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CASSIE
IT WAS ONLY a matter of time before Mark Drury made his way to the Café Rose for Sunday brunch, a
newspaper tucked under his arm, a sheepish grin on his face. He didn’t have my number and I hadn’t
called him since our one-night stand almost two weeks ago.
“Hello, Cassie,” he said. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Very fancy,” I said, “and very early. One o’clock in the afternoon. Did you have to set your
alarm?”
“Funny.”
I brought over a menu, flipped his coffee cup and filled it to the brim.
“I’ll be right back to take your order.”
“I’m in no hurry. Unlike you,” he said, snapping open his paper. He was referring to the morning
after, when I had left his place rather quickly. The last time I saw him he was tangled in mismatched
sheets, softly snoring.
I rolled my eyes at him and headed to the kitchen.
When I returned, he ordered scrambled eggs, Boudin sausage and toast, which he ate in a matter of
minutes. When I removed his empty plates, he ordered a large house salad.
“For digestion. Like the Italians,” he said.
After his salad he asked about the soup special.
“It was curried cauliflower, but we’re all out,” I said, just as Dell walked by with a platter of eggs
Benedict.
“I’ll thaw some of that minestrone. Won’t take a minute,” she offered.
“Sounds perfect,” he replied.
“You’re mighty hungry today, Mr. Drury.”
“I’ve got a gig tonight. Always makes me hungry. Why don’t you come see us? We’re at the Spotted
Cat.”
He pulled a flyer out of his pocket and handed it to me just as Will, covered in white dust from
head to toe, rounded the corner and headed upstairs. I wasn’t sure he caught the tail end of our
exchange, so I raised my voice.
“I will do my best to be there tonight, Mark. Thank you for the invitation!”
“Great!” Mark replied, confused by my sudden enthusiasm. “I should probably go now.”
“No soup?”
“Just the bill. I gotta clean up my place in case I have guests after my gig.”
“That’s unlikely,” I said, a little more quietly this time.
“We’ll see about that.”
When he looked at me, all the arrogance of his youth seemed to melt away and for a second he was
just a young man who wanted to spend some time with me. And yet … and yet … all I craved was a
nice long run followed by a cuddle with my cat, my couch and the remote.
I cashed out Mark’s bill, for which he left me a too-hefty tip. Then I headed upstairs to tell Will I
was leaving for the night. I hadn’t been in the new space in a week and the transformation was
astonishing. From a dim, dingy storeroom with fading wallpaper and dusty floors, Will had created an