Hearts & Minds | WATTY Winner

Chapter 10 | Cuddle Pup | Part 2

     "Oh!" Alexis removed the strainer and handed the cup to Nora, who took a sip.

"Hm. It's good." She was a little surprised, and chided herself for being impatient. If she had insisted on only their special teas, she might have missed this one.

"A wine bar," Alexis said absently. "Your cousin's wine bar."

"The honeybush is delicious. I don't think I've had one this good in quite a while."

She expected Alexis would start giving her the details about how and where it was grown, but instead she said, "Next, let's try Drowsy Puppy. It's the signature tea and the first tea the company produced."

"What's in that?"

"Dead puppies of course!" Alexis laughed. "Just kidding! Wow, you should see the look on your face. Seriously, it's got a little bit of this, a little bit of that."

Nora didn't say anything as she watched the tea preparation. She resisted the urge to ask if there was a client satisfaction survey she could fill out later.

"Would I know the wine they're selling?" Alexis asked. "At your cousin's wine bar?"

"Harvey-Furlan Vineyards. It used to be just Furlan but they recently changed the name."

"Oh!" Alexis gave herself a light bop on the head. "Harvey. Like you. Because you're related!"

"Exactly."

Alexis continued to wait for the tea to steep, and filled the time with a convoluted joke about a teabag and a non-dairy creamer. She seemed restless, her eyes roaming the room. They landed on Rainey and Sam sitting and talking at what had become his regular seat by the window. He'd been there at 11:30 that morning for nearly two hours, then come in again just before Alexis showed up. Even if he didn't consume much, he left enough tip to cover twenty dollars per hour of his time spent sitting in the same spot.

"That's got to be your sister." Alexis turned back to Nora with a strange smile. "Am I right?"

"Actually, she is."

"Who's that hottie with her? He's sexy."

Like tea, Nora thought. Now she was being unkind.

"Oh. He's a friend. I mean, a customer. I mean, a friend who's a customer. Also. As well."

Alexis handed her a cup of Drowsy Puppy. Nora took a careful exploratory sip and had to keep herself from spitting it back into the cup. She forced it down, and tried not to cough too fiercely.

"Drowsy Puppy is...interesting."

Alexis gave her a big smile. "Right? It's my favorite, too. It reminds me of mulled wine and cough syrup, but in a good way."

"Ah. Well. That was going to be my guess."

Nora decided to place an order for the delightful honeybush.

Alexis became more chatty again as they filled out the paperwork, and insisted on giving Nora a "friend's discount." She was new to the city, she admitted, having grown up in Solano County a little more than an hour to the east, and she didn't really know her way around San Francisco yet. She was living in the TenderNob with two roommates. Inexplicably, Nora found herself offering to take Alexis on a tour of her favorite places during her next day off, even though they really had nothing in common. But why not? She needed a distraction other than work to keep her mind off Theo. A new friend, even one who talked as much as Alexis, would fit the bill.

Before bed that night, Nora checked her email. Most of it was junk, but there was one that caught her eye. She scrolled back to it. Every now and then, she received notices from LinkedIn that so-and-so wanted to connect with her—usually other small business owners or tea sellers. This one was different. It was from Gene Furlan.