COOL BEANS

by Erynn Mangum

  Reasons I Am a Fan of Chocolate:

  1. It is full of antioxidants.

  2. It has whatever those chemicals are called that induce a happy feeling in your brain.

  3. They have proven that people who eat a small daily amount of chocolate are better off physically, mentally, and emotionally than people who don’t.

  4. Um… it taastes good.

  Popping the movie in, I settle down with Calvin on the sofa. I have one bite in my mouth, and we’ve just watched Julia Roberts review a restaurant’s odd-looking food.

  “That looks gross,” I tell Calvin, pointing with my spoon.

  “Roo!” he agrees.

  My phone rings right as I finish slurping the last of the milk out of my bowl. I push the pause button on the DVD remote. “Hello, my loveliest mother,” I say.

  Mom laughs. “Okay, so you either don’t answer the phone well, or you answer it so well that it makes me think you want something from me.”

  “Only your unconditional love, Mommy.”

  “As long as you don’t repeat puberty, I can probably promise that.”

  “Well, thanks.” I roll my eyes at Calvin.

  “What?” Mom protests. “You have to remember how horrible you were as a thirteen-year-old.”

  “As a matter of fact, I don’t.”

  “You must have mentally blocked it because you were terrible. Everything made you burst into tears, and poor Zachary couldn’t even walk through the room without something being hurled through the air at him.”

  I gape at Calvin. “Okay, that part I do remember! He definitely deserved every single one of those things being thrown at his head. He was mean. It wasn’t my fault my acne was so bad.”

  Mom laughs. “The bad part about having a boy and a girl four years apart like you two are. You both went through puberty around the same time.”

  “Someday I might forgive him.”

  “Anyway, I didn’t call to talk about you throwing things at your brother.”

  “Okay.” I let Calvin lick the Cocoa Puffs remains out of the bowl and push stop on the remote, settling in for a long conversation.

  “It’s Zachary’s birthday on Monday, so I think we should celebrate it on Sunday since you’re coming for dinner.” Mom gets all giddy. “It will be his first family birthday party since he left for college!”

  I take the bowl back from Calvin before he licks through the ceramic. “Okay, sounds good.”

  “Now. What are you getting him for his birthday?”

  I frown. “Um. Probably the same thing I’ve gotten him for the last eight years.”

  “What?”

  “A card.”

  “Maya,” Mom chides, “you can’t be more creative? This is a big birthday. This is the last time he has the word twenty in his age.”

  I scratch Calvin’s ears. “So, what should I get him?”

  “Actually, I already have an idea for you.”

  “I figured.”

  “Funny, Maya. No, I think you should give Zach a gift certificate for a massage. He’s been complaining for the last week about his neck hurting.”

  “Doesn’t he work in a hospital? Couldn’t they take care of that for him?”

  Mom ignores me. “And if you want to splurge a little, you could give him a whole day at the spa.”

  I make a face at Calvin. “This is Zach we’re talking about, Mom. I cannot picture him in a spa, and I’m not sure I want to.”

  “But it’s so relaxing. I think he’d love it.”

  “Mom.”

  “Okay, he wouldn’t. But he would if he’d let himself.”

  I laugh. “I know what to get you for your birthday. So what are you getting him?”

  “Your father and I got him an engraved stethoscope.”

  “I thought you got him that for graduation.”

  “No, for graduation, we got him an engraved briefcase.”

  “Oh. Nice.” I glance at the clock. “Well, I’m not sure what I’ll get him then. But I actually need to get ready to go to Bible study.”

  “Okay, sweetheart. Well, we’ll probably meet at that steakhouse we always went to when you were a little kid.”

  “Sounds good. Love you, Mom.”

  “Love you, too. Have a good night.”

  I hang up and pull on a pair of sneakers. Calvin starts hopping around excitedly, running for his leash.

  “Aww, baby, we’re not going on a walk.”

  “Roo!”

  I take the leash from him and have him sit down, trying to explain. “It’s Wednesday. I have Bible study.”

  He cocks his head at me.

  “Bible study,” I say, louder. “I have to go.”

