Moving Pictures

Boyd

I figured this question was coming. It would be different if Monica was named Maurice and was a single dad. Our relationship has always raised questions and eyebrows.

“We’ve never been romantically involved, if that’s what you’re wondering. Just friends. Only ever friends.”

“I–I wasn’t asking that,” she stammers from across the room. “I just meant… okay, yes, that is what I meant.”

“Figured. Our friendship came about from repeated exposure, I guess.”

She stands, grabbing the bottle of cleaner and flinging the rag overtop. “How sweet.”

I laugh at her obvious sarcasm as I bundle the last of the bills. “She’d say the same thing. When we met, I was in a serious relationship, actually. We just became… work friends.”

“Do you want to tell me about it? Your relationship?”

No. If I had it my way, it would never come up again. If I could help it, I’d never think about it again. But that hasn’t worked for the past seven years. “Her name was Maggie.”

Sophie nods as she walks closer to clean the display case.

“We met in our first year of university. I was doing my undergrad in biology with intentions of going to med school.”

She scoffs. “Seriously? What even are you? Med school. Law School. Business owner. Am I cutting into the time you spend moonlighting as the city’s secret superhero or something?”

“Now that you mention it, an elderly woman on Front Street got mugged on Tuesday night because I was tied up at your place.” I give her a sly smile as I finish my current task. “Let me run this to the safe. Two seconds.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go save a cat in a tree or whatever.”

I laugh all the way to my office and realize that’s the first time Maggie’s name has left my lips in years and I was able to do anything more than scowl or mope. That alone is enough to have me walking super-speed back to Sophie.

When I come back out, she’s emptying the garbage can near the front door. “Soph, you don’t have to—”

“Ah. I want to. Keep talking.” She waves one hand at me to continue after she grunts to pull the bag out.

I won’t tell her now that it actually opens at the front so you can just slide it out. Minor detail. “I had this whole plan I thought I had to fulfil. My parents gave my siblings and me every opportunity to succeed, and the obvious choice was becoming a doctor. Right? That’s the immigrant parent’s dream. You work hard, scrape the barrel, build your life from nothing so your kids can be something.”

Sophie nods again, carrying the garbage toward me with her nose scrunched. “I can relate to the parental pressure.”

“It’s a heavy load to carry. Let me take this.” I slip the garbage from her hand and place it in the back. “Anyway, Maggie and I ended up being assigned as lab partners in a chemistry class. Things… progressed quickly. By the end of our first semester, I was convinced I was ready to propose. I knew we were young, so I didn’t.”

Sophie’s shoulders droop. “That serious, huh?”

“That blind, really. I’d been working as a barista since my junior year of high school and enjoyed doing it. I was working thirty hours a week while going to school full time and trying to balance a relationship. She resented me for working so much and complained that she was getting the ‘scraps’.”

“That’s kind of unfair. You were working when you started dating. Did she think you’d trade your job for her?”

So much of that question hits hard. With Maggie, I didn’t even consider taking fewer shifts to appease her. I tried to make her feel important, but enough was never enough. With Sophie, I hired another staff member to clear up my schedule so I can spend more time with her and her dog. She never asked. She’s here dealing with trash bags and cleaning butt marks off of tables. Never once has she made me feel like I had to choose. Yet, I despise her job. I hate everything about how she’s treated and how small that company—or rather, Henry—makes her feel. How can I ask her to choose?

I swallow down the disappointment over Sophie’s career choice and continue, “Maggie was the type of girl who had to have the best of the best. She’d say she wanted to enjoy the finer things in life and felt she worked hard to deserve them, but she was the only student walking around with an Hermes purse.”

“Yikes. Did she come from money?” Sophie asks, dragging the mop and bucket from the utility closet. Looks like she’s finding her way around just fine.

