Sugar & Spice

Chapter 3

Quinn didn't show up the next day. Crissy tried not to look up from her work every time the little bell over the door jingled, signaling the arrival of a customer...but she couldn't stop herself. And every time she looked, a faint stab of disappointment hit her right below the ribcage when it wasn't Quinn.

She really shouldn't care this much. He was a customer, nothing more. She already knew that...so why was she having such a hard time making herself believe it? She could still fill his firm handshake sometimes, no matter how hard she tried not to think about it.

As the day started winding down and there were only a few lingering customers at their laptops, avoiding the swirling Colorado snowstorm outside, Amy wandered into the kitchen, pulled out a container of chocolate ice-cream from the freezer, and set it on the counter next to Crissy. She stuck a spoon in Crissy's hand and pointed at the ice-cream.

"You've hardly eaten at all today," she said.

Crissy shrugged. "Not very hungry I guess. Too busy. I'm ready for Valentine's Day to be over already."

Amy gave her spoon a thorough licking, getting every bit of chocolate left.

"It's a blizzard out there, Cris," she said. "He'll come around tomorrow."

"I don't know who you're..."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, don't play dumb. Quinn. Mr. Sexy."

Crissy pointed her spoon at Amy. "You have to stop calling him that."

"I'm just saying what practically everyone is thinking."

"Not always a good thing. Besides, if you say it often enough, it makes my chances of accidentally calling him that to his face a hundred percent more likely."

"Well that would certainly make for an interesting conversation starter..."

"Amy," Crissy warned.

She sighed. "Fine, I won't call him that." She paused and took another large spoonful of ice-cream. "Out loud anyway."

Crissy started to protest, but she was cut short by the burst of Latin dance music blaring from Amy's back pocket.

"That would be my man," she said, hopping off her stool and pulling her phone out. "I'll be right back." She started to head out of the kitchen then paused at the door. "And don't think this is the end of the discussion. I'm totally pestering you more when I get back."

"I wouldn't expect anything different," she replied.

"Good."

Crissy shook her head. She really shouldn't care. She'd only seen the guy twice, one time to talk to him, and the other ogling him from afar which technically shouldn't even count. But she couldn't quite squash the feeling of disappointment that Quinn hadn't shown up. He'd been...nice. Friendly. She had liked the banter between them, no matter how brief and one-sided it may have been, since she was too tongue-tied to answer most of the time. She hadn't allowed herself to receive that kind of attention from a guy in...exactly two years. And a very small part of her enjoyed it.

Amy popped her head back into the kitchen and waved her phone in the air.

"Manu got stuck in the snow on his way home from the studio," she said. "And of course he forgot to put snow tire chains in the back of the truck. He's not going anywhere."

"That's what you get for dating a guy who grew up on the beaches of Venezuela," Crissy replied.

"Yeah, yeah, but he's cute. I better go rescue my prince charming from the snow-pocalypse. I'll pester you about McHottie later."