  “Roo?”

  “Like every Wednesday night. But how about we have a bowl of ice cream together when I get home?”

  “Roo! Roo!”

  “Okay.” I smile and rub his ears. Like owner, like dog. Ice cream can cure just about anything.

  Jack is pulling into the parking lot right as I do. “Hi again, Maya.” He grins, climbing out of his truck.

  “Your face has to be killing you after all that smiling.”

  He grins wider. “My cheeks are kind of sore. Nothing like Canis’s, though. He’s so happy, he can’t stop singing.”

  Once again, like owner, like dog.

  I wonder if there’s a legal limit of how many times you can think that in one evening. If not, there probably should be.

  He follows me into Cool Beans. Lisa and my other co-worker, Rachel, are busily making lattes.

  “Want anything?” Jack asks.

  “Mmm. Nah. I’m fairly close to the lethal limit of caffeine consumed. I should probably pass.”

  “Suit yourself.” He goes to the counter. “Hey, Rachel. Can I get a decaf caramel cinnamon latte?”

  Ooh. That sounds good. I lick my lips, thinking about the gooey caramel topping, the creamy milk, the slightly roasted taste of espresso… .

  “Sure thing, Jack,” Rachel says. She starts foaming the milk, and the espresso machine begins whirring.

  Resist, resist…

  I clamp my hands together. “I’m going to go find a seat,” I say in a hoarse voice, heading for the row of chairs in the back of the room. If you can take yourself out of the place of temptation, it always goes better.

  I find a couple of chairs, lay my Bible on one, and drop my jacket on the other to save them.

  “Evening, Maya.”

  “Hi, Andrew.”

  I squint at the oversized Viking and frown. “Did you iron your shirt?”

  He shifts in his almost-crispy button-down. “Why?”

  “And what’s with the dark-rinsed jeans?”

  “What?”

  I point. “And you’re wearing loafers,” I over-enunciate. “What happened to your Pumas? And your carpenter jeans? And your wrinkled polo shirt?”

  He sighs. “What’s with you being all overly observant?”

  “I did have six cups of coffee today.”

  “Oh.” He gapes. “That’s bad for you.”

  “Probably. It smelled good.”

  He grins.

  Jack comes over holding two to-go cups. “Here,” he says, handing me one. “Wipe the drool off your chin.”

  “Jack!” I pop the lid and inhale the sweet scent of caramel and cream. “Thank you! You didn’t have to do that!”

  “Yeah, really. You didn’t have to do that,” Andrew says. “She’s had a more-than-healthy dose of that drug already today.”

  “Decaf,” Jack whispers to Andrew.

  “Boys, I’m hyped up on caffeine. I’m not deaf.”

  Jack takes a swig of his drink and looks at Andrew. “What’s with the dressing up today?”

  Andrew rolls his eyes. “You guys act like I never look nice!”

  “Um. You don’t,” I say.

  “Well, thank you, Maya, that’s very sweet.”

  “It’s true,” I say, matter-of-factly. “You never look awful, but you do
n’t usually look this good.”

  “I look good?” He straightens his already cracklingly straight shirt. “Thanks,” he says, smiling.

  I glance at Jack, who’s grinning behind his coffee cup. “Okay. Who’s the girl?”

  Andrew physically brushes aside my question. “Don’t be ridiculous, Maya. Anyway, it’s time to start the study.” He leaves us and heads toward the front of the circle of chairs, sofas, and tables he created.

  I move my Bible and sit in my chair, cradling my coffee with both hands. “So, who’s your bet?” I ask Jack, pulling my jacket onto my lap so he can sit down.

  He sits and looks at Andrew, frowning as he thinks. “Tough call. I have a hard time picturing Andrew with any girl.”

  “Jack!”

  “What? He’s just kind of rough around the edges.”

  I think about that one. “True. But still, he probably wants a girlfriend as much as the next guy.”

  “Okay, everyone settle down,” Andrew yells across the little coffee house. The crowd disperses to find their seats, taking their Bibles and legal addictive stimulants. “Welcome back to the book of Proverbs.”

