Grounds to Leaves: The Best Joe in Town – Part 4

As promised, a new update before Christmas. So I get to keep all my fingers, right?

---

Chelsie tried her best not to fidget too much as she waited for 6pm to roll around. Tonight was opening day all over again, but with more customers at least. She had no idea if any musicians were going to show, but both Chloë and Aiden assured her that the word was out.

Chelsie glanced around and saw a guitar or two, but that was it. It didn’t look all that promising, but still, it could work out. She tried to remind herself about how far they had come from the first slow opening week. The music night could be much the same, a slow start, but then lots of recognition.

“Are you ready for this?” Aiden placed a hand on her shoulder and Chelsie gave him a big smile. It felt fake, but she was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

“You bet.” Chelsie glanced at the clock. “In fact, it’s time.”

She gave Aiden another big, fake smile and walked up to the stage area. She got to the mic and gave Aiden a glance. He nodded at her as he flipped a switch to turn the power on. Chelsie did her best to stretch the fake smile all the way to her eyes and faced the customers.

“Good evening everyone. For those of you who don’t know, my name is Chelsie and I am the co-owner of Grounds to Leaves. I’d like to thank you all for coming here on the first night of our “Open Mic” nights. For those of you, who wish to perform, please sign up with that gentleman right over there.” Chelsie pointed at Aiden, who smiled and waved at everyone.

“We do have some instruments available to those who need them, but you will need to let us know what you need when you add your name to the sign up list.” Chelsie gave Aiden a nervous look and he gave her the thumbs up sign to show that they did indeed have a name on the list already. Chelsie went over and looked at the first name on the sheet. There were already three people on the list. “And first up for you tonight is, Jason Moore.”

Chelsie walked back to the stage and replaced the mic as a young man walked up to the stage, guitar case in hand. He gave Chelsie a wink as he walked by and she tried not to grin. He was a little young for her, but it made it her feel good; that, and the fact that people were willing to come up and sing.

Jason turned out to be a pretty good start to a night of good music. A lot of people did covers of songs and there were a few originals as well. Half way through the night they had already decided to create a small break so that Aiden could have a breather. After the sixth person had stepped down to a round of applause, Chelsie took to the mic.

“Thank you so much to all the fabulous musicians who have taken to the stage and to those yet to come. We are going to take a short break for a bit and for those of you who might have any suggestions, we do have a suggest box just to the right of the till on the wall there. Feel free to drop off any suggestions that you might think will make our open mic nights better.”

Chelsie was pleased at the round of applause that her statement was greeted with. She returned quickly to the other side of the counter, hoping that people would take this time to get new cups of coffee and snacks. So far, business in that respect had been fairly steady all evening.

After about 20 minutes, they started up again. There were another five musicians signed up to play for the night and each seemed to be as good as the last. Chelsie was amazed that everyone who wanted to play was actually good. She had prepared herself for a few bad singers at least, but it hadn’t happened yet.

Chelsie was about to step head up to mic after the last musician and bid everyone a good night when Aiden took the stage instead, carrying his guitar. She hadn’t been expecting him to go up. When they had talked, he had said he would only go up as a last resort. Chloë had already been up to sing a couple of songs earlier in the night.

“Evening everyone. Alexei Neboro was supposed to be our last performer for the night, but before we call it a night, I’d like to sing one song if I may. After that, we’ll be open for another thirty minutes or so before closing.”

Aiden pulled a stool up and adjusted the mic to the right height. He strummed a few random notes and then began the melody. It was different from the music he usually played and Chelsie listened excitedly. She had heard all his songs before, but this had to be a new one.

When you told me it was over
Didn't know what to think
Thought love would last forever
I was living in a dream
Everything you told me
Must have been a lie
None of it made sense
'specially when you said good-bye


I gave you my heart
And you gave it back to me
Left it in pieces
Right there in my hands
You never looked back
And gave me no reason why
Ohhh oh, you gave me no reason why

Is it to much to ask
Cause it's all I need to know
The reason why you left me
Standing all alone
With a kiss on the lips
And tears in my eyes
You walked out the door
And took with you my life

I gave you my heart
And you gave it back to me
Left it in pieces
Right there in my hands
You never looked back
And gave me no reason why
Ohhh oh, you gave me no reason why

Yeah you gave me no reason
Gave me no reason why

Chelsie stood stunned, not really sure what to say. The applause was plentiful and it was a few moments before anyone got up to order a last coffee or one more muffin for the road. She didn’t have much time to think until well after the doors had closed for the night.

“Hey Aiden?” Chelsie didn’t quite meet his eyes, but she needed to know. “The song you sung. Did you, um, did you write that after David left?”

“Yeah, I did.” Aiden look down at the floor and bit his lip. Chelsie hesitated for a second and then walked up to him and gave him a big hug. He froze for a second and then hugged her back.

“I didn’t know it was so hard on you. If I had known…”

“If you had known it wouldn’t have changed anything.” Aiden managed a half-hearted smile. “Besides, I’m fine now. Long over it.”

Chelsie didn’t believe a word of it, but she let him be. He wasn’t the kind of guy to air his dirty laundry. She had only ever met David one, and the way that Aiden had looked at him told the whole story. He had never said anything to her, but she was pretty sure that Aiden felt like David had been the love of his life.

“So, shall we call it a night?” Chelsie held out her elbow and Aiden wrapped his arm around hers.

“We shall.” Aiden laughed as they headed for the door and home.

What Happened to Summer?

Yeah, I messed up. It's now December and I haven't posted a single G2L update since March. I am fail. On the other hand, I'll be starting writing on a regular basis again and this time I Swear it. I also wanted to plug my personal blog at http://aka-click.blogspot.com.

It's really not that interesting, but it is keeping me on track, or at least that is the idea. :D

So update soon. Before Christmas. You can cut off my fingers if I fail.

Grounds to Leaves: The Best Joe in Town – Part 3

Do I have an excuse for the long absense? Sure do. Am I going to bother telling you? Nope. Just accept my humblest apologies and let's hope I can get another update before the end of the month.

