44 Book Four Read Online Free

wasn’t that I didn’t like her, it’s just that I never knew what to say to her. She was even quieter than I was and when it was just the two of us working together, there were a lot of strange long silences throughout the evening. I didn’t take it personally. Mo barely talked to anyone. 
    “What’s up, Abby?” Mike said. Both David and Mo were behind the espresso bar.
    “Hey,” I said, taking over the register.
    There were only a few people in line and I took their orders.
    “Super fun times,” David said to me and then told me he was taking his break.
    The first few hours flew by and then the place emptied out and quieted down. Mike went home. He told us that he was forcing himself to leave and have dinner with his wife and kids at least three times a week. Mo nodded a goodbye to him without eye contact.
    It seemed we were destined to have a quiet night. David went in the back to work on inventory and Mo put in the new Chilblains CD. Mike wanted to start promoting some of the local indie bands that played in the clubs on the weekends and gave us a stack of music to go through. He told us to categorize them according to the best times of day to play them. There were various genres. The alternative music could be for the afternoon and evening. And the string quartet would be perfect for the lunch hour.
    David had told me that Mo played in one of the bands in the stack of CDs, and I was looking forward to hearing what she had going on besides, of course, a winning personality.
    “It’s harsh, harsh music,” he whispered, when I had asked about her band.
    Mo had been working at Back Street for three years and David was sure that she was some sort of relative of Mike’s. Mo wasn’t that much older than me, but she seemed like it. David said he sometimes saw her at the clubs on the weekends.
    She turned up the music louder than usual, the bass pumping steadily through my body. The guitar riffs reminded me of the grunge sound of the 90s. It was pretty good stuff, and I made a note to myself to borrow the CD and add some of the songs to my running playlist.
    Two men came in and I dialed down the volume. I took their orders and when their drinks were ready, they headed for opposite corners and sat at small tables.
    “Going on my break,” Mo said, her eyebrow rings glinting in the light. The place was empty now and I was wiping down tables, killing some time.
    “Okay,” I said.
    I watched her for a moment as she walked outside and pulled a cigarette from her pocket, lit it and sat down on the curb. Soon she was engulfed in white smoke.
    I went over to the espresso machine and dumped out the grounds into the bags that we gave out for free to gardeners, and washed out some canisters. David came back up to the front and turned down the music even lower.
    “This band sucks,” he said. “Hey, how’s it going out here?”
    “Good,” I said. “You off soon?”
    “If soon means right now then, yes,” he said, smirking. “Scary, huh? Being left alone with Mo.”
    He laughed. He was just having fun. Out of everybody, David was probably Mo’s favorite. He knew that I was a little intimidated by her.
    “Must be awfully quiet in here with the two of you. Sorry to miss out on all the fun. Just remember. Her bark is worse than her bite. Actually, she doesn’t even have a bite. Really. She’s very cool. Just low energy, that’s all.”
    I shrugged.
    “So how’s that beautiful boyfriend of yours?” he asked as he grabbed a towel and wiped down the counter.
    I gave him a look and held it for a minute before rolling my eyes. I didn’t exactly like that term, and he used it often. I wasn’t even sure if Ty was exactly my boyfriend. We were friends, did things together. Kissed sometimes. I had strong feelings for him. But I told him I needed to go slow, really slow. He said he completely understood and that he wanted to give me room to recover from everything. That’s what we were doing for now. So I wasn’t