Tonight, for once, Lou was not wearing a tight tank top that showed off her glorious shoulders. She was dressed in jeans and a simple t-shirt, and she looked all the more scrumptious for it. Her long hair was loose and, again, she wasn’t giving Mia the time of day. Not even a nod of recognition.

Amber had offered Mia three weeks’ worth of free trial lessons at Glow. The usual free trial was only one week, but Mia had promised to sit down with Micky and have a look at their online advertising. Mia had taken a course recently and Kristin had told her that her obvious marketing savvy was one of the reasons she had hired her. Mia was glad to help Amber and Micky out and she would, as soon as she was settled into her new job and got used to the new rhythm of her days. Then she would start her free trial at Glow and take a class with Lou. A full hour to ogle fair Louise from a safe distance. Far enough to remain innocuous but close enough to really get a feel for what she was like. Maybe she should go over now. Get a head start on things. Maybe exchange some pleasantries with her friends, because that was always a good way to a woman’s heart. Charm the friends. Make them like you. Slowly move in from the perimeter to the center of where it’s at.

Mia wasn’t working tonight, but she was here to learn. She watched Kristin like a hawk as she made her way through the crowd and greeted every single patron personally, even people who had never set foot in the Pink Bean before and were only here because of Josephine’s growing notoriety.

Now that Kristin was fully engaged in conversation with Caitlin and Zoya, Mia casually walked over to the table Lou and her friends were occupying.

“Hey,” she said, giving them an awkward wave. “Can I get you guys something to drink?” She shot Lou a smile, hoping for at least a tiny curl upward of the lips in return, but Lou gave her the same dead-eyed stare she’d treated Mia to when they were introduced on Monday.

“I thought it was counter service,” the guy without the beard said. Mia didn’t know his name yet. She would need to work on remembering names more, but this week had just been an avalanche of them.

The one with the beard gave beardless guy a look, then smiled at Mia and said, “We’ll take a bottle of your finest Sauvignon Blanc, please.”