---

Chelsie tried not to stare too long at the boy that sat across the table from her. She had to look at him, of course, but that didn’t mean she had to stare. He was the opposite end of the scale from the girl she had hired yesterday.

“So, Jack, what makes you think that you would be a good part of the team here at Grounds to Leave?”

“Well, I have had experience working as a barista before. It’s actually how I developed my interest in tea.”

“Do you know a lot about tea?”

“You could say that. It’s kind of my area of expertise. In fact, tea is my drink of choice. Did you know that all non-herbal teas are derived from the same plant, the carmelia sinensis?”

Chelsie raised one of her eyebrows and gave Jack another look over. “Actually I did know that, but not every one does. Know anything else?”

“Did you know that the invention of the tea bag was actually an accident? Thomas Sullivan would send out samples of tea in silk bags and some people just assumed that the bag was used in the same way as a diffuser, thus the teabag was born.”

“Really? Well I guess some of the most interesting things are discovered by accident.” Chelsie leaned back and tried again to figure out whether or not she actually wanted to hire the young man across from her.

“I know a million interesting things about tea. If wasn’t studying to become an architect, I’d probably move to India and grow my own tea.”

Chelsie had to admit to herself that this boy was interesting, and much like the girl she had hired yesterday, she could see Aiden not liking him. His piercings and tattoo sleeves would through Aiden off completely. His extensive tea knowledge was a bonus.

“That is very cool. I think we’d like to give you a try here.”

“That’s great. Thank you.” Jack stood up and Chelsie did likewise to shake his hand.

“We’ll start your training on Wednesday at,” Chelsie consulted the schedule in front of her, “at three o’clock.”

“I’ll see you then.”

Chelsie watched Jack walk off with a smile on her face as she sat back down in her chair. Two new hires in as many days; she hadn’t expected to get this lucky finding people who fit what she was looking for. Experience and the right mix of looks and personality to annoy Aiden.

“You are a very naughty young lady. I would tell you that you should be ashamed of yourself if I didn’t find your plans to annoy that Aiden boy so amusing.”

Chelsie jumped at the sound of Old Walter’s voice. He still managed to surprise her sometimes.

“Hey, what can I say, he still deserves some sort of payback for sneaking this one on me the way he did. If I can hire good employees that’ll annoy him, that’ll be payback enough.”

Old Walter chuckled and took a few puffs on his pipe. “Well Chelsie, I have to admit that I will enjoy watching this play out. “

“I’m sure you will. Well, I have to go home Walter, but I’ll see you in the morning?”

“Chat and a tea. Of course you will my dear. Good night. “

Chelsie grabbed her purse and headed out, looking forward to Aiden’s reaction to Ashleigh tomorrow. She could almost here his voice already; that note of distain for the preppy blonde girl. Chelsie smirked as she locked the door. Tomorrow would be interesting.

Aiden was already busy in the kitchen by the time she arrived in the morning. Bleary-eyed she set a pot of tea to steep before sneaking into the kitchen to see if she could steal something from the cooling racks for breakfast.

“Morning Chels. If you want to wait a few more minutes I’ll have some ginger-pumpkin scones ready for you to steal away from paying customers.”

“Caught me,” she laughed, a guilty grin on her face. “We’ve got a new girl starting training today. “

“Is that so? You didn’t waste any time finding some new staff.”

“No point in dragging my feet now that I’ve got no choice in the matter. We might as well make a go of it.”

“Hmmm. I’ll call you when the scones are ready.”

“Thanks.” Chelsie said as she left the kitchen. She grabbed her tea, fishing out the bag before getting starting to organize everything for a new day. She took a sip of her tea as she contemplated the best way to go about training the new girl.

“Well my dear, another big day ahead.”

“You could say that. Another day, another dollar.” Chelsie looked over at the familiar face of Old Walter, wreathed by the smoke of his pipe.

“It’s more than that. I think I’ll be keeping an eye on things around here today. That new girl ought to provide me with more than my fair share of amusement.”

“Ya think?”

“I know.” Walter winked at Chelsie and faded from view.

“Scones are ready Chels.” Aiden called out from the kitchen. Chelsie grinned at Old Walter’s impeccable timing as she headed into the kitchen to grab her breakfast.

****

The morning rush had tapered into the late morning crawl. A few regulars and one or two new faces sat around the shop, no one in any hurry to leave. Aiden was baking a few fresh batches of pastries for the expected lunch crowd.

Ashleigh walked through the door at exactly five minutes before the start of her first shift. Chelsie gave her a quick once over as she made her way towards the counter. She didn’t look like the sort of person one expected to see working in a coffee shop. In fact, she didn’t look like the kind of person who worked at all.

“Hey Ashleigh, ready to get started?”

“Totally.”

“Great let me show you where you can put your stuff. Follow me.” Chelsie headed into the kitchen, Ashleigh right behind her.

“Whoa.”

The barely whispered word caused Chelsie to turn around. A single look at Ashleigh and Chelsie knew exactly what she was thinking about. Trying to smother her smirk she answered the question she knew must be bouncing around inside Ashleigh’s head.

“That’s Aiden, baker and co-owner.” Aiden turned at the sound of his name and gave the new hire a quick glance before turning back to his work. “He works up front when we’re short-handed, but he spends most of his time back here. Over here is the office, where you can store your stuff.”

The rest of the day passed in a blur as she trained Ashleigh on the ins and outs of working at Grounds to Leaves. Chelsie had to admit to herself that the girl was a better employee than she expected her to be.

Most importantly she enjoyed the way Ashleigh’s eyes followed Aiden whenever he came out of the kitchen. Chelsie could tell from the look on Aiden’s face that the attention did not go unnoticed and it annoyed him.

At the end of the day, after everyone else had left, Chelsie waited for Aiden to bring the topic up. She sat at her desk, going over the new schedule for her employees. In a few weeks they would start with the live music, but they still had a lot of prep to do.

