“I gotta go use the little boys’ room,” said Evan, standing up and quickly disappearing into the back.
Josh leaned over to Paige. “Is the guy with the books the infamous Pablo?”
Paige tapped her nose.
Lauren held the door to the cat room open for Pablo, who carried his books over to Paige. He smiled and said, “We got some donations! I put up a flyer in the bookstore, and a number of customers responded well and bought some more books for the program. So here you go.”
“Wow!” said Paige. She stood to the side as Pablo put the books down on the table, and then she started looking at the covers. “This is amazing. Thank you so much, Pablo.”
“My boss said I should come over here during the event Wednesday, so I’m at your service if you need any help.”
“I can definitely put you to work. If today was anything to go by, the kids will need some wrangling.”
“Cool. Is Evan here?”
Paige and Lauren exchanged a look. Paige said, “Uh, he had to step out for a moment.”
“Oh, okay. Tell him I said hi. I gotta get back to work. See you Wednesday, Paige.”
Evan stayed hidden until Pablo left, and Josh wondered a little about the dynamic of this group. Paige, Lauren, and Evan were the kinds of close friends who could clearly communicate with looks and gestures, almost telepathically. Evan snuck back out and made faces at Paige and Lauren, who giggled in response as if they understood what his expression meant. Josh felt a little like an interloper.
What would it be like to be Paige’s boyfriend out in the open, someone who hung out with this group regularly and was in on the jokes? He liked the idea of it quite a bit. He looked at Paige, who shot him a quick smile before turning back to Lauren.
“I gotta get back up front,” said Lauren. “There’s actually a little bit of a line outside. If more of these people don’t clear out soon, I’m going to make you guys leave.”
“Hey, we’re paying customers.” Evan pointed to the paper cups on the table.
“That’s the only reason I haven’t kicked you out already.”
Lauren walked back up to the front of the café and started talking to some of the customers milling around. Josh turned to Paige and said, “Well, this has been…interesting.”
“Are you leaving?”
“Not if you don’t want me to, but I don’t want to get in the way if you’re working. I just wanted to…well, the thought of not seeing you for another whole week was…unpleasant.”
Paige laughed. “That was very carefully worded.”
“Ihave to go,” said Evan as he began to pack up his stuff. “I have to make an appearance at a dinner party this evening and need a little time to pretty myself up.”
“Are you an Upper East Side aristocrat now?” asked Paige. “Make an appearance?”
Evan sighed. “One of my exes is newly married, and I skipped the wedding, because awkward, but now I feel a little guilty, so I’m going to this dinner party. My guess is it will mostly be the happy couple flaunting their new love and showing off their new china, but I promised I’d go. I’m giving myself permission to leave before dessert if it sucks, though.”
“Your life is weird,” said Josh.
“I seem to be in that awkward part of my life when all of my friends are getting married, but I am still mostly single, unless you count Darius, and that’s not even a real thing yet.” Evan slung his bag over his shoulder. “See you later, kids.”
When Evan left, Paige sat back down, so Josh took Evan’s seat to be closer to Paige. He looked over her shoulder and saw she was making up some kind of schedule. “You’re sure I’m not in your way?”
She nudged him with her shoulder. “I like your company.”
On their previous big date, as they’d walked around Brooklyn, Josh hadn’t felt inhibited in any way about touching Paige or holding her hand. They’d been a couple then. Now, he felt like he had to be careful so that Lauren didn’t see something that made her suspicious, and it made his fingers itch. He wanted to run his hand through her hair, put his arm around her, kiss her cheek. Instead, he wrapped both hands around his cooling coffee cup and contented himself to sit silently while Paige finished whatever she was working on.
“This week busy for you?” Paige asked.
“Yeah. My boss’s very guilty client is going to court. My boss is going to argue before the jury that the plaintiff has some kind of personal vendetta, not that she was sold a shoddy product.”
“That’s some justice for you.”
