"A small Cinnamon Dulce Latte, please?"
I smiled and turned around to grab a mug as the front door opened. I handed our customer her hot coffee as a tall man with long, wavy brown hair walked up to the counter and glanced down at the tarts and pies. He ordered a large cup of coffee and pulled out five dollar bills from his leather wallet.
"Anything else for you sweetie?" I asked, handing him his change.
"No, thank you." he turned around and glanced for a seat. I took a square of almond brownie and watched as he walked up to a young woman. Stephanie was in her early thirties and was a devoted customer, who brought her keyboard every week to the bakery whenever her life was to much to handle. She would sit for hours and play chords and scales. When she would stop to look out the window and sip her cold coffee everyone would stop what they were doing to glance at her for the sudden absence of music.
Three people walked through the door and ordered. For years I have watched foolish boys and lovesick girls, patient elders and unexperienced teenagers walk through these doors and live their lives. They studied on their Macs, cried with a friend over a slice of pound cake, break somebodys hearts and play the keyboard on rainy days.
So I am going to tell you the stories that have happened over the years here, at Sweet Lady Jane.
I pressed my fingers against the keys, causing a warm melody to dance around the small bakery.
"Is this seat taken?"
I glanced up to find a young man standing over me. I smiled back and removing my fingers from the black and white keys I took my Coach purse off the chair across from me.
"No, no. Please sit down, Chris." I sighed.
He pulled up the chair and sat down at my table.
"So, what is a beautiful woman like you doing at a little bakery on a Friday night?" he smiled at me, flicking his wavy, long, chocolate brown hair behing his ear.
"Thanks, you're too modest." I gave him a false smile and turned to the blurred window to find a reflection of a girl.
She had tired dark blue eyes and dirty blonde shoulder length hair that messily laid over her head. The girl seemed in pain and lost. But her reflection was destroyed by the drops of rain that fell on the window and was replaced by a view of the pedestrians walking down the street carrying large blue umbrellas and black heeled boots.
"No, I'm not." He drew me back from my daydreaming. "Shouldn't you be clubbing, or working?"
"No." I frowned. "I'm a hair dresser, I don't think anyone would want to get their hair done just to step outside and have it ruined by the rain." he took my hand and brought it to his lips and kissed it gently.
"Well, Stephanie, you must be the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." he smiled and brought his hand to my face, caressing my cheek lovingly. "I just want to swim in your eyes, Steph."
I pushed his hand away from me. "Like I haven't heard that one before." I furrowed my eyebrows.
"But I mean it. How you're so casual, the way you smell like lavender and how you look at things. When I look at you I want to be a better person, I want to hold you." His hands reached under the table and squeezed my knee.
"Chris, stop." I growled.
"But Steph, you gotta admit the attraction between us."
"I don't have to admit to anything!" I hissed.
"Is everything okay here?" Mrs. Jane walked up to us. Her kind, old eyes peirced into Chris's and he let go of my leg.
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you." I smiled.
"Oh, Stephanie dear. You are the one of the only people that call me ma'am." she smiled kindly. I was born in North Carolina, yep, quite a long way from California. I came to Los Angeles when I turned nineteen and was lucky enough to get a scholorship to UCLA. Now that I have lived here for almost ten years I called it home but never lost my southern manners nor my accent.
"Thank you Mrs. Jane." I gave her a faux smile and hoped she would believe it.
"My dear, you are always playing the most beautiful things, if you won't let me pay you,an you at leasy have a brownie. It's on me! I know how you are, with no animal flesh and being vegen and all, but these have almond milk and sea salt. I know you love them..." Mrs. Jane continued to chatter but she would never understand that I had a job and was playing for my own entertainment. As much as I loved her, she could not stop with those darn brownies!
"No thank you. I am sure they're great but I just had dinner and don't want anything sweet."
She smiled and gave up, walking back to the counter.
I turned to Chris where he had been playing with my ring on my finger. I couldn't admit that his strong figures made me melt, his muscles bulged out of his red cotton shirt.
"Steph, I think I love you." he looked into my eyes. My eyes that began to water.
"No. No, why-"
"Listen. I have loved you for a long time. I love the way your eyes light up when you play the piano, how you are so obsessed with the vegen thing-" I opened my mouth to interrupt.
"No, listen." His perfect lips formed the words I couldn't stand to here. "I love you. I love waking up in the morning and to see you there laying next to me, the way your body moves, how it reacts when you here music and how you laugh..." he chuckled.
"Chris! Stop!" I stood up, tears running down my cheeks and ignored the shocked looks from the people sitting in the bakery, including Chris.
"Enough of this!" I pulled my bag over my shoulder and walked toward the door.
"Steph! I'll be here tomorrow. Seven AM-"
"Darling! Your keyboard..." Mrs. Jane called after me.