She looked up when Aiden’s shadow crossed her desk, doing her best to keep her face neutral. He just stood in the doorway, arms crossed, not saying a word and she stared back at him, equally silent. Aiden broke down first.

“She cannot stay. Nuh uh, no way.”

“You’re the one that wanted the music night. She’s bright and a quick learner. Why shouldn’t we keep her on?”

Aiden sighed. “You know why. I swear you are trying to hire people to deliberately annoy me.”

“Don’t be silly Aiden. Give me a real reason and maybe I’ll think about letting her go. Her finding you attractive is not a good reason.”

“If it interferes with her doing the job, it is.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, if we cross it. For now, she’s doing good. I’m not letting her go. You’ll just have to deal with it.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.” Chelsie tried not to grin as Aiden stomped back into the kitchen, but she couldn’t help herself. She heard a slight ghostly chuckle and a whiff of cigar smoke drifted by, but Old Walter did not make an appearance.

Grounds to Leaves: The Best Joe in Town - Part 2

Chloë needed no training at all and the customers seemed to love her from the start. It took less than a week for her to memorize the orders of every regular that came into Grounds to Leaves. Everything she made, from coffee to Italian sodas, came out perfect every time.

During a slight lull one rainy afternoon, Aiden managed to corner Chelsie by the cash register. Chelsie had been trying to avoid the inevitable live music discussion ever since Chloë’s interview on Monday. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to put it off forever, but she wanted to put it off for as long as possible.

“You didn't think you could avoid me forever did you?" Aiden stared down at her, a serious look on his face.

"I haven't been avoiding you. Why would you think that?" Chelsie batted her eyelashes at him, trying to sound as innocent as she could. She knew he wouldn't buy it at all, but it never hurt to try.

"Right." Aiden rolled his eyes at her. "So we going to talk about why you don't want live music or do you have some other pressing business at this moment?"

Chelsie quickly glanced around the store, but their were only three customers still sipping at their drinks and not one dirty table that needed cleaning. Sighing, she turned her gaze back towards Aiden and waited for him to say whatever cutting remark he had planned for her.

"So?"

"What?" Chelsie stared at Aiden in shock. "That's it? No snide little remark that you've spent all week perfecting?"

Aiden raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing. Chelsie hated it most of all when he just waited for her to say something. She always ended up blathering away until she managed to trip over her own tongue. She tried to wait him out and stare him down.

"Ugh! Fine. We can talk about the live music. I don't have anything against it. You know I don't, but if we do this than we have to hire more staff. More staff that we have to pay. We've only just started and, yeah, we're popular. For now. Until the next big thing comes around. Then what? We have three people on staff and no customers..."

Chelsie bit her lip to stop her rant before she could say anything stupider than what she had already said. They lived in a city that lived on it's coffee. Another two coffee shops could open up on the same street and they would still have customers.

"You worry too much, Chels."

"You don't worry enough."

"And that is what makes us such good business partners. So you have no real objections to having live music? I was just thinking we could invest in the sound system. And we can compromise by hiring a couple of part-timers?"

"I don't have a choice in the matter do I?"

"There's always a choice, but no, not really. I already bought the sound system. I thought you could help me hook it up after we close."

Chelsie turned her back on him biting her lip to keep from saying something she might regret. She listened to Aiden whistle as he walked back into the kitchen to make another batch of chocolate croissants.

"If he wasn't family..." Chelsie muttered to the empty air.

"Ah, family. I know all about family my dear. You just hang in there."

Chelsie didn't bother to look around for Old Walter. She knew he wouldn't be visible, but his words helped to lighten her mood a bit. It would be okay. She just needed to keep reminding herself of that.

At 6:15pm the last customer left and she locked the door behind him. With a sigh, she let herself fall on to one of the couches and closed her eyes. It hadn't been a busy day comparatively, but it had been stressful for her. All she had been able to think about was Aiden and his damned music.

"Ah, my child, you worry entirely too much. What if the boy made the right decision? What if this music thing is a good idea? Buck up and sit up properly. That's not very ladylike."

"Oh, Walter, I'm not exactly feeling like much of a lady right now. And how would you know if it's the right decision?"

"I don't and you don't know it's a bad one." The angry tone in Old Walter's voice was enough to make Chelsie open her eyes and sit up.

"Are you mad at me?" Chelsie wasn't sure if a ghost could be mad, but she didn't like the thought that he would be mad at her.

"Don't be ridiculous, my dear. I'm just perturbed by how you're acting. Just buck up at bit and enjoy this while it lasts. Music is good. I always did enjoy music. I was a part of a quartet once you know. Ah, those were the days."

Groaning, Chelsie sunk back down into the couch wishing she could just disappear. Even Old Walter liked the idea of having live music here. She was the only one saying no to this idea. If even Old Walter approved, who was she to argue.

"If you can't beat them, join them. Right?"

"Yeah, and maybe help them carrying in the gear as well. This shit is heavy."

Chelsie sat straight up. "Oh, Aiden, I'm sorry. I was just..."

"Just sulking like usual. If you're finished, I can use a hand."

Trying not to look as though she was hating every minute of it, she helped Aiden unload the rest of the stuff from his truck. She grabbed the last thing in the truck and was surprised to see that it was a guitar. She looked stood there looking at for a minute.

"Surprised to see me with that?" Aiden leaned in the door way watching her.

"It's been a long time. Yeah, I'm a bit surprised. Especially since..." Chelsie let the thought trailed off. "I probably shouldn't have mentioned that. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Aiden came over to lock the truck up. "A lot of time has passed. I'm over it. Really."

"Liar." Chelsie handed him the guitar.

"Maybe, but we need to test the system out somehow."

After just over an hour of sweating, swearing and hard work, they were ready to test the system out. With fingers crossed, Aiden plugged his guitar into the amp and pulled a stool up to the microphone.

"Testing, testing. A one, two, three..." He ran his fingers over the strings of his guitar and listened to the sound. "Well?"

