Today's Reading

"N-no, no, that's...that's all right." He waved her suggestion away. "You don't have to go through the trouble."

Oh.

Oh...wow.

Audrey stared. She hadn't noticed last week, but his hands were huge, with thick, strong fingers. They were covered in calluses and dotted with what looked like burn scars, little starbursts of long-healed white sparks and splashes and dots. An expensive-looking watch wrapped around his left wrist and flashed silver in the daylight streaming from the windows.

Theo raised a hand as if he was going to run it through his dark hair, but he stopped when he touched the fabric of his hood, almost like he'd forgotten he was still wearing it. His hand began to tremble, and he quickly clenched his fingers and swept them into a hoodie pocket as soon as her eyes landed on them.

"I'll get you another large black Americano, no room for cream and extra hot, then, if that's okay?" He nodded and she scribbled the order on the cup, just like she'd done last week. "For Theo, right?"

"Yeah. Th-Theo."

"Hi, Theo." Her smile widened. "I'm Audrey."

"Audrey? Like...Audrey Hepburn?" The way he said it with such hopeful interest made her tilt her head at him curiously. "You...look a little like her." Red emerged from beneath his mask, creeping into the tops of his cheeks, and he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly with his unhidden hand.

"Oh, I don't know about that. Maybe." She shrugged. Why were her cheeks so warm all of a sudden? "She was lovely, though, wasn't she?"

"Yeah." What little she could see of his face softened. "Lovely."

She smiled at him again and stepped behind the machine, nodding at Josh to switch places with her. Luckily, they weren't as busy today as they normally were, and her hands swept with expert ease across the machine as she pulled a few fresh shots of espresso and poured them into extra-hot water. Technically, this was a long black and not an Americano, but she wanted to give him a nicer, richer crema without breaking the espresso.

All right, fine. She was an excellent barista. Maybe she wanted to show off a bit.

Maybe she could tempt him to drink it this time.

"Here you go, Theo. Just for you."

"Thank you," he mumbled, his fingers just barely grazing hers as he took the coffee in his hand. At her touch, he nearly dropped the drink and yanked his arm away as if he'd been electrocuted.

"Oh, s-sorry," he stammered, reaching forward again. "So sorry."

She pushed the coffee across the counter to him and drew her hand back, stifling a look of concern and replacing it with a soft smile. "It's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Thank you, Audrey," he muttered, retreating to the same corner as last time.

She postponed her break in favor of keeping an eye on him. Once again, he took a small black leather notebook out from his pocket and scribbled into it with a gold-tipped fountain pen. Once again, he pulled the brim of his baseball cap low over his face. And once again, he never removed his mask and never took a single sip of coffee.

At precisely 9:00 a.m., he gathered up his things, took his coffee cup, and left in a rush, without giving her so much as a backward glance.

Audrey checked the tip jar.

Just like last week, he'd left all of his change inside.

*  *  *

She started looking for Theo every day that summer.

The third week, he came in on Tuesday at exactly 8:17 a.m., just like the previous two weeks.

But then he also came in on Thursday. And Friday.

Always at 8:17 a.m.

He always paid in cash.

And he always left the remainder of his broken twenty-dollar bills in their tip jar.

What our readers think...