“Oh,” I said. I had assumed Mel was gay, but it was still a surprise to get this confirmation so directly. After Mel put away her phone, I pointed to her tattoos and asked, “Are those cabbages?”

Mel grinned and stretched her arms out to show me. “Yeah. Some cabbages, and also you see carrots here underneath? They’re not finished yet. I still have to add chiles and tomatillos, some tomatoes, too. All my favorite vegetables. Doing the red stuff will be another pass.”

“Why vegetables?”

“I’m training to be a chef. I work at Rosa Masala in San Rafael. Do you know it?”

“No, but I don’t know that many places around here.”

“It’s a Mexican-Indian fusion restaurant. Rosa, the owner, is half Mexican and half Indian. I’m a prep cook now but I plan to open my own restaurant someday.”

“That’s cool.”

“You have any tats?”

“No.”

“They’d look good on you. Flowers, maybe.” Mel ran a finger lightly up my arm and shoulder. “Some peonies right here.”

I thought she was flirting with me, and it felt kind of nice.

—

The Bolinas Café was a little more than half full when we arrived. There was a low stage on one side of the room, a counter at the back where food could be ordered, and about a dozen square tables throughout. The crowd was more mixed in age than I expected, ranging from a couple of kids who had come with their parents all the way to a few gray-haired hippies. The place smelled like coffee laced with onion bagels, and the front windows were open to the darkening evening while the ceiling fans whirred overhead.

“I’m gonna go sign up,” Steph said as we entered, and she edged around me, the guitar case on her back bumping against my arm.

“Let’s get that table by the window,” Mel said. Lisa and I followed, but the table only had two chairs. Lisa quickly dropped her giant purse on one of them while Mel went to take two more from another table.

“I’m getting a coffee,” Lisa said, pulling her wallet out of her purse. “You guys want anything?”

Mel dug a billfold from her pocket and fished out a five. “Get me a mocha?”

Lisa glanced at me questioningly, but I shook my head. “I don’t know yet. You go ahead.” I picked up the laminated menu on the table and looked at the beverages. There were a zillion kinds of tea in addition to coffee, each with their country of origin listed.

Mel took a seat by the window, so I sat down beside her, across from Lisa’s purse. “Have you been here before?” I asked.

“No, but Steph has played here a couple times. She didn’t tell us, though. She said it was for practice.”

“So is this new for her? Performing in public, I mean.”