"It sounds good to me, but you're the musician. Want to try the lighting thing we talked about?"

"Sure, hit it."

Chelsie dimmed the store lights and turned on the two spotlights that highlighted the stage area. The effect was perfect. She smiled in the dim light. She listened as Aiden played a few random chords, his dark hair shining under the spotlights. He looked good up there.

Chelsie went to turn the spotlights off when she noticed that the few random notes had turned into a tune. A familiar tune. She pulled her hand back from the switch and leaned against the wall to listen. It has been way too long since Aiden had picked up a guitar and played anything, let alone one of his old songs.

She listened as sang a song about forgiveness and forgetting. It wasn't one of his best, but it was appropriate. As the last chord echoed in the empty store Chelsie wiped a tear from her eye. It would do no good for him to see her get all emotional. She turned on the lights and tried not to laugh as Aiden blinked at the sudden brightness.

"Well that was a good test and you know something?"

"What?" Aiden didn't look at her as he busied himself with giving everything a last check over before shutting it down.

"I'm feeling a lot better about this live music idea of yours. I'll call a few more people from my pile tomorrow and see about getting us a couple of part-timers."

"We'll have to start advertising as well. We'll have to have some later hours to make the music thing work."

"I'll give it some thought tonight. Let's get the hell out of here. It's late and I'm tired."

"You go ahead," Aiden smiled at her, still holding his guitar. "I'll lock up."

Chelsie smiled gently and went to grab her jacket and purse. She gave him one last glance as she walked out the door. Not too many people got to see the softer side of Aiden anymore, but she was glad that she got to see it again after such a long time.

In all honesty

I was not expecting to be out of town for this long. Unfortunately this means my writing time is effectively 0hrs per day. For this I am sorry, but right now it also means paying the bills. I should be working right now, but I took a minute to write here that I have not finished here nor forgotten Grounds to Leaves. I will see if I can squeeze in some sort of time to post something creative, but no guarantees.

Whoops

*ahem* I apologize that this weeks installment of GtL is not up yet. Unfortnately I've been a little swamped with other things lately and have not had time to finish this week (although it is plotted and started).

I will make an attempt to have something up this weekend or Monday at the latest if I can. If I can't manage this deadline than you WILL have the next installment on the regular Thursday schedule.

Once again. I apologize for the delay!

Grounds to Leaves: The Best Joe in Town - Part 1

The first person to answer their help wanted ad was an interesting young lady by the name of Chloë. Chelsie couldn’t help but stare at her as she came through the door at 6:15pm on the dot. The fact that she was punctual was a plus, but Chelsie had a feeling Aiden would want to say no based on her looks alone.

Chloë could only best be described as a gothic hippie. Her long hair had been died a deep black and her dark eye makeup reminded Chelsie of Cleopatra. She wore a patchwork skirt that brushed the floor as she walked and a black peasant shirt. Her footsteps made almost no sound on the tiled floor.

Aiden gave Chelsie a sideways glance that she had expected from him. He didn’t like her already, but Chelsie felt that they should give her a fair chance. After all, she had shown up on time and that was more important than how she looked.

“Hi Chloë, I’m Chelsie, this is Aiden. Please have a seat.” She smiled kindly to try and make up for the scowl on Aiden’s face.

“So, I’m going to keep this interview short and simple. We just have a few questions for you really.” Chloë nodded to show that she understood.

“Okay then, so why do you want to work here?”

“Well,” Chloë’s voice was soft, but Chelsie noticed that it carried well. “I love coffee. I’ve often been told I make the best cup of coffee that anyone has ever tasted. Grounds to Leaves is supposed to be one of the best places in town and I would like to be a part of a coffee house that believes in the quality of what it offers.”

“Seriously, you’ve been told you make the best coffee?” Aiden interrupted before Chelsie had a chance to ask her next question.

“Yes, would you like me to prove it?” Chloë seemed to hear the unspoken challenge in Aiden’s voice and she responded confidently. She seemed to really believe what she said.

Aiden gave her a good look over as he thought about and then nodded. “Yes, prove it.”

Without a word Chloë walked behind the counter with Chelsie and Aiden close behind her. She looked over the equipment that they had before beginning. She picked up a bag of beans with an approving look. “Intelligensia, nice choice.”

She went to work making the cup of coffee as Chelsie and Aiden looked on. Aiden seemed skeptical as he watched, what she was doing was no different than what they did everyday, all day. It was obvious that she knew what she was doing. Quicker than either of them could, she provided Aiden with his proof.

Aiden took a tentative sip of the coffee, frowned and then sipped it again. With the same frown on his face he held the cup away from him to just look at it for a bit. Chloë grinned like the Cheshire Cat, apparently taking Aiden’s frown as approval.

“Well?” Chelsie finally asked when she got tired of the silence and Aiden’s odd frown.

“I don’t know how she did it, but this is seriously the best coffee I have ever tasted.” Aiden proffered the cup to Chelsie who took a sip of it and smiled. He wasn’t kidding, it really was the best cup of coffee she had ever tasted.

“So, one last question before we hire you. Can you tell us a bit more about yourself?” Chelsie had to ask just out of pure curiosity more than anything.

“I’m a classically trained musician. I play the cello and write my own songs. Other than that, I’ve only been here for a short while, I used to live in Toronto, but I needed a change of pace. I like this city, it’s quite pretty and the people are interesting.”

“You’re a musician?” Aiden asked and Chelsie knew exactly what he was thinking about.

“Yes. I am.”

“Would you be interested in playing here every now and again?”

Chelsie had to bite her lip to keep herself from saying or doing something to Aiden that she might regret later. This was his way of pushing the issue, which was just going around the only real obstacle in his way – her.

“I would enjoy that very much. Are you thinking of adding live music as a regular attraction? I used to work at a coffee house that had live bands almost every night. They were a very popular place and one of the nicest night spots in town.”

