two
Serving hot drinks wasn’t Dani’s biggest dream, she wasn’t very good at it either, but at least it was a paying job. She wanted to get back into teaching as soon as possible, she liked the children much more than grumpy pre-coffee people at seven in the morning.
She found out she couldn’t make coffee even if her life depended on it, so she tried tea, no luck there either. Eventually she wasn’t allowed to make the drinks anymore, just serve them to customers, do the dishes and clean up.
As an American, she was not a regular tea drinker, but couldn’t herself find anything wrong with the brews she made - however her boss said otherwise.
Thankfully, the customers were mostly polite, not that Dani was bad at taking criticism.
The job wasn’t all bad, she couldn’t complain, some things were actually good. Like the pay, her landlord was thankful she finally had a monthly income, the coffee shop was also close to her little flat, only a few streets away.
She loved the smell of freshly baked bread and pastries in the morning, it warmed her and made her feel like home. She felt very welcomed by the boss and the other young woman that worked with her.
And of course there was the flower shop across the street, or rather the florist inside it. Dani had been over in the middle of the week to take at look at some flowers for table decorations when the woman behind the counter had distracted her.
She had been met by a very English brunette in overalls, a beautiful one. She wondered if all British women were that good looking. What was in the water over here?
Her wavy hair was messily tied up at the back, leaving a few strands of hair framing her face.
Her eyes were dark, but still had a certain spark in them and they were accompanied by a pair of slightly furrowed eyebrows. Dani definitely felt like she could get lost in those eyes, drawn into the depth of them, she almost would have if she hadn’t remembered she was there on an errand.
Although it was hard to remember said errand when the English woman talked to her, her voice deep and soft, only comparable to a piece of music. And those lips…
Anyways, there were some perks to her job. She had been shooting glances over to the shop on the other side, hoping to get a look of the florist. One time she looked out the window for so long she didn’t notice the cup of coffee she was pouring running over. Another reason why she wasn’t allowed to handle beverages.
Dani’s favorite drink was vanilla latte: coffee, steamed milk and a splash of vanilla syrup, maybe and extra shot of espresso or two, she hoped that maybe one day she could invite the florist over for one.
Since their meeting, Dani had wondered what her name could be, it bothered her to see such a pretty face without a name. It was probably something really English, she thought, like Charlotte, Victoria, Queen Elizabeth or Catherine. Maybe she was of royal descent and had a giant manor somewhere or a sort of flower named after her.
Closing up shop one evening, the blonde swept the floor when she looked up and stopped in her tracks, the florist - Queen Elizabeth, stood on the other side of the street, smoke coming from her mouth and a cigarette in hand. Their eyes met briefly and the English offered a nod towards Dani. She felt herself getting flustered and smiled back.
She quickly turned around to hide her blush, pretending to sweep behind the register, which was all clean since she’d already been there with the broom. A second later, the beautiful florist was gone and Dani felt disappointed… at least she had a well-swept floor.
Come Friday morning, Dani walked through the doors of the coffee shop a couple of minutes extra early, she had also passed the mirror about a hundred times to make sure she looked good for the meeting with the shop owner across the street.
Turns out all the reflective surfaces in coffee machines and pots come in handy for checking yourself out, even the back of a spoon works alright if you need to see if your hair looks good.
Every day this week, an older man had been standing outside, waiting to be served the second the café opened, apparently he was always let in early by the previous owner, they heard that from him a lot. Well the previous owner would do this and that, she looked at whoever she shared the shift with whenever he said that.
The order was always the same: a cup of earl gray with only a little bit of milk, he would let Dani know if he got too much or too little, and a scone with raspberry marmalade. Her boss seemed to find the old man charming ”reminds me of my grandfather” he said.
After Dani handed over the scone and the tea, not made by her, she immediately started thinking of the florist again. That woman had been on her thought quite a lot the latest days, even more frequently than the old man came to visit.
A big truck outside the window caught her attention. A man jumped out and started unloading heaps of flowers. Dani could spot roses, lilies, daisies and tulips. The tulips the English woman had ordered just for Dani, well for the coffeeshop really, but she wrote down Dani’s name.