  Jen and Travis duck in right then. Jen falls into the chair next to me; Travis is right beside her. “What did I miss?” she whispers to me.

  “Andrew ironed his clothes,” I hiss back.

  She straightens in her chair and stares at him. Scrunching back down, she leans over. “Who’s the girl?”

  I try to hide a giggle behind my cup.

  “So, if everyone would quiet down and turn there …” Andrew continues, glaring at me and Jen.

  I smile an apology and flip open my Bible.

  Travis stretches his arm around Jen’s shoulders, and they settle in for the study. I scoot over an inch or two so his hand isn’t resting on my shoulder. Can anyone say awkward?

  I look at Jack, and he’s watching me. He gives me a comforting wink.

  “All-righty, Proverbs chapter 14 please. ‘A truthful witness does not deceive, but a false witness pours out lies’” (NIV).

  I hold in a sigh. Is it just me, or is Proverbs kind of repetitive?

  Andrew looks up. “We talked about this subject of honesty in a lot of detail last week, so I’m not going to go over it again. I just want to say, for those of you who weren’t here, that honesty is not the best policy. According to this,” he thumps his Bible, “it’s the only policy, like my mom used to say.” He looks around. “We discussed how a half-truth or just not telling the truth is the same as a lie.”

  I hold my coffee cup tighter.

  “And I want to talk a little about the word witness in this verse.” Andrew looks around. “What are you witnessing for? Christ? Yourself? Your desires?”

  My hands are clenched so tightly around the coffee that the lid pops off with a thoink! It clatters on the floor. “Oh!” I say, without thinking.

  Andrew, along with the rest of the Bible study, turns to look at me.

  “Sorry,” I say, picking up the lid. I clear my throat. “Um. Go ahead.”

  Andrew gives me a weird look, but keeps teaching for the next forty-five minutes on the rest of chapter 14.

  When the study ends, about half the people leave and half stay and mingle. Jack takes my empty cup and goes to throw away both of ours. I look at Jen, but she’s busy talking to Travis about the lesson.

  “I think he’s so right,” she says. “Especially about that witness part — it’s so easy to forget that it’s not just when we’re sharing the gospel that we’re witnessing.”

  Travis is nodding. “Yeah, I agree.”

  I stand and start toward the counter to talk to Lisa, but I get sidetracked when I see Andrew close his Bible and make a beeline for a certain cute redhead who has been dimpling up around him for the past year.

  “Hi, Liz,” Andrew says, grinning nervously.

  “Great lesson, Andrew.” She smiles.

  “Oh. Thanks,” he says in a rush.

  I clamp my mouth shut to keep from saying “Awww!” out loud. How cute is this? I’ve never seen Andrew so nervous in my whole life.

  Liz looks adorable and still way too beautiful to be interested in rough and dirty Andrew, but then again, he did iron tonight, didn’t he?

  Jack comes over. “What are you grinning at?”

  I point to Andrew and Liz.

  “Oh,” he says slowly. “I think I know the reason that iron finally got pulled out of the box.” He laughs.

  “What a predictable goofball. Why is it that when guys meet a girl they like, they immediately shower more often?”

  “You’d prefer we didn’t?” Jack asks, grinning.

  “No, I’m just saying it’s predictable. You might as well wear a big sign saying, ‘I Like You.’” I look up at him. “Have you ever done that for a girl?”

  “Showered?”

  “No, just cleaned up a lot.”

  He thinks about it. “Yep.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Seventh grade. Her name was Allison, and she was my neighbor down the street.”

  I grin. “It didn’t work out?”

  “No, she ended up going to an out-of-state college the next year.”

  “College?” I gape at him. “Gosh, Jack. Have a thing for older women you never told me about?”

  “Come on, Nutkin. It was the seventh grade. With all those hormones floating through their systems, junior-high boys could have a crush on a Muppet.”

  I laugh.

  He grins at me. “What are you doing now?”

  “Talking to you.”

  “I meant, now that Bible study is over?”

  I shrug. “I promised Calvin I’d share a bowl of ice cream with him, but he doesn’t typically have a great memory, so I’m not really tied to that plan.”