“It was something we were discussing, but we hadn’t decided on anything yet.” Chelsie glared at Aiden as she said that, but he either ignored her or just plain didn’t notice.

“Well it’s a very good idea. You’d probably need a bit more staff to manage with the later hours, but you have a good spot right over there.” Chloë also hadn’t seemed to notice the glare that Chelsie had directed at Aiden. She seemed almost excited by the idea of having live music in the shop.

“And that is exactly what I was thinking too. Well, I think that’s enough for one night. If you like, be here tomorrow at 6am and we’ll get you started and talk about your hours.”

“Tomorrow at 6am. I’ll see you both then.”

As soon as she was out of sight, Chelsie smacked Aiden in the chest. “You are such an asshole, you know that?”

“Yes, but as it is frequently noted, I am an asshole who gets what he wants. Besides it’s a good idea. I don’t know why you’re being so stubborn about it.”

“Because…because…Argh.” Chelsie stormed off towards the kitchen to see if there was anything she could bang around until she felt less frustrated. She really didn’t have a good reason anymore to boycott the live music idea. Her only real argument had been the cost and that didn’t look like it would a problem anymore.

It looked like Aiden was going to be the asshole who got what he wanted. Again.

Grounds to Leaves: Sip to Success - Part 2

The rest of the week following their opening day brought little in the way of new customers. Chelsie couldn’t help despairing. The best thing to happen to them so far was that they had a regular customer. Their first of what Aiden assured her would be many regulars.

It figured though, that the one person who would be a regular at Grounds to Leaves would be a total jerk. He was undeniably rude to both her and Aiden. It didn’t seem to matter who served him, he never had a nice thing to say to anyone.

His routine was the same. He came through the door at precisely 9am every morning. He ordered something different every time, but he always ordered it in the same way. “Give me a tall Caramel Latté, no foam and a pumpkin scone. Be quick about it.”

He would give his coffee a suspicious sip and sniff at whatever pastry he had ordered before grunting and storming back out of the coffee shop. By the time Friday came around, Chelsie made sure Aiden served him because she had a feeling she would try to slap him if she had to serve him one more time.

“Come on now Chels, he really isn’t that bad. Just a bit brusque.” Aiden laughed at her after their one regular had walked out of sight on Friday.

“You would say that. He reminds me of you before you’ve had your morning cup of coffee.”

“Well then he must not be all that bad.” Aiden smirked and ran a hand through his hair as he leaned on the counter. His eyes darted around the empty shop before he looked at her.

“I don’t even like you.” Chelsie crossed her arms and pretended to pout.

“Like me or not, I’m family. You have to love me.”

Chelsie made a rude gesture in his direction and decided that it was time for a break. She made herself a cup of tea. She hesitated for a second over the choices before deciding that a nice Monks Blend would be just what the doctor ordered. With a sigh, she leaned back into one the chairs nearest the counter.

“So, how do you think we’re going to do next week?”

“Honestly?” Aiden seemed hesitant to answer her question. The answer was pretty obvious, even to her. They were bombing when they needed to be booming. Another two weeks of customer counts like this and she was sure they would end having to close the doors permanently.

Aiden gave up on waiting for her to respond and just forged ahead with an honest answer. “We’ve got enough reserves to manage for the month if things keep up the way they are. Another month like this and we might as well give up.”

“Gee, that’s better than what I was thinking.” Chelsie took a sip of her tea and stared at the door, trying to will the customers to come through it.

“You know, most new coffee houses have it rough on the first few weeks. We’ll get there. Before you know it, we won’t even be able to keep up.”

“’I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Don’t be a negative Nancy, Chels. Besides, word will get around. I know we’re better than our nearest competitors and it won’t take long before people realize it.”

The rest of the day passed in much the same manner. By the time they locked the doors a total of eight customers, including their regular, had stepped into the shop. An hour after closing, they stepped out into the warm air of early dusk. The weather had warmed up considerably since Monday.

“Looks like we’ll be getting the extended summer the weatherman promised.” Aiden slung his jacket over his shoulder. It had been chilly when he had arrived that morning. “Look, Chels, I was thinking.”

“I’d love to make a mean comment, but I’m just not in a good enough mood to mean to you.” Chelsie put her jacket on in spite of the warmth.

“Well, I was thinking we should stay open later. Maybe get some live music in. We might be able to get the late night crowds at least on Friday and Saturday. Might bring in some extra money that we need.”

“Might? How much is it going to cost us?”

“The musicians would probably want to be paid if we have to hire them.”

“Nuh-uh. No way.” Chelsie crossed her arms across her chest and tried to look firm. In truth she liked the idea, but she wasn’t willing to risk any more.

“Just at least think about it.” Aiden gave in quicker than she had expected. With a terse nod, Chelsie turned her back on him and walked home. She would think about it at least, but the thought of putting out more money scared the hell out of her.

Saturday morning was the usual routine of baking, cleaning and organizing. Aiden mercifully didn’t bring up the topic of live music again and Chelsie was determined to avoid that conversation. At 6am they opened their doors for the early morning crowd.

“Good morning my dear.”

“Hi Walter.”

“You don’t look so good today. What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” Chelsie stared at their resident ghost in surprise. “You live here, you ought to know what’s wrong. We don’t have any customers. Things are going terribly!”

“No customers? Then what is that?” Old Walter nodded towards the door and Chelsie turned to see two people walk into the shop. She blinked a bit in surprise and hurried to get behind the counter. She barely had a spare thought to remind herself to plaster a smile on her face.

The two customers were soon followed by another one and another. All day a steady stream of people came through their door. Chelsie and Aiden barely managed to keep up with it. Twice Aiden had to run back to the kitchen to whip up another batch of some sort pastry, leaving Chelsie to try and handle the customers on her own.

At 6pm Chelsie locked the door with relief. She had not been in the least bit prepared for the sudden turn of events. “What the hell happened?” She shook her head and looked around in surprise. They had barely managed to keep up with the flow customers.

