Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Zach finally took a sip of his coffee. He paused, tasting it again. “This is good too.” He grinned. “Better than good. This is great coffee.”
“You said you wanted something special for the wedding,” Nate said, breathing a sigh of relief that it lived up to Zach’s standards. Although, of course it had. Tamara had chosen it for them, so it had to be great. “I’m glad to know you like it.” He took a sip himself. It was incredible, complex but balanced with a lively aftertaste. “Personally, I think it is pretty special.”
“I wasn’t even sure you’d be able to get it this fast,” Zach insisted. “I mean, I can get pretty much anything I want, but I can’t get my hands on coffee like this.”
“Except now you have,” Yuriko pointed out. “This is truly exceptional coffee. Who’s your supplier?”
“I got it through a… friend,” Nate said. Friend didn’t seem like the right word when it came to Tamara, yet he couldn’t think of anything else to call her, because there was nothing else she would agree to be. “She owns the coffee shop on the beach, and she has contacts down at the docks.”
“I thought I knew all the coffee suppliers,” Zach said, shaking his head, mystified.
“This is probably more about the blend,” Nate said. “She’s very good at judging what works and what people want. Actually, she gave me the ‘recipe’ to give to you.” With that, Nate grabbed his satchel and pulled out the paper Tamara had given him last night.
“Wow,” Zach said. “We are two-for-two this morning—your coding and the coffee!”
Suddenly, Liz appeared at the door to Nate’s office. “Zach, Yuriko, I thought you might be up here,” she said, managing to look composed despite what must have been a harrowing morning. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to be here first thing. I had a family emergency. Nate knows so much about your wedding that I thought he could fill in for me.”
“Oh, Nate’s been great,” Yuriko said. “He showed us around the property, and we met some of the staff. I’m very impressed with everything you have going here.”
“Thank you,” Liz replied, smiling. “Would you like to come down and take a closer look at the flowers? I know our gardener, Kate, would love to talk through the ideas she has for the wedding.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Yuriko said as she grabbed Zach’s arm. “Enough coding for now.”
Behind their backs, Liz mouthed a quick thank you to Nate before leading the clients outside. Nate was happy that Liz was here to take over. Her side of the job was a lot harder than it looked—making sure everything worked together, constantly worrying that something might not be the way the clients wanted it. He was ready to take a break, even though the coding and coffee had worked out so well.
A break normally meant going over to Tamara’s shop for a caffeine hit, and today he especially wanted to see her. She would appreciate knowing how things had gone with the special blend, and he couldn’t wait to tell her how much she’d impressed their client, making Married in Malibu look good in the process. Plus, they needed to talk about the details for going to San Diego this weekend. He still couldn’t believe he’d get to spend an entire weekend with her, away from both their workplaces. He had the feeling that Tamara might be the only person who could make yet another family wedding fun.
Before thoughts of dancing the night away with Tamara took over, Nate crossed the road to her coffee shop. Maybe her regular customers knew Tamara wouldn’t be working over the coming weekend, because the place was busier than Nate had ever seen it. There were customers everywhere, all clamoring for Tamara’s attention. He could see that Tamara and her new workers were crazy busy.
As soon as she looked up from the counter, she spotted him and smiled.
He maneuvered his way through the crowd and said, “You look like you could do with a hand.” Nate spoke on impulse, but he was glad he did. He’d started work super early and was already ahead of schedule for the new wedding.
“Surely you’re busy with work?” Tamara began, but then a customer called out for his coffee, and that seemed to decide things. “Yes, please,” she said with a grateful smile. “I could do with the help. Anything, please!”
Nate began by delivering coffees and pastries to tables while Tamara worked as fast as she could to fill new orders. He bussed tables as people left, and the teens ran the dishwasher and filled the shelves and emptied the trash. Between the four of them, they managed to keep up with the demand until the rush passed.
Nate found himself watching Tamara while she worked. She was always so calm, so open, so friendly—even with complete strangers. It was hard to take his eyes off her. She ran a well-organized business and did it with pure grace.