Cold Brew and Bullets (Part 1 of the Syndicate Series)

Chapter 3- The New Customer

I couldn't help but smile slightly, "It depends, does your friend have a sugar tooth?"

He hesitated, but I could only think of a couple situations that would explain someone ordering a coffee for someone they knew nothing about. "Meeting or blind date?"

"Date," He muttered grudgingly.

"Does he or she have a favorite food or desert that might give you a hint?"

"I suppose I must have met her before," He confessed, "But I'm not sure."

I tried not to laugh at his predicament. Someone of his stature was probably used to total control in every part of his life, but in that moment, the choice of coffee was crippling him and reducing him to exasperation. "I usually just take mine black or with a little bit of cream, but I've got an idea."

I leaned back to yell through the kitchen window, "Hey Kelly, what's your favorite drink?"

I distantly heard her response from deep near the store room, "Chocolate laced cappuccino with almond milk."

I turned back to the man in front of me, "How about that?"

"That sounds good," He nodded. The daunting man wasn't smiling, but he wasn't scowling anymore, which I considered to be about the same thing. Almost as an afterthought, he added, "A friend of mine also recommended getting the girl some cake, I think it was lemon?"

"That sounds about right," I grinned. I wrapped a piece of it in paper and gave him the total, to which I nodded to the other side of the counter with a small smile, "If you want to wait over there, we'll get your order to you in just a moment."

The man leaned against the wall by our pick up area, absorbed in his phone. I sent him a couple furtive looks, but thankfully he didn't catch me. I stayed at the counter and checked out another couple, but then there was a break in the line. It was the perfect opportunity to check on Mr. Walker, so I walked over to him with a pot of warm coffee, "Are you doing alright?"

He sighed, looking troubled, "It's this darn crossword, Eliana. I'm stuck."

"Maybe I could help? I'm not particularly adept at them, but I could give it a shot."

With his old age, he squinted at the paper, "A man's name, whose pet is both alive and dead. Eleven letters."

I thought for a moment before it clicked. "Schrodinger," I smiled victoriously.

He counted them out and chuckled when it fit. "You nailed it."

"Let me know if you get stuck again," I advised him with a wink and patted his shoulder. I headed back to the counter and felt a pair of eyes on me, an intuition I had honed into a fine sense over my past years, but when I glanced around the shop at the remaining customers, they were all absorbed in their own things. I began to clear up the scattered receipts and cups that littered my area of the counter, but a hand on my shoulder made me jump violently and drop them all again.

Ezrah stepped back, "Woah there. Are you still this jumpy from what happened yesterday?"

"Sorta. Sorry, my nerves are fried and I didn't get a lot of sleep."

"How much sleep?"

"It doesn't matter-"

"How much?"

I sighed and gave in, "A couple of hours, in and out of sleep on my couch."

"Eliana, you have a bed for a reason."

I laughed, "Yeah, I have a mattress on the floor. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful, but I'll sleep wherever I need to. It's all the same to me."

"Why don't you stay with me for a little while? Would it make you feel better?"