43 Coffee

The Uher drops me off at seven o' eight at the coffee shop and I spot Ethan instantly. He's waiting just outside the shop entrance, typing something on his phone. He hasn't spotted me yet because the Uher dropped me off at the corner where there were no vehicles parked. My phone goes off and I pull it out.

-I'm outside the coffee shop are you on your way? I can go inside grab us some coffee and get us a spot?-

I smirk and approach him, "I think that would be great. I'm in need of something to eat though too."

He turns and his eyes brighten as he gives me a once over. "Do you live nearby and just walk here?" 

I shake my head, "No. My Uher dropped me off at the corner. Why?" I ask as he opens the door and allows me to walk in first.

"That explains why I didn't see you approach. So you need sustenance and coffee." He gestures to the menu, "Anything you'd like, on me." 

"You don't have to do that."

"I insist." He shrugs and waves it off and I respond a quiet thank you as I read the menu. After ordering and finding a seat, we wait on our coffee and breakfast croissants with fruit and fresh cream to be prepared. The place has a fair amount of business, it's not packed but steady.

"I hope you slept well last night." I say after we both just sit for a moment in silence between us.

"I did. I slept better than I have in a while. How about you?" 

"I was out cold. I hated my alarm when it went off earlier." I grin, knowing he would understand how I felt about my alarm. I used to love sleeping in, but mostly when I had a reason to.

"I understand, I was deep in my dreams when mine woke me. I wish I could have finished them."

"Oh, the good kind of dreams then?" 

"Yes, they were about.."

"42!" Our order number is called out and Ethan excuses himself to go and take our coffee and food form the woman, bringing it all over one a tray. 

"Wow, this looks delicious!" I exclaim, seeing the large croissant that had a bowl of strawberries and peaches next to it, topped with cream and slivered almonds. My coffee smelled divine as I brought it up to sip and set back down, still quite hot. 

"So Ethan, you're not married I noticed. Are you seeing anyone? I would have thought you would have met a good woman and had a family by now." I remark as I happily begin to enjoy my breakfast.

He lets out a strange noise of discontent, but shrugs, "Not for lack of trying. Everyone just did not work out in the end. I was engaged for a little while, until she broke it off because she wasn't ready to settle down and start a family. Then my last relationship it seemed all we did was argue and bring up things that I had told her and used it as fuel for her spite. That was about a year ago when that one ended. Now that I look back, I'm glad I didn't get married." He says wistfully, as he sips his coffee.

"Why is that?" I ask him, curiously.

"Well the one I was going to marry ended up sleeping around with tons of people. It's a well known fact. That would have been disgusting to find out if we had gotten married." He pulls a face making me chuckle in wide eyed amusement and horror.

"Yes that would have been disgusting. Glad you dodged that bullet." I smile before I take a bite of my breakfast.

"How about you? Was your love life as bad as mine?" He sits forward, elbow on the table and leaning to rest his head on his hand.

I swallow my bite and sip my coffee, "It wasn't much better. Nothing that lasted long enough really to be of any significance. I was still missing you for a time after we broke up, so my past few relationships were within the past five years."

His brows perk up, "Really?" He breathes, "I'm sorry I hurt you so bad." He lays a hand on my own that I had placed on the table, giving it a squeeze.

I pull my hand from his and wave it off, "You don't need to apologize. I realized now, that I was being unreasonable and you didn't deserve that. Jackson helped me realize that and more."

Ethan's eyes pop open wide, "Jackson?! You mean your best friend Jackson?"

I grin proudly, "Yes. We reconnected about six months ago..."

"Why did he never contact you or anything?" 

I'm surprised at how much Ethan remembers. "He had his reasons, mainly that his uncle refused to send the letters he had written. He had been trying to contact me for years and thought I didn't want to talk to him."

"Wow, what a piece of work. But now you have your best friend back! That's great!" He seems genuinely happy for me.

"Yes. I do and it is." I say with a blush rising to my cheeks. That made me think of the drawing Jackson wanted me to do for him. "Oh that reminds me. Excuse me a moment." I pull out my phone and shoot Sarina a text, asking if they had a canvas I could purchase in the dimensions Jackson requested.

"Sorry, Jackson commissioned a drawing and I needed to see if I could order it from my friends business."

Ethan looks even more stunned now, "Wow, you're doing art again too? You have really made some changes in yourself for the better. You have no idea how happy and delighted I am to see that." 

"Thank you, Ethan. I am much happier now than I used to be." I beam at him even though his eyes grow sad.

"You know, I have always regretted how things ended up between us." Ethan states.

My heart aches at the memory but before I can say anything he adds to his statement.

"I think about what I could have done differently to maybe put your mind at ease. I should have told Melissa and Katy that they needed to find a different tutor since they couldn't be respectful to the fact I had you. I could have brought you with me. I should have listened and been more considerate to you."

"Ethan, it's alright. Those situations have helped me learn from them. You can not let the past haunt you. Trust me when I say that you don't want it to." I try to reassure him.

"Yes. I know. I guess it did do you some good though. I mean, you've worked hard on your career and done well for yourself, you have your friends and your art again. You look absolutely stunning, classy and just as beautiful as I always knew you were and would be." Ethan's eyes soften and I'm at a loss for words. "I am incredibly proud of you, Mel."

"Thank you, Ethan." I murmur quietly busying my hands and mouth with my coffee as I shift uncomfortably in my seat.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Ethan sighs, "I just wanted you to know is all." 

"No, thank you Ethan. I know that you're not..." My phone starts ringing and I excuse myself as I see it's Sarina.

"Hey Sarina."

"Hey Melita, I was calling to let you know we don't have that exact canvas size available, but we can make you one of that size. I just need to write a workorder slip for Charlotte. She can have it ready by tomorrow if that's alright with you?" 

"Yes, that will be fine."

"Okay, I'll make sure she gets started on it. Are you painting something or ...?"

"Jackson asked me to draw something for his home wall." I inform her.

"Oh.... really? So you're going to be drawing on the canvas. I should write that down so she uses the finer canvas that we use for water colors. It will be easier to draw on than the normal canvas. Are you on your way to work right now?" Sarina asks cheerfully.

"I'm actually with an old friend right now, having coffee before work." I inform her.

"Oh really?! I'm sorry, why didn't you say something sooner? I'll let you go Melita! Talk to you later!"

"Bye." I hang up, chuckling at her scolding me for not saying something sooner to her. I look up at Ethan who's also smiling at me.

"Sorry about that, she just needed some information from me." I inform him as I check the time before putting my phone away. "We should probably get going if we want to make it to work."

"Yes, of course. I'll get us an Uher and we can share it." He smiles standing to take care of our trash and picking up his coffee. I offer to hold it for him as he takes care of the trash and then gets us an Uher. We chit chat about our work loads as we ride to my office, laughing at the shared groan of the needing to read emails when we first arrive.

"DD Corp." The driver announces when we arrive. 

"Thank you. And thank you, Ethan. Have a good day." I smile at him and open up the car door. 

Ethan leans forward and kisses my cheek, "Have a good day, Mel." 

I'm blushing as I step out of the car and Ethan says, "I'll talk to you later." 

I wave bye to him and take a breath to clear my head. I needed a clear head for today.