6
Marguerite tried not to feel nervous when she walked into Sunflower at 11 o’clock in the morning. The cheerful chimes welcomed her as did the familiar scents of coffee and fresh-baked bread and bakery goodies. Even though she’d spent an extra half hour meditating this morning her stomach was jumpy.
She glanced around the coffee shop and immediately spotted her date. Her first fear, or maybe it was really a secret hope, was that she might have been stood up. But no, a man who looked very much like his profile photograph sat alone at a table by a window, his gaze fixed on her. She approached the table. “Phil?” she asked softly.
He nodded, then rose and as she was about to extend her hand in greeting he pulled her in for an awkward hug.
“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting?” she asked politely. In fact, she had waited around the corner until a few seconds before eleven so as not to appear too eager. She knew she had been exactly on time.
“No. You walked in the door right at eleven.”
Well, their watches were in sync, they had that much in common. Phil hadn’t smiled in his profile picture, and he didn’t smile now. He had a pleasant face, though. Not arresting, or particularly good looking. Not a man who drew a woman’s gaze and held it captive. Phil wore a knitted cap that he didn’t take off, so she assumed he was probably bald. He had hazel eyes in a pale face, a sharp nose and that unsmiling mouth. When he’d hugged her she had noticed that he was thin, even a little bony, but all in all, nothing about him repelled her. That had to be good.
She had no idea what the etiquette was over a coffee date. Did he pay? Did she? Did they pay for their own? He didn’t have anything in front of him so clearly he’d waited for her before ordering. She glanced over to the counter and saw that her sister was making a pretty decent study of her date without appearing to. She was about to suggest they walk up to the counter and check out the baked goods, when, to her surprise, Iris walked over to the table.
“Hello,” she said. “It’s not too busy right now, so I can take your order right from here if you like.” Marguerite had never been so grateful to her sister for making this first date a little bit easier, though she had a pretty strong idea that Iris had wanted to get a closer look at Phil.
She smiled at Iris the way she hoped she’d smile at a stranger and said, “Could I have some green tea please?”
“Sure thing. Would you like a muffin or cookie or anything with that?”
She’d love one of Iris’s homemade muffins as her sister must know, but the whole weirdness about who was going to pay for this drink was bad enough without the added burden of muffin costs messing up the already awkward atmosphere so she shook her head.
Her date said, “Do you have anything that’s lactose free, gluten free, and vegan?”
“I do a chocolate beet brownie that’s vegan. It’s lactose and gluten free.”
While Marguerite was marveling that her sister could pull out a baked good that met all those criteria he asked, wrinkling his brow, “Is it made with real chocolate or carob?”
Iris didn’t look at Marguerite nor did she roll her eyes, but Marguerite could almost see the effort on her eye muscles to hold her eyeball still as she said, “It’s made with chocolate.”
“I’ll just have hot water.”
“Coming right up.”
Marguerite smiled at him, “I have a lunch meeting at noon.”
He nodded. Then spent the next fifty-five minutes lecturing her about environmental degradation and telling her about his food intolerances, his allergies, and his lifelong battle with irritable bowel syndrome.
She made a big production out of leaving at five minutes to noon, this time making sure to shake his hand before exiting. She hid around the corner until she saw him get into a truck and drive it away. Then she snuck back to the Sunflower Café. When she walked in Iris said, “Oh you poor thing. Do you want another tea?”
She shook her head. “I’m going to need something a lot stronger. Give me a coffee.”
Iris’s brows rose. “Coffee? You hardly ever drink coffee.”
“I know. You’d better make it a double.”
“Belly up to the bar, Sister. Coming right up.”
After she brought the coffee over to their favorite table, she said, “So, Vegeman…?”
“Let’s just say I know more about his bowels than I ever want to. Oh, and when he said that people who eat meat should be threaded onto a spit and roasted over their own gas barbecues I don’t think he was being witty.” She took a slug of coffee. “One good thing, my day can’t get any worse.”
Iris glanced up as the Sunflower chimes jingled. “Don’t be too sure” she said, as their mom walked in.
She stared at her sister. “You promised you wouldn’t tell her about my date,” she whispered.
“I didn’t!” Iris whispered back. Then she turned to their mother. “Mom! What brings you to this part of town?”
