Chapter 9: The Earned Date
Roasted coffee beans and faint vanilla drifted from the small café by the roadside. Clara’s voice carried softly over the hum of the espresso machine as she handed a latte to a tired-looking customer.
“Double shot, extra foam,” she said with a polite smile.
The man nodded in thanks and shuffled off.
Behind the counter, Clara wiped her hands on a towel, stealing a glance at the clock. Two hours left on her shift. It had been a quiet day, unusually slow for a Friday afternoon.
The dullness gave her too much room to think, about her next training session, about her move, and most frustratingly, about the man she had tried so hard to forget.
Jace.
She sighed and bent down to retrieve another stack of clean mugs from the cabinet. When she straightened, her hea