"I'll pick it up tomorrow." I yelled and walked out the door and let the cold rain soak me. I ran across the street, avoiding the blinding headlights of cars and their deafening honks. When I reached the sanctuary of North Orlando, just a street away from Sweet Janes, I unlocked the door of my apartment.
"Home at last." I muttered to myself and dropped my purse in the hallway. I pressed my boots off my feet and walked to my bedroom. I jumped into the silky purple sheets and kicked off my skinny jeans. In a tank top and my undies I pressed the pillow to my chest and cried myself to sleep.
*****
Early Saterday morning, I got up and took a much needed shower. When I got out and dried, I walked into the small kitchen and ate a bowl of cereal. Crunching on the Frosted Flakes, I wondered if I was really going to go to Sweet Lady Jane. He said he would be there at seven, so I would only have thirty minutes and I couldn't be a wimp.
I rinsed the bowl and hoped that the reliably warm weather would let me wear Ann Taylor capris and a Banana Republic T-shirt. I slipped into my wedges and walked down to Sweet Lady Jane with fifteen minutes to spare.
The sign above the door read:
sweet lady jane
Fine Deserts
coffee and tea
In truth, I was afraid to walk into bakery. I didn't want to face what I should have confronted two years ago. But he thought I was weak, he never thought I was beautiful or mearly close to good enough to be with him. When he proposed two years ago, I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world, being proposed to by a man that was a womans dream. Strong muscles, charming personality, smarts, money and it was all in Chris.
I pulled the door opened and the bell rang of my arrival.
"Good morning! Welcome to Sweet Lady Jane!" an excited voice called as I stepped into the brightly lit bakery. The smells of freshly baked cookies filled my nose. I looked up to the ceiling, to see the beautiful designs, the walls were light green and the glass windows leaked of sunshine.
"What can I get for you today?" Probably the waitress, Shelby. Only Shelby could be that excited at six-thirty in the morning. I ordered a white chocolate mocha and shuffled to a small table at the edge of the bakery and sipped at my hot coffee. I remembered my keyboard and wondered where Jane might have left for me when I noticed the back of Chris's head sitting across the room. I opened my mouth to call to him, when I realized that he was sitting with his employé, Barbara.
Chris was a very successful manager of a French resteraunt, C'est La Vie. Barbara was a chef at his resteraunt that I accused multiple times of having a "special" relationship with Chris. But he denied it and told me that I was simply 'paranoid'.
I nearly dropped my coffee cup on my lap when I heard what he said.
"...when I look at you I want to be a better person, I love waking up in the morning and to see you there laying next to me, the way your body moves, how it reacts when we kiss and how you laugh..." I stared as he leaned over and kissed her.
Tears swelled in my eyes as Jane walked in through the bakery doors.
"My dear! What is it?" she said in a hushed tone as she reached over to patt my shoulder. She looked over to Chris's table. That was what he said to me last night! What was he doing?
"Oh, my! I should have known. I never liked him..." I was getting tired of this. I stood up and walked toward Chris.
"You disgusting bastard!" I screamed at him. He turned to me in shock and stood up.
"Miss Stephanie!" Barbara shrieked. "It's not what you think!"
"Shut up, whore!" I yelled. "Do you truly think he loves you! A stupid nobody!"
"Steph, calm down. We can talk about this like adults..." Chris placed his hand on my cheek.
"No! Don't touch me!" I smacked his cheek angrily. "I am filing for divorce, I was going to give you a second chance! But you were only screwing around with me, now you're gonna have to take this up with my lawyer." I pulled the ring off of my finger and threw it at him. "I should have known two years ago that this would happen when I paid your rent for you, gave you that restaraunt that you would never have the smarts to get without me and when I gave you the best thing you ever had, me!"
And I ran out of the bakery.
I walked under the construction of the billboard next to Sweet Lady Jane and sat under a pipes. I pulled my legs so my chest and cried. I shook with anger as people would walk by and give me looks of pity.
"Hello? Mrs. Stephanie Roberts?"
I looked up to find a short bald headed man standing over me.
"Yes?" I wiped my eyes.
"Do you remember me? I heard you playing at Sweet Lady Jane and I told you to expect my call. I am Ray Aymere"
"Yes, yes..." my voice cracked.
"Well, as you know, my restaurant is looking for live entertainment..." Yes! He owned one of the most popular restaurants in LA!
"So if you are available to consider employment at our restaurant, we would love you!"
"Yes, of course!" I beamed. "When would you like me to come by your office to give you my resume?"
"Tonight, if you like!" he grinned. "I love your spunk young lady, that is exactly why I wanted you, and well also your music."
"Yes, yes of course. I would love to!"
"Great. See you then!"
The next week I played for hours, and I knew that was were I belonged. Who cared about Chris? All I need is Mozart and Elton John, and maybe I could get a boyfriend...
"Steph? Is that you?" My fingers left the keys as the voice brought back memories.
