by Harper Bliss
“She’s right, Micky.” Amber came to her rescue. “We should ask Mia ourselves.” She rose. “But now we really have to go. See you later, Lou.”
Lou breathed in and out deeply, feeling as if she’d dodged a bullet, even if it had meant being rude to Micky and in front of Amber no less. She was still trying to make an excellent impression on her new bosses and talking back like that was probably not the best way to do that. But Lou would be damned if she’d do Micky’s bidding on this. If it had been anyone else, of course, she would have gladly offered them a free lesson and given them information on the benefits of yoga, but not Mia Miller. Anyone but her.
Lou sneaked a glance at her. She allowed her gaze to drift to the table a few feet away from her for just a fraction of a second but, of course, just then, Mia looked up from her conversation with Kristin, and sent her the most excruciating smile. It was a well-meant smile, Lou was sure about that. But it was a little late for good intentions. Besides, Mia still had no clue of who she was. Lou couldn’t help but wonder what Mia would say if she did.
Lou didn’t smile back but instead gathered her belongings and headed out.
“Leaving already?” Jo asked. “I was getting ready to prepare your second caffeine shot of the morning.”
“I have some errands to run before my next class.” Lou rushed past the counter without asking Jo when she would find the time for class again. It had been a while since she’d last seen her on a mat.
Chapter Three
“Do you have time for lunch in your busy schedule some time this week?” Mia asked Jo. “We’re going to be working together so I’d like to invite you.”
“How about a quick bite now?” Josephine hung her apron on the hook of the back door. “I’m starving and off duty.”
“That would be great.”
“I’m meeting my partner Caitlin and our publisher here in an hour anyway, so it suits me just fine.”
“Your publisher?” Mia continued to be amazed by Josephine.
“Caitlin and I are writing a book together.”
“Is there anything you don’t do?” Mia asked.
“A great many things.” Josephine shot her a wink and they went back into the shop to fetch some food and find a table.
Once they’d sat down and Mia had had time to parse Josephine’s words, she said, “You really are a Jill of all trades.”
“That’s multitasking for you. Singing a tune while brewing a cup of joe while thinking about the next chapter in our book and my dissertation.”
“How do you juggle all of that?” Mia was beginning to understand Josephine’s earlier sigh of desperation better.
“Not very well.” She picked up her sandwich but paused before biting into it. “Do you have a girlfriend? I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but I am getting a bit of a vibe off you.”
Mia was really beginning to like her new colleague. “That vibe you got was correct. I’m out and proud and… very much single.”
“I was single for the longest time. Then I met Caitlin, who is quite literally the woman of my dreams, and now that I’m with her I feel like I don’t have nearly enough time to spend with her.”
“At least you’re writing a book together.”
“Oh yes, I get to sit in on a publisher meeting. I hate meetings. Even if they’re about a book I’m co-writing with my partner. I think all meetings should be canceled for all time.”
“I hear you. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been so excited about this job. Big corporations drive me nuts with all their meetings and management structure and hierarchy.”
“You’ll love this place then. Kristin and Sheryl are really great people. Not just as bosses. They’re very kind and will look out for you.” Josephine shot her a grin. “And I see you’ve met some of the regulars already.”
“Yes.” She paused for a second to conjure up their names. “Amber, Micky and Lou.”
“Amber and Micky are best friends and have been coming here for years. Lou is new to the neighborhood.”
“So you don’t know her very well then?” Mia might as well try to get some information about Lou out of Josephine.
“A little. We have the odd conversation as one does at a coffee shop. She’s quite reserved, much more so than Micky and Amber. Which is normal, I guess, since she only just started working for them. I’ve done a couple of her yoga classes and she’s a great teacher. A bit insecure at times, perhaps, but I’m guessing those are just beginner’s nerves. Do you practice yoga?”
Mia hadn’t expected that much information to come her way so swiftly. “Just occasionally in front of my TV, following YouTube videos. I wouldn’t exactly call it a practice. More like having a go at what everyone else is doing these days.”
“I never practiced before, but Amber gave me some private lessons and subsequently won me over. We should go together some time.”
“Give me some time to buy an outfit first,” Mia joked.
“Sure, but if Amber asks, don’t tell her you’re waiting until you’ve found the perfect pants. You’re bound to get a lecture if you do.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Mia hesitated, but she was keen to know the answer to her next question. “Are they all… lesbians then?”
Josephine snickered. “Amber and Micky surely are. You’ll meet their better halves soon enough. I don’t know about Louise, but my money is on yes… or at least very likely.”
“You haven’t seen her with anybody?”
“No. Not someone she would have a romantic connection with, anyway.” Josephine studied Mia’s face. “Do I detect some interest?”
Mia shrugged. “I might need to take up yoga.”
“She’s in here every day so you should soon find out.” Josephine leaned over the table. “If you can’t find love in the Pink Bean, you won’t find it anywhere.” She gave a chuckle. “I met Caitlin here. Micky met Robin here. Working behind that counter will make you a veritable babe magnet.”
Mia leaned back. “Is that right? There’s power in that apron, heh?”