“Someone turned the customer tap to on, I guess.” Aiden had draped himself in a chair, his eyes closed. He looked like he was ready to fall asleep right there. Chelsie just wanted to lay down on the floor for a good nap. She had barely found the time to breathe today.

“Yeah I guess so.” Casually, she wandered around picking up cups and plates that were still left on some of the tables to take back to the kitchen. She picked up a newspaper that someone had left behind, glancing it over as she did so.

She started walking towards the kitchen when she came to a quick halt. She placed the dishes down on the nearest table and took a closer look at the paper. Something she had glimpsed had suddenly caught her mind. She browsed it over till she saw what she was looking for. The paper was folded awkwardly, but she could easily see a headline that said “-nds to Leaves”.

She opened the paper and saw exactly what she expected, the title of the article was “Grounds to Leaves”. She scanned the article over and then shook her head in disbelief. She looked at it again and was unable to contain her screech of joy.

“What the hell?” Aiden was up and beside her in seconds. “What’s wrong?”

She couldn’t put together two coherent words, she was so excited. Instead she shoved the paper at Aiden. He read it over, slower than she did.

“Well that explains things.” Calmly he set the paper down and picked up the dishes that Chelsie had abandoned. He left her standing there, stupefied, and took the dishes to the kitchen. Chelsie took the time to read the article over once more.

Although it is not my habit to review anything other than the best restaurants our fine city has to offer, I find it necessary to write this article about a little gem of a coffee house that I had the distinct pleasure to discover one morning completely by accident.
The place is called “Grounds to Leaves” a typical pun inspired name for any coffee house. When I went in I expected nothing beyond the usual, but this new kid on the block managed to surprise even me.
They offer a wide enough variety of coffees and teas to satisfy even a connoisseur of either beverage. Each cup of coffee is fresh ground and fresh brewed using a modified French press. The teas are steeped to perfection.
As an added bonus they provide a selection of fresh baked pastries that are some of the best I have ever tasted. Some of their pastry selections could even be termed as unique or exotic. It is obvious that their baker is very skilled indeed.
I highly recommend those in the area to stop by Grounds to Leaves and try some of their gastronomic delights. As always, your taste buds will thank me for this recommendation.

The writers name was not familiar to her, but the picture was a face she had come to know well in the last week. It was their one regular customer. She placed the newspaper down on the counter and thought about cutting out and framing the article to hang on the wall.

With a smile on her face, she went about getting the shop ready for Monday and almost regretted the fact they were closed on Sundays. She needed the rest, but at the same time she was eager to know what the next day would bring for them.

“You know,” Aiden began as they stepped out happily into the street, “we’re going to need to get some help if we’re going to be that busy. There’s no way we’ll be able to both work twelve hour shifts like that.”

“You’re right.” Chelsie thought about it. “I’ll call the paper tomorrow and put an ad in the help wanted section.”

They said their good nights, both eager with anticipation for Monday.

Grounds to Leaves: Sip to Success - Part 1

Few lights illuminated the interior of the store across the street. Those few dim pools of illumination didn’t allow her to see much, but Chelsie took in the view with glee. She cast her eyes up at the sign above the window. Even without any light shining upon the golden writing she could read it quite easily. Grounds to Leaves.

Her legs stirred the early morning mist as she made her way across the silent street. It was chilly for September, even at this hour of the day. Chelsie barely even noticed. All she could think about was how nice everything would look in the full light of day. This place, this coffee shop, was her pride and joy; a dream that was about to become fully realized today.

She unlocked the front door and let herself into the shop. The sounds of emanating from the kitchen told Chelsie that Aiden had already arrived and was hard at work. She turned back to lock the door behind her. It was pretty unlikely that anyone would wander in at this hour, but it was better to be safe than sorry. The last thing they needed was their first customer showing up before they were even ready.

“So today is the day, is it?” Chelsie jumped a little at the unexpected voice behind her. It took her a moment to place it after being so lost in her own thoughts. She turned around to see an older gentlemen casually lounging in one of the more comfy chairs in the corner of the store.

“Walter, I didn’t see you there when I came in.” She smiled warmly at him, feeling oddly happy to see him here on the morning of the big day.

“That’s probably because I wasn’t.” He puffed on his pipe and Chelsie watched, fascinated as always, at the rising smoke as it slowly dissipated a few feet above his head. “Well, is it?”

“Is it what?” Chelsie still hadn’t quite gotten used to Old Walter yet. There was no doubt in her mind that he was friendly enough, but she had never really dealt with his kind before. And the fact that he would only ever talk to her sometimes got on her nerves. She was learning to deal with it a bit better over the last few weeks.

“Opening day, of course. I really don’t have much sense of time anymore and I just was curious to know. So, is it?”

“Yes,” Chelsie beamed, unable to contain her joy at the thought. “Today is the day. We open in just under two hours from now. I can’t wait. It’s going to be great.”

Old Walter just harrumphed, but not in response to what she had said. His attention was focused on the entrance to the kitchen. Chelsie turned just in time to see a flour-streaked Aiden standing in the doorway. She glanced back at where Old Walter was sitting and, as usual, he had already gone.

“Talking to yourself again?” Aiden frowned at her and she knew what he was thinking. The first time he had caught her talking to Old Walter she had tried to explain what was really going on. He hadn’t believed a word of it, but she suspected that he had always thought her a little crazy. After all, crazy did run in the family.

“Just a little pep talk is all.” She smiled more to try and convince Aiden that she wasn’t really crazy. She followed him back into the kitchen. “So, how’s the baking coming?”

“Not too bad. I just wish I knew how much to make of everything.” A timer went off. Aiden opened up one of the ovens and smell of fresh banana bread drifted enticingly towards Chelsie.

“Mmmmm, does it matter too much? What we don’t sell today we can sell as day old tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, but you know my thoughts on that.” Aiden frowned at her as he put the banana bread on a rack to cool. They had argued a lot about how they would do things in their coffee house. This was one of the few arguments that she managed to win.