  Jack frowns. “Calvin eats ice cream?”

  “He loves it.”

  “That’s not necessarily the best thing to feed a dog, Pattertwig.”

  I brush aside his concern. “Calvin has been building up an immunity to frozen sugary milk since he was a puppy.”

  Jack laughs. “Okay then. Well, want to change out the company and go with me to Dairy Queen?”

  “I don’t know. Can I get a dipped cone?”

  He pretends to think about it. “Maybe.”

  “Then I’ll maybe go.”

  Dairy Queen is open until midnight, but based on the crowd there, I think they’d save money closing earlier. The two lonely employees almost break the Blizzard machine in their excitement about having actual customers.

  “Hi!” one of them bursts. “Welcome! We’re glad you’re here! Do you want ice cream?!”

  Jack almost takes a step backward. “Uh, yeah.”

  “Great!”

  I smile at the guy. “Can I have a chocolate-dipped cone with sprinkles, please?”

  “Of course you can,” the guy says. “Choco-dip for the lady, and for you, sir?”

  Jack glances at the menu. “An Oreo Blizzard, please.”

  “Done and done.” He tells us the total.

  I reach for my wallet tucked in my purse, but Jack beats me to it. “Oh, no you don’t, Nutkin,” he says, handing the man a ten-dollar bill.

  “Jack, I can afford ice cream.”

  “But you can’t afford my wrath, so just let me pay.”

  I smile. “Thanks, Jack.”

  We sit with our sweet treats at a table in the far corner a few minutes later. Jack looks over at me.

  “So, how’s it going with the whole Jen-Travis thing?” he asks.

  No beating around the bush with this guy.

  I lick my chocolate-covered delight in a cone. “Well. Okay.”

  “Have you told her?”

  “I told you, Jack. I don’t need to.”

  “I was just wondering if you’d changed your mind.”

  I shake my head. “No. Not really.”

  He shrugs. “It’s up to you. I’d just really encourage you to tell her. You’ll feel
better; she’ll know what’s going on; and I think it would make your devotions better than you said they are.”

  I take another bite quietly.

  He tactfully changes the subject. “So, Liz and Andrew, huh?”

  I grin. “Finally! She’s liked him for how long?”

  He thinks about it. “I don’t know. When did she first start coming early to Bible study? And you want to talk about men being obvious… .”

  “Okay, girls are obvious, too.”

  “Some girls anyway.”

  I carefully lick off a mouthful of sprinkles. “Hey, Jack?” I say around them.

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you think it’s as blatant to Liz and Andrew as it is to us how obvious they’re being?”

  Jack swallows a spoonful of creamy Oreos before he answers. “Probably not. It never is as obvious when it’s happening to you.”

  “Why is that?”

  He shrugs and looks at me. “Maybe you’re not paying as close attention.”

  Makes sense. I nod. “You’re probably right. I mean, when it’s happening to you, you’re so freaked out that I don’t think you’re really focused on the other person’s actions as much as yours, you know?”

  “Or maybe you’re just not thinking about them in that way.”

  “Kind of like Andrew at first, right?”

  “Right.”

  I pause, halfway through a lick. “Wait a second!”

  “What?”

  “What if he likes her just because I pointed it out to him?” I gasp.

  Jack looks at me. “I wouldn’t think so. I bet he just never considered Liz as anything other than a nice girl until you pointed her out to him.”

  I grin smugly. “Good thing they have me.”

  He shakes his head. “Oh boy.”

  “Thanks again for the ice cream.” I bite into the cone. “When does your internship at the zoo start again?”

  “May 1.”

  I finish the cone and wipe off my fingers on a napkin. “Wow. That’s a ways away.”

  “It’ll give Alisha plenty of time to find a replacement.”

  I stop and stare at him. “Replacement?”

  He looks up from his Blizzard. “Well, yeah. You didn’t think I’d still be able to work at Cool Beans, did you?” He looks at my face. “Oh, you did. Nutkin, I’m sorry.”

  “No, I just didn’t think about you leaving.” I frown, feeling like he just said I was getting a replacement best friend.