Mara’s laugh bounced off the roof of the little coffee shop.
Heads turned from nearby tables, two women with laptops, an old man reading a newspaper tilting his glasses a little to stare at us, the young boy who had served us, now standing behind the bar.
I slapped my palm over her wrist quickly.
“Shh! Keep it down, Lousy mouth… Will you ever change?” I hissed, eyes darting left and right.
Nobody stared long, but the heat from their stares crawled up my neck anyway.
She clamped her mouth shut, but her shoulders kept shaking. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.
She finally swallowed the last of the laugh and wrapped both hands around her mug. The ceramic clinked hard against the wooden table when she set it down.
“You mean,” she said, voice dropping but still sparkling with
