Page 22 (1/2)

I took the stairs up to the second floor where the coffee shop was, grabbed"And good reeted ular, the decaf, and the coffee of the day brewing Do you want to take care of the bakery case? The delivery’s already come"

"Yeah, sure, I’ll do that," I said

She blinked, frowned, and sniffed as I spoke "You’ve got coffee breath!" she accused

"Do I need a mint?"

"You had coffee on your way to work in a coffee shop? Again?"

I glanced around to ers in earshot "You knoell as I do that our coffee is nasty"

"All coffee is nasty to rees of nastiness"

"Don’t tell anyone!" I begged as I opened a bakery box and started arranging pastries on the trays that fit in the display case "But really, we resell second-rate pastries--at a huge markup--and we make terrible coffee, and people still buy it because it’s supposedly gour coffee in a bookstore makes them feel smart"

She filled an insulated carafe with the regular coffee "And this store would’ve gone under ages ago without us The coffee shop is our biggest profit center, believe it or not"

I stopped working and glanced over at her "Do you ever feel like working here is giving you bad kara bookstore financially viable Thatof a Nobel prize We’re practically heroes!"

"I guess that’s one way to look at it We’re subsidizing literacy But that doesn’t make the coffee any better"

Then we had to stop criticizing our employer as the store opened for the day and patrons ca caffeine fix I wanted to stand on the counter and tell theot me fired, then maybe I’d be forced to find a better job But I was too busy to give in to the temptation Those lattes didn’trush ended, and we had a chance to catch our breath before the lunch rush Florence wiped down the counters while I cleared tables, stacking the abandoned books on a shelving cart Florence glanced into one of the carafes and said, "There’s about a cup left Do you want it, or should I just throw it out before I ular or the coffee of the day?"

"It’s the regular"