“You wouldn’t know it at first, but oh yes.” Josephine burst out into a full-on chuckle. “Speaking of babes.” Her lips widened into the brightest smile. “There’s Caitlin.”
Mia narrowed her eyes. “That’s Caitlin James.”
“My thoughts exactly when I first saw her walk in here, but sorry, she’s already taken.” Josephine rose and waited for Caitlin to arrive at their table.
“Hey, babe.” Caitlin ignored Mia completely, curved her arms around Josephine’s waist, and kissed her on the lips for long seconds. “I’m early.” Only then did she cast a glance in Mia’s direction. They were obviously still very much in the honeymoon period of their relationship, what with how they were still all over each other in public.
“You must be Mia,” Caitlin said. “Sheryl told me all about you.”
Mia wondered what Sheryl had said about her. She rose and shook Caitlin’s hand. Mia had read one of her books and had been thoroughly impressed. She’d had no idea that when Josephine mentioned her partner Caitlin, it was actually author and feminist icon Caitlin James, even though Josephine had mentioned that they were writing a book together.
“Pleasure to meet you, Miss James.”
“Miss James?” Caitlin sucked her bottom lip into her mouth for a split second. “No.” She shook her head. “It’s bad enough my girlfriend is twenty years younger than me and makes me feel old on a daily basis. My name is Caitlin.”
“It’s okay, babe. So far you haven’t had much trouble keeping up,” Josephine said and kissed Caitlin on the cheek.
They all sat down and Mia was feeling a little bowled over by the sheer number of lesbians she had met since arriving at her new job that morning. Darlinghurst really was where it was at these days. She should consider leaving her flat above the fish and chip shop off King Street and move to this swanky, lady-loving hood, but Kristin would have to give her a raise first, and she’d only just started.
But Mia was single. A few women had piqued her interest in the past couple of months, but they had only been mild blips on her radar. No earthquake had made her shake in her boots. No woman had made her want to burst out of her skin with the desire to know her better. Except perhaps Louise the yoga teacher this morning, although she had been rather standoffish.
“Don’t be silly, Mia,” Caitlin said. “We’re going to get to know each other rather well so we might as well get a head start.”
Chapter Four
After Lou’s Thursday night yoga class, which Phil had started attending religiously since Lou had become an instructor, they headed to his and his partner Jared’s place, which was located two houses down from the Pink Bean.
“I hear they have big plans for this place,” Phil said when they walked past. “I wouldn’t mind if it was open late so I could hop in for a decaf with my favorite yoga instructor after class.”
“And deprive me of hanging out with your lovely husband and two adorable children? Nu-uh,” Lou said.
“Said children better be in bed by the time I put my key in the lock. I need my peace and quiet after you tried so hard to stretch and relax me.”
Lou taught an easy-going yin class as her last one of the day on Thursdays, and she was feeling the effects of it as well. Or perhaps it was her lack of sleep which had been accumulating of late. Walking past the Pink Bean made her think of Mia Miller again. She took a deep breath and tried to push the thought away, knowing very well that whatever she resisted would only try harder to persist in her mind. She had been able to avoid the Pink Bean for the last few days, although she had walked past earlier that morning and seen Mia behind the counter, smiling widely—a smile that hid a multitude of sins.
“You know they’ll want their Auntie Lou to give them a good night kiss. That’s what Thursdays are for.”
“Just don’t go putting any ideas into their head about staying up any longer than they already have. They’ll be unbearable tomorrow morning if they stay up too late tonight. And then Auntie Lou won’t be around to make it all better.”
As soon as Phil and Lou entered the house, Jared walked toward them with a finger pressed to his lips. “They’re sleeping already. It’s a miracle.”
“Oh my god,” Phil mouthed.
“Do you want me to leave?” Lou asked, keeping her voice very quiet as well.
“Of course not, honey,” Jared said with his full voice.
They were their four-and-a-half-year-old twins Toby and Yasmine who could make so much noise just between the two of them, Lou had, on more than one occasion, excused herself from their presence because it was just too loud. She couldn’t take it. Something she would need to work on because Lou wanted to have children herself. It had been one of the big points of contention between her and Angie—one of many. But Lou was somehow convinced that any child she would produce would be incapable of making the kind of noise Toby and Yasmine did. Noise was not in her nature, so it wouldn’t be in her children’s. Yeah right. Phil was one of the quietest guys she knew, whereas his kids were the opposite.
“The wine is chilled and the kids are in bed,” Jared said. “Time for a drink with Auntie Lou.”
“She keeps emailing me,” Lou said. “I received another one just this morning.” She thought about the email Angie had sent her, and the one before, and the one before. “She keeps saying that she screwed up and that she shouldn’t have let me go and that it’s all her fault, but has she taken the time to show up in Sydney to tell me this to my face?” Lou shook her head. “No, because she doesn’t have time for that. And that’s exactly the point.” She expelled a sigh. “I think she’s sending these emails to make herself feel better about what happened. To absolve herself of the guilt that comes with a break up. To be able to face the facts now that I’ve actually gone.”
Phil tapped a fingertip against her glass. “This is empty and you know what that means.”
