroom, all I could think about were my drinks. I just knew the ice had melted. I got to the table and surprisingly the ice was still chilling.

A.B. was no longer talking, but he was on his phone.

"How did the meeting go?" I sat down and picked up my ice coffee.

"It was better than expected. Short and to the point. Looks like I'll be buying my first property without my old business partner." He sounded excited.

"That's good news, A.B.!" I took a sip of my iced coffee.

"It's not final, but the contract is in the works."

I asked, "Is the property around here? Can we see it?"

A.B. replied, "It's in East Grove. Construction hasn't even started. Judging by how much iced coffee you have left to drink, we can go back to the beach house to put your tea in the refrigerator."

"Ooh! Let's go, because I left my phone there, too."

We walked back to the beach house so I could put my sweet tea in the refrigerator. I immediately grabbed my phone which was on the coffee table on the charger. I checked to see that my mom had called and text me.