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.
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