She watched as the doors across the street flew open and the florist came out with a big smile. She shook the man’s hand and said something to him before she started unloading and bringing the flowers inside her shop.
Dani watched as she picked up a crate filled with blue flowers. The left shoulder strap of her overall slid down and the blonde smiled as she failed to get it back up. The next time she came out of the store, she wore gloves. She blew a strand of hair out of her face and went to pick up another crate.
Dani didn’t even notice she had a customer in front of her.
”Hello?” The voice of a lady snapped her out of her florist-trance.
”Oh, sorry!” Dani exclaimed. ”How can I help?” She only listened half-heartedly as she kept staring out the window, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Right before lunch she told her boss she would be going to get the flowers they had ordered. She was feeling a bit nervous, if she was being honest with herself. But who wouldn’t be? In fairness a lot of people would get sweaty hands right before walking up to a gorgeous woman. She pretended to not feel her heart racing.
With a push on the door, the bell above her rang and the owner of the store herself, looked up at Dani from behind a big bouquet of flowers fading from light pink to orange.
”Welcome back, Ms. America.” A lovely voice together with a smirk addressed Dani from across the room.
”Now that’s a title,” Dani took a few steps forward. ”Big delivery today?”
”Got your tulips in from The Netherlands, you better like them.” The florist pushed her bouquet to the side and leaned her arms on the counter.
”Well, you chose them, so they’re probably good.” The barista smiled.
”Probably? They’re bloody great, I’ll show you what I put together.” She turned around to get something from the back room. ”Tulips are some of the first flowers to bloom in the spring,” she shouted from the other room. ”That gives them rebirth as meaning, which is quite fitting since you just opened up over there.”
She put one of the crates from earlier on the counter and nodded in the direction of the coffee shop.
A mix of pink and yellow tulips were neatly put together in frosted glass vases. A thin silk band held them together.
”They look wonderful, I love them,” Dani smiled ”Thank you…” She trailed off.
”Jamie.” Not Queen Elizabeth filled in. Jamie.
It felt nice for Dani to finally have a name for the beautiful woman in front of her. Jamie. It felt right, she couldn’t wait to taste it on the tip of her tongue and say it out loud. The other woman was now a little bit less of a mystery. The name felt somewhat familiar to her, although she had no idea why that was. Jamie.
”Remember to change the water and let me know when you need them replaced.”
Dani didn’t want to leave already, she didn’t want their meeting to be over so soon, it had taken her a while to build up courage in the first place (and she had fixed her hair). She wanted to talk to Jamie longer. She had to stall.
”So do the colours of the tulips have any significance?” She asked and looked at Jamie who smirked her usual smile.
”They do, all flowers do. Positive thoughts and happiness, these two.” Jamie looked Dani in the eye. ”Flowers are good at giving messages, of course they can mean what you want them to, but sometimes when you’ve at a loss of words, flowers are really helpful.” She continued.
”Is there a flower that says ’help I’m bored at work and I don’t want to go back”? The blonde asked with a light tone. It was a lie, she wasn’t bored, they had lots to do, but she really wanted to stay a bit longer.
Jamie chuckled.
”I’m afraid not, however I get the feeling that you need a pot of thyme,” Jamie disappeared behind the counter and came back after two seconds with a ceramic pot growing sprigs covered in small, green leaves. ”Strength and courage.” She pushed the pot over to Dani. ”Also works great in bread.” She winked.
Dani felt her cheeks go pink as a result of the florist’s wink. She smiled and managed to get out a ”thank you”.
”There used to be a teashop where you lot reside now. Used to give the old lady there different herbs and leaves. You seem alright, so I thought ”why not be nice to the coffee people as well?’” Jamie tilted her head and smiled at the other woman who still blushed.
”Thank you again. For the flowers and the pot of strength.” Before she could offer to repay the favour with a cup of coffee, the bell rang and a young man walked in.
”I’ll be with ya’ in just a second!” Jamie told her customer before turning her attention back to Dani. ”I’ll see you around then, don’t hesitate to come in for plant advice.”