“What’s with the smirk?” Jo asked her when Mia arrived at the Pink Bean on Monday morning, a full ten minutes before their shift started.

“What smirk?” Mia tried to paint as innocent a look on her face as she could muster.

“The insufferable one plastered across your face,” Jo said.

“Josephine, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m just happy to be spending the morning with you, my fellow barista and dear friend. That’s all there is to it.”

“You can say what you want, but you haven’t fooled me for one second. I might not have been able to make it to Robin’s birthday party but Caitlin told me all about how you and Lou have suddenly become inseparable.”

Mia turned her grin into a triumphant smirk. She didn’t even know where she got the energy to wind Jo up like this. She’d been up half the night, trying to divine more meaning behind Lou asking her out than there perhaps was. She’d also been reading the two Jane Quinn books. She didn’t have any trouble shoving Jane and Annie from her mind during the juicy parts, but easily replaced the two romantic leads with her and Lou in the story line.

“Okay, I’ll tell you, but don’t go telling anyone else, okay?”

“Not even Caitlin?”

“I just don’t want everyone around here talking about it and giving us funny looks.”

“And by us you mean you and Lou?”

“We’re going on a date. She’s invited me to her house for dinner. Nothing has happened. It’s just a date.”

“Oh, I’m sure it is just a date.” Jo stopped what she was doing for a second. “So you managed to set aside your differences from the past?”

Good question, she thought. Had they? Could they ever? All she knew was that she had allowed Lou to stare straight into her soul for a brief minute the previous afternoon. A peek into her inner world that she hadn’t afforded anyone else ever before. And then Lou had asked her out. “We’re trying to,” she said and headed for the door to turn over the Open/Closed sign. “Time to open up shop. Are you ready for the grumpy Monday morning crowd?”

For the first time since she’d started working in the Pink Bean, Mia was truly looking forward to Lou coming in for her daily dose of caffeine. She was curious about how Lou would act—and perhaps a bit scared that she might have come to her senses and would revoke the invitation to dinner.

When she and Amber walked in the door, Josephine said, “Go on, take five. Have a chat with your upcoming date.”

Mia shot her a shut-up look, even though she was happy for Jo’s generosity.