The Espressologist

13

Katie, Ava and Em, and I are chilling over a late breakfast at Granny's Diner on Sunday.

"You should have seen it, Ava," Katie says. "I swear Jane almost crapped her pants when I let her out in front of the store."

"Nice image." I rub my eyes and tilt back in my chair.

"Especially over breakfast."

Em nods. "It was unreal I've never seen so many people in our store at one time."

"I couldn't believe it when I saw it on the news Friday night," Ava says. She stirs a Splenda into her green tea. "I kept watching to see if they were going to interview you, but they only showed you sitting at the table talking to customers."

I widen my eyes. "Oh, thank god they didn't. I was ready to toss my cookies just seeing all those people waiting for me. I could NOT do an interview on TV!"

"Can you imagine how ecstatic Derek must be?" Em says.

"Why?" I ask, concerned. Did Em somehow find out I had matched him? I e-mailed him yesterday morning with Gothy Glinda's info and he's probably contacted her by now. But I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have told anyone.

"Are you kidding? District must be throwing a parade for him with all the sales we pulled in Friday night. Heck, forget district, I bet the CEO of Wired Joe's himself called to congratulate Derek."

"You think?" I ask.

"Heck yeah," she says.

"It is pretty huge, Jane," Katie agrees. "A lot of the students over at St. Pat's have been talking about it."

"And the cast and crew at my community theater,"

Ava adds.

"The kids in my honor classes are talking about it, too," Em pipes in.

"Shut up ..." I say. "No way are all these people talking about me. Are they? I'm going to totally freak out. I can't do this anymore. It's just getting way too big."

"Kind of late, Jane," Em says nonchalantly. "Derek is never going to let you out of it now. Besides, you only have two weeks left. You can do it."

"I don't think I can eat," I say, pushing my breakfast away.

"That's four ninety-nine you'll never see again." Katie laughs and the others join in. But I can't laugh right now.

I'm feeling panicky again. I reach in my bag for a pack of Rolaids.

"Well, hey," Em says, interrupting my thoughts, "no one asked me about my date with Cam last night."

Please, not another installment of the Cam-Em love fest. Blech.

"How did it go?" Ava inquires. "Did he take you on a winter sleigh ride under the stars? Or just have an all-boys choir serenade you?"

Em smirks. "Nothing that romantic. Or cheesy. We just rented a Sandra Bullock movie and ordered a pizza at his house. But it was cozy" she adds.

"Snuggling on the couch is the best. Did he feel you up?" Katie asks.

Ew, ew, ew, I think, covering my ears. I don't want to hear this.

"I'll never tell," Em says, sipping her hot chocolate.

"Oh, he so did.'" Katie grins. "You naughty girl!"

"Why am I naughty?" Em asks. "I didn't even say anything!"

"Exactly," Katie says, raising her eyebrows. Ava just laughs. I inwardly groan. Why am I even letting this bother me? "Get this," Em tells us, "his mom was there."

"Eww," Katie and Ava groan. "While you were on a date?" Katie asks. "Classy."

"I know, right?" Em sticks her finger into the whipped cream on top of her drink and brings it to her mouth.

"Anyway, she's kind of weird."

"How do you mean?" Ava asks.

"She just seemed really quiet and antisocial. She stayed in her bedroom all night."

"Maybe she wanted to give you guys some privacy?" I suggest.

"Sure. I guess," Em agrees. "But she looked pretty weird, too. She's real skinny. Like she's trying to be all Hollywood or something. Except she could stand a little makeup. Or some spray-on tan. And she's got this big poofy crazy-looking hair."

I can't believe what I'm hearing. Is Em really being this insensitive? What does she expect someone going through chemotherapy to look like? I mean, have some freakin' compassion.

"She's really demanding, too. She kept asking Cam to do things and get her stuff, you know? I kept thinking, get off your butt and get it yourself, lady. I felt really bad for him, even though he didn't seem to mind."

Oh ... Em has no idea! Cam didn't tell her that his mom has cancer or that she's getting chemo and he's helping her. But why wouldn't he tell her something like that, especially since they are dating? He told me in the first five minutes that we talked.

"That does seem a little strange," Katie concludes. "Are you going to keep seeing him?"

"Oh, yeah," Em says. "I'm not going to let his mom bother me. Cam is fantastic. Isn't he fantastic, Jane?"

"Yeah, he's fantastic," I agree.

I walk into work Sunday afternoon and Frankie and Sarah are behind the counter giving me massive smiles.

"Hey, guys. What's with the jack-o'-lantern smiles?" I don't have to wait long for my answer. Derek comes whooshing around the corner and gives me a big hug.

"Whoa," I say, pulling back. "What's the excitement?"

"You. You're the excitement! You are the best assistant manager in the whole world!" he exclaims. He must have hooked up with Glinda already. Only a girl would make him this excited. "You are wonderful, Jane!"

"Thanks, Derek, I like you, too."

"You just don't know how BIG this Espressology thing of yours has gotten. I mean it is HUGE!"

"Uh-oh," I say. "What now? Should I sit down?"

"Yes, definitely. Come with me so we can talk." Derek takes my hand and pulls me back to his office. I glance at Sarah, who is shaking her head and laughing softly.

A moment later the door is closed and we are looking at each other across Derek's desk. Derek takes a deep breath and pumps his fists up and down on the desk in excitement. "Brace yourself," he says.

"I already am." I look down at my white knuckles as I grip the armrests of my chair. "Just tell me."

"Okay, you know Friday was AMAZING, right?"

"Yeah ..."

"I mean, sales were way through the roof." He puts one hand over his head to emphasize his point. "We took in ten times what we made the same Friday last year."

"Fantastic."

"Corporate has called a number of times," he tells me.

"They think you are phenomenal. I'm sure we will both get huge holiday bonuses."

"Awesome!" I say with enthusiasm, already thinking about what I'll buy. A killer new outfit, and maybe I'll even splurge on a new handbag.

"Now here is the big news." Derek takes a deep breath, pushing out his chest. "Do you know that talk show

'' The Gabby Girlz? '' he asks.

"Oh, sure," I say. The Gabby Girlz is a show of three twenty-something women who sit around and talk about current events, interview celebs, host fashion segments, and so on. "I've seen it a few times. The girls always have on the cutest outfits."

"Excellent," Derek says. "Then you'll love what I'm going to say next. We're going to be a segment on their holiday show and they are coming here this Friday to film you doing your thing."

"No way!" I practically scream.

"Yes way," he replies. "They are doing a show on romance around the holidays and they want us to be on it."

"You've got to be kidding. I mean, this is really not that big a deal–"

"Oh, that's where you are wrong. This is a huge deal," he says.

"But we are just one Wired Joe's among a gazillion Wired Joe's.

"Yeah, but we are the only Wired Joe's with an Espressologist.

I sit back in my chair and stare at the stack of papers on Derek's desk, doing my best not to totally freak out and run home crying. "This is really going to happen?" I ask a few moments later.

"Mmm-hmm," he says. He looks thrilled.

"And there is nothing I can do to get out of it?"

"No, but don't worry. They just want to film you talking to some customers and then they'll ask you a few questions. It will be easy. And I'll be right there next to you the whole time.

"All right," I relent. Like I have any choice. "I guess there isn't really any way around it."

"It'll be great, Jane."

Yeah, right. As long as I don't throw up on a Gabby Girl. I've got to call Em and tell her ASAP.