Sweet and Spicy [COMPLETED]

A New Job

Kaya breezed through the doors of Cafe Dulcis. "Sorry, I'm late!" 

Noel, the owner and operator, didn't turn from the espresso machine. "Normally, I don't forgive tardiness on your first day, but since it's you, I'll go ahead and let it go. Don't be late again." 

"Yes, ma'am." 

"Table five needs sugar cookies and snicker-doodles." 

"Yes, ma'am!" Kaya snatched a frilly pink apron from a hook behind the counter. 

This wasn't the first cafe she had ever worked in, but it was her first time being paid staff. Before, she didn't have to worry about pay. She lived above the store with her mom and they made ends meet with the profits. Too bad that life was behind her now. She missed it. 

At least here, in Cafe Dulcis, Kaya felt at home. Pastries and coffee made the sweetest smells. 

At least here, in the city, Kaya could work hard enough to make her mother proud. 

A large group of office-attired men and women entered the cafe. 

"Who are they?" Kaya hooked a thumb over her shoulder toward them. 

Noel barely glanced up. "Conditus office workers." 

"Conditus?" Kaya replenished the chocolate chip cookies as she spoke. 

"It's the giant tower across the street. You can't miss it."

"That whole building is theirs?" 

"That's what happens when you're the number one PR company in the world."

"Oh." Kaya didn't know how to respond to that. Noel seemed to think she should know everything already. She had barely been in the city a week. She couldn't possibly know all that.

"Baklava for table seven!" 

Kaya went into motion. The art of serving sweets took all her concentration and left no time for thought on other things. If only because she had grown up around them, Kaya couldn't imagine her life without sweets and pastries. 

She had come to the city on her own, a fact that settled sorrow into Kaya's bones. There was nothing familiar here. She was all alone. 

But, she had her friends. Cookies, pastries, coffee, toffee. 

If she could stay around her old friends and make enough money to live, Kaya knew she could find her purpose in life. 

If only she had known the complications coming her way.