"Tyler!" I turned around. Tyler was my best friend in high school. But that was North Carolina, he stayed with no intentions of coming to California with me. He was my first kiss, my date to prom, his blond hair covered his forest green eyes that I have always longed for. "What are you doing here?" I stood up and pulled down my strapless black dress.
"Well, we are almost thirty years old and it was about time I found you!" his accent so thick he sounded ridiculous. I turned around and found him sitting at a table across the piano. "Sit down, Steph. Do you remember Catrina?" he asked as I pulled a chair from the table and sat.
"Yes..." Catrina was one of Tylers many horses. Did I mention that Tyler was a huge cowboy. His family owned a farm, and he didn't own a car.
"Well, we got into an accident. Catrina didn't make it, but I was fine. She risked her life for me, so while I was at the vet I remembered what you said when we where graduating. "I want to make something of my life, I wanna be somebody." But then you still had that mesmerizing accent." he grinned.
"I am so sorry Tyler. But what does that mean? Why are you here?"
"Remember in biology class in the last month of school, how we were talking about colleges and you told me that I should take on cooking?"
"Yes! As a matter of fact I do! You make the best southern food I have ever tasted."
"Well, I found this bakery...sweet lady jane. And I am now the pastery chef. Isn't that great?"
"Oh, yes! I missed you so much!" I squealed.
"Well, before we can catch up on things, wanna dance?" he gave me a warm smile that I couldn't resist.
"But won't they notice that I have stopped playing?" I asked.
"You suck anyways, they won't notice."
I laughed as my hands wrapped around his broad shoulders and his hands lingered around the small of my back. He wouldn't touch me anymore tonight. Being to much of a gentleman he would be too shy to kiss me when he drops me off at my apartment. It was nice that there was a real Southern boy out here that would only love that one crazy Southern girl for her personality and not her beauty.
"As I walked in I saw you speaking to an older man. He said that he would like you to play in his restaurant and so when he walked away I asked him when restaurant he owned and he told me. But why don't you tell me why you were crying."
"Only if you take me out to lunch tomorrow." I giggled.
"I was gonna ask anyway."
We laughed as we swayed with desire to the chatter of the customers.
I hope you guys enjoyed it and will read the rest of the Sweet Lady Jane series when it is posted.
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125,007 Literary Works • 672,815 Reviews
This is a charming story. I absolutely love the plot but I do have some things to point out. But first, I need to ask: Is English your first language? I'm asking because I found a lot of spelling mistakes and would like to offer my help in editing your works.
So, all in all this is a very interesting piece. I love, love, love the story and besides the spelling mistakes and some grammatical errors I absolutely adored it. Happy writing!
Hello there.
I'll begin with the nitpicks and then go on with my overall impression of the story.
Overall, it was a cute story. Like many other reviewers said though, it's missing some parts. I feel like the transitions between all of it is a little bit off. And it's a little bit random that her best friend is there The fact that they come from another town, and meet again in LA... It's not impossible, but it would be better if you told us the reason of him being in town. Maybe Stephanie could ask him when they are dancing or something, and they could talk, so the read has a little more information.
You did a great job and I'm looking forward to the next short stories!
-Other One
Absolutely amazing!
I know I am going to love these short stories!
Please keep writing them and
just a qusetion are these short story going
to be linked together apart form the fact they are
in the same bakery store?
<3
I liked it. but it seems a little rushed and has a lot of holes in the story. Give some background to the characters. They don't have structure and i couldn't really relate to them. And i also wanted to know what the coffee shop looked like. Also, I was confused about who was talking from time to time. So i suggest working on your transitions from character to character. And you also have some spelling mistakes. But other than that, I liked it. Keep writing!!!
I want to say this was absolutely AMAZING and fantastically done. I have a few corrections to point out. The things that I corrected shall be in red.
I think you had meant this to be #FF0000 ">customer. I believe this was just a spelling mistake due to fast typing as it happens to us all, and wish to just point it out so you could fix it^^
Next:
I think it would be best to have "from his leather wallet." since you had already stated before he had pulled the four dollars out of his wallet, this is just a suggestions you do not have to correct it if you do not wish it. It will sound fine either way.
I think you had meant to say "their" not there in this sentence. ^^No worries I do the same very much as I am very fast and make more mistakes than I should, haha
I believe it should be "their" again and also I think you should have "peoples' " since its their hearts and shows ownership I do not know for sure if that is right but I had figured since it was ownership it should be there. Once again a tip that you may or may not choose to follow. Its simply a friendly help.
I believe it should be "you're" instead of your.^^
I believe it is spelled "obsessed"
I believe it is "tomorrow" but if its cause of the southern accent then its ok^^ I do not know much about accents so I was just wondering.
I think its spelled "deafening."
All in All I thoroughly enjoyed this story and hope to read more. I would love to point out that I didn't mean to point things out to be mean, just to help.^^ I really love your work and hope to read more very soon. Good luck and Happy writing!!!!
Soulkana<3