Coffee and Cafés - Book Two of the Café Latte Trilogy

Con Panna

Oh my *gosh* when I originally wrote this chapter, I had just adopted my puppy, Levi! He lives with my parents now (I got too sick to look after a dog, unfortunately, wheelchairs and dog walkies do not mix very well). I actually have two cats - Liquorice and Jellybean. Do you have any pets?

Love, Cam

♡

PS. I've attached a photo of my babies! The mostly white one is Jelly, the mostly black one is Licky. Don't be fooled by their resting bitch faces, they're both the neediest, most cuddly babies.

*****

Con Panna

"Oh just fucking end me."

I looked at Chris. "Gladly, but I'm going to need a reason to give the court when I go to trial."

Chris looked up with a very, very anguished expression. "I just got an email from Matt."

"Matt, the guy who did my job before me?" I asked, and Chris nodded. "Okay, I'm not getting the bad side of this yet. Can you please tell him to actually email me back? I have a desk drawer full of notes that I found when clearing out his office that make absolutely no sense to any regular person."

"What is all the whining about?" Misa asked, exiting her office to see what we were discussing. "It's nine in the morning, it's too early for drama."

"Matt just emailed me," Chris turned to the email and read it out in a high-pitched reedy voice, "Hi Chris, I know I noted this down somewhere but turns out I forgot to tell Misa to put it in the calendar. The account reviewer is coming today! Sorry I forgot, nightmare lol."

Misa gaped at him. "The account reviewer is due today?!"

"When you say account reviewer," I said, feeling the stress level rising in the office dramatically. "I take it you mean the independent person that comes to review the accounts to make sure we aren't scamming people?"

"Yes," Misa replied, looking aghast. "We haven't prepared anything! Angelo isn't even in the country! What the fuck, Matt."

I frowned, reaching over to the leftmost cabinet and taking out the box of Matt's notes that I hadn't been able to decipher. I flicked through until I found one that could potentially be him noting down the reviewer coming.

"Delany, three-fifteen, eight," I read out. "It's the eighth today, does Delany ring a bell as a name?"

"I'd have to check to see who was our last reviewer, it could have been her," Misa sighed, massaging her head. "I can't believe he did this to us. I bet he did it on purpose just to fuck with Angelo for firing him."

I took a deep breath. "Okay, Angelo not being here is something we can easily explain, we just tell her what happened with his father. It's a family emergency, not exactly his fault. We'll divide and conquer. Can you, Ian, and Chris take on the daily stuff, while Barbie and I go through what we need for the reviewer?"

"Yes," Misa said gratefully. "Thank you, just tell me what you had planned. Barbie should be back from the bank soon."

"Good," I replied. "We've got until three-fifteen, I think, so it'll be tight, but we'll get it done. It just might not be as perfect as you'd like it to be. Misa, try to get in touch with Matt for any further information, okay?"

"On it," Misa muttered, dialling Matt's number ferociously and disappearing back into her office.

"I know everyone's passwords except Barbie's," I groaned, opening the nearest cabinet. "I'll make some copies of statements while I wait."