“Uh, no, well, sort of. My aunt Rainbow said you might be hiring. I’m Nicole.”

“Nicole? Nicole?” He scratched the top of his head. The strand of hair didn’t budge one bit. I was impressed. “You used to work here, didn’t you?”

“No, I just moved here.”

“Are you sure?” He stepped closer, squinting.

I swallowed hard, trying not to gag at the funky scent coming off him. What was that smell? It was like he’d tangled with a skunk and the skunk had won.

“I remember a Nicole. She played the bongos. Or was it the tambourine?”

“I play guitar.”

“Or maybe it was the cowbell? Oh well. My memory’s not very good. Had way too much—”

Panicky eyes darted around the coffee shop then he pinched his fingers together in front of his lips and inhaled. “But that’s in the past.”

I gazed into red-rimmed eyes. Yeah, right.

“Rainbow and I had some good times. So, Nina—”

“Nicole.”

“Right, Nicole. Did Rainbow ever tell you about the time we were at Woodstock and we stripped down in the middle of—”

“Don’t! I mean, yeah, she mentioned something about having a good time there.”

There were some things I just didn’t need to know.

“Good times. Good times. We sometimes do an open mic night. You might want to play your bongos.”

“Guitar.”

“Right, guitar. Anyway, Rainbow tells me you’re a hard worker, responsible.”

“I am.”

“Jitters is open from 5am to midnight. Twenty-four hours during midterms and finals weeks. I expect everyone on the Jitters team to pull their weight during that time.”

“I will.”

“Okay, then. I’ll show you around and you can start Saturday.”

Chapter Nine

Leaning back against the counter, I wiped my sweaty brow in exhaustion. My first shift at Jitters and I was already wondering if I could survive the rest of the day. It wasn’t the work. It was getting up at four for my five o’clock shift. I had tossed and turned again last night. This time I dreamed I was standing alone in a big empty room with a disco ball hanging over my head, searching for something. I had no idea what I was looking for.

Then the dream shifted to Cooper. And it wasn’t another sexy wet dream. It was worse. This time I dreamed of Gianna boinking Cooper. Ugh! What a nightmare.

On a good note, hopefully by the end of my shift, I’d be so tired that I’d pass out and not have any dreams at all.

The bell on the door handle jingled. A large group of high school students came into the coffee shop and swarmed the counter.

“I’m gonna get my three scoops this time.”

“Better not, Demarco. Mom said not to let you.”

“She won’t know if you don’t rat me out, Jayla.”

“She’ll know when you’re layin’ on da floor without your insulin.”

“Trayvon! Come ’ere. They got that green mint shit you wanted.”

“Stop pushing, Tanisha. They ain’t gonna run out of ice cream.”

It was chaos as the kids hovered over the counter, pushing each other as they looked over various selections and shouted their selections at me. I tried to take their orders, but with the pushing around, I couldn’t tell who was in line first.

“What would you like?” I asked a tall skinny guy wearing baggy pants that hung so low I could see half his red jockeys. Any sudden movement and those pants were going to fall off.

“Hey, why you askin’ Trayvon? I was here first!” cried a petite girl with a diamond stud in her nose.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you.”

“Ya, no one ever does. I want the chocolate peanut butter swirl. Two scoops.”

“She asked me first, Yo-land-duh.” Trayvon said, placing himself in front her. “Ain’t that right, Miss?”

“Move, Trayvon.” Yolanda elbowed him.

“You move.”

Great. I was going to cause a fight on my very first day on the job.

“I can serve you both.” I grabbed an ice cream scoop and slid open the dipping freezer’s glass door.

“Trayvon, my man.” Lou came to my side and whispered as I bent down to scope some ice cream. “Sorry about that. I forgot to tell you about Cooper’s class. They come every Saturday morning.”

Head meet glass.

Thump!

“Ooh, I heard that.” Yolanda and everyone else around her howled. “Don’t bleed on my ice cream.”

I rubbed my forehead, ignoring their laughter. “Professor Cooper? As in Professor Jackson Cooper from Texas State.”

“What you want, Trayvon?” Lou asked.

“The usual.”

“Yeah, Cooper,” Lou said as we worked on the getting everyone’s orders. “He teaches a math class at the local high school. A lot of these kids struggle with math and he helps them. He brings them here as a treat after every class.”

“Coop is da bomb!” Yolanda said. “He even lets me bring Mia with me to class. He don’t mind if she cries a little.”

“I mind,” Trayvon said. “And she cries a lot.”

“No one asked you.” Yolanda scowled.

“Mia’s your baby?” I asked.

“Yeah. She’s with him right now. He’s watching her. Oh, yeah, he wants an iced coffee.”

Scanning over the crowd of noisy kids, I spotted Cooper sitting in the corner near a stroller, talking to one of his high school students. The boy had his hair slicked back and was wearing baggy pants and a simple white shirt. They were deep in conversation. Cooper was nodding and then something miraculous happened.

Cooper laughed.

In all the weeks I’d been in his class, I’d never heard him laugh or smile like he was right now. His face lit up, making him look like a boy, even with the thick scruff on his face. He looked so unbelievably handsome, it took my breath away.

In that moment, the coffee shop faded away and I found myself lying under a bright blue sky, cool green grass under me. There were people beside me, but I couldn’t see their faces. There was a high-pitched giggle followed by a deep laugh. And I was laughing too, pointing at the clouds. I tried to turn to see who I was with. I couldn’t. It was so real it felt like a memory. Feelings that I hadn’t had in a long time coursed through me. I felt safe, happy, loved, and I never wanted to leave that spot.

“Miss? Hey, Miss! I think she hit her head too hard. Maybe we should call 911. Yo, Juanita, what’s the number for 911?”

“911. Duh!”

The sound of Yolanda’s voice shook me awake.

“I’m sorry. I was just thinking about . . . something. You said an iced coffee, right?”

As I worked on Cooper’s order, I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. His smile was mesmerizing. Not once did he scowl at the kids, even though they were loud, pushing and teasing each other. He seemed to join in with their teasing. At one point, he even threw his head back, laughing so hard I could hear him.

And those eyes. Oh my god how those blue eyes sparkled every time he laughed.

The baby in the stroller started crying. Without pausing or taking his eyes off of the kid he was talking to, he reached into the stroller and lifted the chubby baby. He kissed her forehead and bounced the cute baby on his knee.

The cup slipped out of my hand as my ovaries exploded.

“Man, Lou. You sure this chick knows what she’s doing?” Trayvon asked.

“Sorry.” I frantically cleaned up the mess.

I didn’t like this, not one bit. What happened to the snarling Cooper I ran into the first day of class? I couldn’t handle this Cooper at all. I had a hard enough time trying to forget how annoyingly sexy he was.

Great. Now he had the baby against his chest and was patting her back. I was never going to get that picture out of my head.

I handed the iced coffee to Yolanda and watched as she made her way back to Cooper. When she reached him, she said something to him laughing and pointed back to where I was standing.

I froze when Cooper’s eyes locked with mine. He was looking at me. Oh my god! He was actually looking at me!