“I finished my wine so I should stop whining.” Lou was glad for the limit Phil had set her a few months ago, when she was still deep in the throes of heartache. Because venting was good, but everything needs limits. She pushed her glass of wine forward. “Hit me up again and change the subject.”
Jared refilled all their glasses, emptying the bottle. Lou knew that after this glass she would go home. One shared bottle on Thursdays had become a comforting ritual.
“The Pink Bean has a new barista,” Jared said. “I was hoping they would hire a hot guy for once, even though deep down I knew those lesbians would never go for it. But have you seen her, Lou? She’s the kind of hot that makes a dyed-in-the-wool queer guy like me turn my head.”
Lou nearly spurted out her wine. She put down her glass and didn’t say anything.
“Lou?” Phil prodded. “Are you okay?”
Lou took a deep breath. She had believed she would never have to speak of this again. That the box she had put that awful, demeaning chapter of her life in could remain closed forever.
“Yes. I have seen her and have actually met her.” Lou tried to keep her voice steady. “Her name is Mia. Mia Miller.”
She peered at Phil, one of her oldest friends, trying to gauge if he would remember. Lou hadn’t uttered the name Mia Miller in a very long time. She hadn’t needed to anymore. Both she and Phil had lived a lifetime between then and now.
Phil’s eyes went wide. “Not that Mia Miller?” he asked.
“The one and only.” Lou’s voice broke a little, which she hated herself for. Mia shouldn’t still hold this power over her. But it had been the shock of coming face to face with her when she least expected it that had been the worst of it.
“And who is this Mia Miller if I may be so ignorant to ask?” Jared said.
“She used to—” Phil started, undoubtedly trying to spare Lou from having to say the words out loud, but Lou put a hand on his forearm and he stopped talking.
“We both went to Queen Mary. She was a year above me and had quite the reputation for stirring up trouble and bullying. Then she had to redo her last year, putting us in the same class, and she promptly found a new target for her cruel jokes.”
Jared quirked up his eyebrows. “You?”
Lou nodded. “I was never the most popular girl in school. I was never going to be with the color of my skin in a predominantly white school. But I got on. Got good grades. Moved around semi-comfortably in my small circle of friends. Then Mia Miller came along, set her sights on me, ruined my last year of high school and destroyed my spirit along the way.” Lou tried to gain strength from drawing in another deep breath. “It was a long time ago.”
“It doesn’t matter that it was a long time ago.” Jared tried to find her gaze.
“I have hated Mia Miller with a vengeance since I was seventeen years old. I’ve had revenge fantasies. I envisioned her ending up in jail or leading a miserable life somewhere, repenting for all she put me through when she was younger, but I never, ever expected to run into her in my local coffee shop just as I’m trying to put my life back together again.”
“Did she say anything when you were introduced?” Phil asked.
“No. She had no idea who I was. For which I’m glad, by the way.”
“So you’re not going to confront her?” Jared asked.
“God no. Why would I do that?” Lou swallowed a large gulp of wine.
“Because you’ll be seeing a lot of her. Your lot are always hanging out at the Pink Bean. It’s like lesbian central in Darlinghurst, but a much classier version of what I ever could have imagined that to be,” Jared joked. “You can’t see her almost every day and walk around with this grudge. It will eat you alive. You should get it out int
o the open. Make her apologize.”
Lou shook her head vehemently. “No. What’s an apology going to do for me now, anyway? It’s much too late for that. I’ll just ignore her as best I can. I’ll avoid the Pink Bean for now. I heard Micky say she’s in training, getting ready to set up a new branch elsewhere. So it’s only temporary. It can be done.”
“Oh, Lou. Are you sure?” Phil asked. “Are you going to be all right?”
She smiled. “I’ll be fine.” Of course she would be fine. She didn’t have much choice, just like she hadn’t had any choice but to get on with things fifteen years ago, when Mia had been her daily tormentor. When she took it all in silence and never let anyone see her cry—apart from her father.
“Do you want us to boycott the Pink Bean as long as she’s a barista there?” Jared asked.
“Of course not. I don’t want you to change anything about how you conduct yourselves.”
“Is there anything we can do to help at all?” Phil asked.
Lou shook her head again. “I really don’t see what can be done about it. I’ll just need to be patient and hope Kristin decides to open that new branch soon.”
“Just to be clear,” Jared said, “it is okay for Phil and me to go to the open mic tomorrow evening? Josephine Greenwood is performing and I have a feeling we won’t be able to hear her sing at our local coffee shop for much longer.”
“Jared. Come on,” Phil said. “We don’t have to go.”
“It’s fine. You guys go.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Jared asked. “There’s safety in numbers, you know?”
“I’ll have a quiet night in.” Lou said.
“No chance of that. Remember who will be staying at your house?” Jared said.
“All the better for it,” Lou said, wondering if she wasn’t overreacting and letting this bully from her past exert too much influence on her present life. She was giving up a night out with her friends in order to stay away from Mia. Mia wouldn’t be the only person there—maybe she wasn’t even going. The whole point of the evening was to watch Josephine perform. Mia had nothing to do with it. “Actually, you know what? I’m too old to let the likes of Mia Miller dictate what I do with my life. I want to hear Jo sing. To hell with Mia.”