“Right, I’m just going to go and get the house all set up for our first of many customers.” Aiden didn’t say anything in response; he just turned his back on her and set about mixing something furiously. Chelsie tried her best not to feel snubbed. Aiden was just being Aiden. He didn’t mean anything by it.

She hung her jacket up in the office and glanced at the clock. 90 minutes till opening and there was still a lot that needed to be done. She unlocked the safe and took out the float for the till. She kicked it closed behind her as she hurried back out into the shop.

With the till ready to go she did a quick double check of the counter area to make sure that everything was in its place. She went through her mental list of everything they needed to be able to operate smoothly. It all looked good. She grabbed a couple of boxes from under the till and went to fill the island with sugar, cream, stir sticks and the like.

She gave the clock a quick glance again; an hour left till opening. They would have to fill the pastry case pretty soon. She grabbed the glass cleaner and gave the already spotless display case another wipe down. Switching bottles, she went to wipe down the tables, not willing to take a chance that she had missed a spot when she had washed them last night.

“Can I get some help in here?” Chelsie rushed to the kitchen before Aiden could even finish his question. He had already started setting the food onto platters for her to take out. She grabbed the nearest two plates and took them out to the display case.

It didn’t seem to take them long to get all the food set up and displayed properly. They both took a moment to stand back and admire the sight of all those fresh baked goodies. The warm and enticing smells from all the early morning baking just added to the moment.

“We open in five minutes. Are you ready?” Aiden placed a hand on her shoulder and she smiled up at him.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. I just hope it goes well.”

“You put the ads out, right?”

“Yup, you saw them didn’t you?” Her brow furrowed as she tried to remember if he had mentioned the ads to her before. She was sure he would have said at least something to her if he had seen them.

“I did, just wanted to remind you that if you advertised than we should get some customers today. So, do you want to do the honors or shall I?”

Chelsie didn’t even give him a chance. She dashed towards the door, unlocking it and flipping over the open sign. She grinned back at him. “Let’s do this.”

Then they waited for their first customer. A few pedestrians passed by on the street, some of them even slowing a bit to look into the new store, but no one came in. By the end of the day, they had only served four people.

Six o’clock came and Chelsie went to the door to lock it and flip the sign to closed. She looked back at Aiden, standing by the counter looking as depressed as she felt. It took a lot of effort not to break out into tears. She had sunk everything into this place.

“Four customers, four.” Her voice wavered as she said it.

“Well that could have gone better.” Aiden looked at the nearly full pastry case. “Guess I made too much.” He started taking the platters to the kitchen so he could wrap them up and sell them as day olds tomorrow. Chelsie wandered towards a chair and just kept mumbling the word four over and over to herself.

“Will you just give it a rest already and help me get this place cleaned up.” Aiden had already finished with the pastry case and Chelsie hadn’t moved from the chair. She looked up at his sharp tone of voice, her first reaction to anything since she had locked the door.

“Four, Aiden, four.”

“Yeah, I get it, I can count. Maybe tomorrow it’ll be five. Now help me get this place cleaned up.”

“Why did I do this? We are going to fail. I’ll lose everything!” A hint of a panic edged her words.

“You’ll lose everything? Remember who put up most of the finances for this. I have just as much invested in this coffee shop as you do. But we are going to fail and lose everything if we don’t at least try. So quit your moaning and get off your ass.”

Chelsie wanted to snap back at him, but he was right, like he often was. Reluctantly, she pushed herself out of the chair and went through the motions of getting the shop ready for another day. It took an hour to get everything sorted out. By the time they were finished, a heavy fog had rolled into the city.

“Need a ride home?”

Chelsie shook her head. “No, I’ll walk. I need to get some air anyway. Clear my head.”

“You sure?” Aiden frowned at her, not sure if he believed her.

“Yeah, thanks though.”

“Okay, and hey, Chels?” He waited for her to actually look at him instead of the floor. “Things will look better next week.”

“Thanks Aiden. See you tomorrow.” She watched him leave and took another look at her dream that already seemed to be disappearing before her eyes.

“You know I hate to say it, but he could be right.” Chelsie didn’t even bother to look and see where Old Walter was this time.

“I guess we’ll see won’t we? Good night Walter.”

“Good night my dear.”

Chelsie left the shop and wandered out into the fog hoping that the fresh air would clear her head. She wanted to be hopeful that things would get better, but she couldn’t help feeling a little pessimistic. Things always seemed to have a way of going wrong for her.

Maybe next week would look better.

Grounds to Leaves - Teaser

Grounds to Leaves is a series of short stories that take place in a café of the same name. The café is owned and operated by Chelsie McIntyre and Aiden McAllister. They are of very opposite personalities and will often bicker over the littlest of things. However, in the end they usually manage to find some common ground.

The stories that you will find in the Grounds to Leaves series will contain a cast of our two main characters, their resident ghost Old Walter - that only Chelsie can see, their oddball employee Chloë - the gothic hippie, Jack - the smart (and smartass) punk, Ashleigh - the shopaholic, and a rotating cast of colourful regulars.

So come on by, have a cuppa on the house and enjoy the show.

---

Grounds to Leaves was created and written by myself, Crystal L. Kirkham with special thanks to my writing friend, A.D. Reimer, for all the creative input and encouragement!

Subject Twelve

He threw his arm over this face, trying to block out the odd yellow-green light that was trying to wake him. He stretched slightly and grimaced at the pain in his back. The ground was softer than he was used to, but it was no real bed. A screeching from deep within the jungle brought him fully awake in amazement. He blinked as he looked around at the strange plants that surrounded him.

“How the…” he stared, mouth hanging open. He could have sworn that he had been in a city when he fell asleep. A crashing sound brought his neck snapping around towards the direction the sound had come from. He saw nothing, but his nerves felt on edge. Carefully, he stood up. He felt better in this position, but not much.