“No. She had a single mother who was on disability and they lived in geared-to-income housing. She received some scholarships and a lot of student loans just to afford university.” At the time, I felt bad for the tough hand life had given her, so I complied with her demands… for a while. “I certainly didn’t come from money, either. My parents saved by working hard and being financially smart. Once I reached university, they gave me a nest egg with stipulations. It had to be put to use to benefit me somehow. I couldn’t just waste it on frivolous nonsense. With Maggie’s obsession with designer things that was apparently my job to supply her with, I was afraid to tell her no. So I bought a failing coffee shop and tied up every dime I had.”

I look at Sophie, expecting to see a little judgement or anger. Maybe look at me like I’m a hypocrite because I couldn’t just tell Maggie the truth, so I lied because I didn’t want to anger my parents. But none of that is there.

Instead, she smiles and concludes, “Just Add Coffee.”

“Yeah, only it was called Brown Water at the time.”

She laughs, sloshing some mop water across the floor. “That’s a terrible name.”

“Now you know why they were failing. I spent a good chunk on rebranding and making it look more professional. It was a mess from top to bottom.”

“It is a much better name. I thought it was cute when I first went past. That’s why I stopped.”

Remind me to send a thank-you card to Harbour Campaigns for helping me with the relaunch. “I’m glad you did.” I smile at the woman who walked into my café and changed my entire life. Maggie may have changed it too, and I can be grateful for her selfishness pushing me into an opportunity that ended up being a blessing, but that doesn’t mean I forget the lessons I learned from her, either. “Toward the end of my third year, my dad was diagnosed with stomach cancer and the prognosis wasn’t good. I was drowning in coursework I didn’t understand, failing, hating every minute of it, and afraid for my parents to find out.” I laugh, understanding how silly it might seem to be twenty-two years old and afraid of passing your parents a report card with failing grades. I’m confident Sophie understands the implications, though. “So I dropped out. I used the excuse that I wanted to work more to support my family since my dad wasn’t able to anymore. Really, it was the coward’s way out because I couldn’t hack it in the biology program, let alone med school. Worst-case scenario would have been failing and losing the business I had sunk all of my money into.”

She moves a little closer, pausing her task. “And how did that go over?”

“My dad was still disappointed. Mum was too distraught over my dad’s condition to express her opinion. And if you knew my mother, you’d understand how out of character that is. She has no issues sharing her opinions, even when she’s been proven wrong.”

“Sounds like someone I know.” She rolls her eyes, biting into her bottom lip. “So, how did Maggie take all of this?”

“As soon as I dropped out, she kept harassing me about my plans and asking what I wanted to do with my life. She made it clear that she dated me because she thought I was going to be a doctor someday, but there was no way she would stay with a barista. And that was it. While I thought my father was dying and my entire life had been turned on its head, she walked away.”

“Wow. What a—”

“It was for the best,” I interrupt. I spent enough time wallowing after we broke up; I don’t need Sophie to waste time being angry over it. “All the signs pointing to her being selfish and spoiled were there all along. I just chose to ignore them, hoping things would change.” With the espresso machine dismantled and clean, I start reassembling the pieces. “That wasn’t even the worst of it, though.”

Sophie pauses, dropping the handle of the mop to her waist and staring at me from her spot on the other side of the counter. “How did she get worse?”

“I guess that’s where Monica comes in. When I first bought this place, it took two months for renovations, so all of Brown Water’s staff quit and moved on. Monica sent in her resume, and I almost skipped over her because she didn’t have a ton of experience, but something told me to call her for an interview. She came in and immediately sold me on hiring her. She was so determined and willing to learn, I decided to give her a chance.”

“Done,” Sophie declares after reaching the door with the mop. “Let me guess. Maggie hated Monica.”

“Despised her. She was convinced something was going on between us and nothing could change her mind. Even after we broke up, she’d show up here and hurl insults at both of us in front of customers. Long story short, it ended with a restraining order.” And it is a very long story, indeed.

“Wow. So, Maggie never had any real reason to be jealous, did she?”

I know what she’s really asking. Did I cheat on Maggie? “Never. I may not have picked the right person to be loyal to, but I can promise you one thing: I am loyal. Always.”