He stared around bewildered for a moment. Nothing made sense. This jungle was alien to him. He had travelled before; although it seemed like another lifetime ago. He remembered visiting the rainforests of Brazil and the damp remote wilderness of northern British Columbia. He could distinctly remember the long sticky days he spent in the jungles of Thailand. This wasn’t like anything he had ever seen. This wasn’t Earth.

The realisation hit him slowly as stood there, trying to stare in every direction at once. Something fluttered lightly past his face and he jumped back startled. He watched the thing land on a bright purple flower. He decided not to stare at it for too long, it made him nervous. It reminded him of nothing he had ever seen or imagined before.

He could feel himself starting to hyperventilate, the beginnings of hysteria starting to set in. He didn’t want to close his eyes on this alien world, but he had to calm down. Freaking out would get him nowhere. Cautiously, he closed his eyes and focussed on bringing himself to a calm centre; slowing his breathing until it was normal again.

With a refreshed and calmer mind, he looked at his surroundings again. As he really began to take in this alien world he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was just not right. He looked around again, really trying to examine every aspect of every little thing. It was without a doubt very alien, but there was something that he couldn’t quite identify that made it all seem a little off.

His contemplation of this was cut short by another loud crashing sound. This time the sound was much closer. He tilted his head to try and listen more carefully in the direction the sound had come from. The thought of dangerous predators passed through his mind. He had no idea what to expect. He could feel the hysteria he had fought off so successfully earlier creeping in on him again.

He jumped as the sound came closer still. He glanced into the dark forbidding forest and hesitated. He didn’t want to begin an aimless run in these alien forests for no reason. He tried to reassure himself that there was nothing to be scared of yet. For all he knew, it was a large fluffy bunny crashing through the jungle. He tried to tell himself this, but he didn’t believe it. He edged closer to the other side of the small clearing.

A sharp…something…poked him in the back and he jumped forward a bit. He glanced backwards at whatever had poked him. At the same time he realized that a small part of him was holding out for this all to be a dream. The pain in his back convinced this small part to give up all hope on the dream idea.

With a final crash the creature that he had been listening for appeared on the other side of the clearing. There was no doubt in his mind that this was a predator of some sort. From its sharp claws to its vicious teeth, it screamed dangerous. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up.

Its seven beady eyes stared straight at him. He felt locked in its gaze, unable to move. Thankfully, the creature didn’t move either; it just stood there examining him. A drop of drool fell from its gaping maw onto the ground below, yellowing the plants that it fell on.

After what seemed an eternity the creature emitted a strangled mew followed by a menacing snarl. It took a step forward. That was all it took to break the hold terror had upon his body. With no second thoughts, he turned and ran blindly into jungle. He didn’t have to guess at whether or not the alien beast was pursuing him; he could hear it crashing through the foliage behind him.

As hard as he ran, he was sure the crashing sound behind him was getting closer. He could feel his feet getting heavier with every step and his breath was coming in ragged, painful gasps. He couldn’t keep running much longer. It was only the thought of dying on this alien planet that kept him moving.

The ground in front of him sloped slightly upwards and try as he might he couldn’t lift his feet any further. He fell forward, barely having the strength to put his hands out to catch himself. He lay there, curled in a foetal position from the pain in his sides. Tears stung at his eyes as he listened to the beast come closer. He prayed for a quick ending.

The crashing stopped suddenly. The silence was deafening. It was at that point that he realized what had been bothering him earlier. There was no background noise. Every place he had ever been had been filled with all sorts of noises. This jungle was virtually silent. It was eerie.

The strangled mewing began, it sounded as though the creature was right behind him. He didn’t want to look, but he found himself turning his head ever so slowing in the direction of the mewing. He found himself face to teeth with the creature. He started to tremble uncontrollably. Each tooth was nearly as long as his head.

It mewed at him again and a drop of drool dripped onto his head. He could feel it burning him like acid. He didn’t want to scream, but he couldn’t hold his tongue. It was almost more moan than scream, but it was enough to set the creature off. He felt the giant claws tear through his core, skewering him. He didn’t even have time to scream before it all went dark.

********

“Well he isn’t dead,” Arro looked up from her computer with a small smile. “It’s an improvement.”

“Yes, it is.”

Arro looked sharply at Dr. Kline. The tone in his voice was not what she had expected. “Are you not happy with the results sir?”

Dr. Kline sighed as he started to disconnect the wires from the body on the table. “It’s not that I’m not happy, but I was really hoping we had worked the kinks out this time.”

“It’s not perfect yet, but we’re closer. He’s only comatose. He’s the first one not to die.” Arro tried to sound as confident as she wished her boss would sound. “There’s bound to be a few setbacks in any new tech. I’m sure we’ll be better next time ‘round. The data is promising.”

“Yes, I’m sure it will be.” Dr. Kline still sounded uncommitted as he walked over to examine the data on Arro’s computer. He was silent for a moment and then he smiled.

“Ah, looks like we still have to develop a more than just the interface. Look at this.”

Arro leaned forward to concentrate on the data that Dr. Kline was looking at. The readings were quite specific. The subject had identified something being out of sorts in the programme.

“We’ll need to watch the video review to see if we can identify the source of unreality. Of course, though, we need to improve the interface first. I would like to have a surviving subject to interview.” Dr. Kline walked away, mumbling under his breath. He stopped just before he reached the door.

“Oh, and have the cleaning crew dispose of this subject. He’ll be of no further use to us.” Without waiting for a response, Dr. Kline left.

With a sigh Arro sent off an email request for the removal to the cleaning crew with instructions on where to dump the body. She walked over to the body and took a look at him.

“Well subject twelve, you were good while it lasted. Now it’s time to go looking for subject thirteen.” Arro turned back to her computer at the same time the cleaning crew arrived. She smiled politely at them as they entered the room and then proceeded to ignore them.

“This virtual reality project is a virtual pain in the butt,” one of them muttered to the other as they hefted the body onto the cart they had brought with them. Arro pretended not to have heard them. The other member of the cleaning crew laughed at the joke.

“Yeah, but it’ll make all of us rich.”