Heart of Grace Read online

  It hasn’t been so bad even if she has to wake up before the sun does. Besides, she’s started to look forward to this woman, Amber Wallis, come in the bakery in the mornings to pick up their orders.

  “Back again, I see,” she comments when she finds Amber Wallis show up in a gold puffy coat and matching gloves on the second morning Heather’s working.

  “Yep.”

  As they’re bringing out the food out to Amber’s car, Heather feels compelled to tell her a joke. So without preamble, she just goes for it.

  “What’s a martial artist’s favorite beverage?”

  Amber stops in her tracks and faces Heather. “Is that a serious question or-”

  “No, it’s a joke. What’s a martial artist’s favorite beverage?”

  She’s going to bet her chances on the fact that it’s the early morning that influences Amber’s decision to play along, but she has her attention now so may as well just take advantage when she still can. “Ok, what?”

  A grin spreads across her face. “Kara-tea.”

  It’s the biggest eye roll Heather’s ever seen that could rival the one Dianne typically gives her but she considers herself a success when she sees a small smile on Amber.

  “See you tomorrow,” she says with a wave watching Amber drive out of the lot and onto the road.

  Amber, Heather will admit, is about the most interesting part of this city for her so far. It gives her something to look forward to when she gets in the car with Dianne on the way to work when it’s still dark outside.

  ***

  “Top of the mornin’!” Heather says with a small grin on her face when Amber walks up to the front counter on Heather’s fourth day of work. In the handful of meetings Heather’s had with her, Amber seems to always have a mixture of confusion and amusement on her face whenever she sees Heather. It’s a look that she’s somehow claimed as a special look only she gets.

  “Good morning to you, too.” She shakes her head and leans forward on the counter when Amber reaches the other side.

  “Nah, you’re supposed to say ‘And the rest of the day to yourself’.”

  Amber laughs. “Fine. Try it again.”

  Heather clears her throat and backs up. “Top of the mornin’,” she says before bowing.

  “And the rest of the day to yourself,” Amber replies bowing in return and unable to keep the laughter in. She shakes her head. “You’re so weird.”

  Heather thanks her and finds she means it. She grabs a pen from the mug by the register and pushes the clipboard towards Amber. “Just sign here first and then follow me.”

  After the bit of paperwork, they start bringing the order out. Heather almost collides with a whole batch of multigrain bagels that Amber is carrying when she hears Amber say something.

  “Whoa, there!” Amber says swerving away so that the multigrain bagels are preserved.

  “Sorry. I didn’t expect you to be right there. Were you talking to me?”

  “Yeah! You’re the only one here.”

  “Ghosts are everywhere, what are you talking about.”

  Amber rolls her eyes. “Ok, weirdo. But I asked where you were from.”

  Heather scratches her forehead while she waits to walk back with Amber for the final load. “Uh, Jersey. You?”

  “California.”

  “Cool.”

  She places the tray of muffins on top of the pile before stepping back for Amber to shut the door.

  “Thanks,” Amber says just as she pulls her gloves on.

  “Got time for a joke?” she asks.

  “Go for it.”

  “Why couldn’t the flower ride his bike?”

  Amber makes a face anticipating the terrible punch line to come. “Why?”

  “Because his petals fell off.”

  As if being proven right, Amber shakes her head but Heather hears a small chuckle and considers herself victorious. “See you tomorrow, Amber Wallis.”

  “It’s just Amber.”

  “See you tomorrow, Just Amber.”

  She stuffs one hand in her pockets in an attempt to keep them warm while she waves the other to Amber. As soon as she sees Amber’s hand in the air poking out of her car window, Heather takes that as the signal to run back inside where it’s toasty and warm.

  ***

  Heather’s just finished her first Saturday shift at the bakery when she decides to explore the small city of Grace. Dianne more than happily obliged to lend Heather the spare moped in the garage under her studio apartment that Heather almost wanted to give it right back. She thinks her friend is just happy that she’s around. She does make a habit of disappearing for lengths of time with little means of contact.

  She doesn’t ask for more than general directions because she wanted to leave the exploring to herself. But she ends up sitting through a few minutes of Dianne in Mother Mode with Winston making sympathetic faces at her behind Dianne.

  “You have to wear a helmet or I’m gonna call the entire police force on you,” Dianne says. “We don’t sell it, but I make the best doughnuts in this state.”

  Winston nods enthusiastically. “It’s true, she does. I would seriously listen to her if I were you.”

  Heather gets away about five minutes later with a helmet she was going to wear anyway and heads towards downtown.

  She hits the city square at some point and goes in a giant circle just to see what’s around. Before she finishes the circle, she catches sight of a bright yellow awning on the corner of a block and reads the familiar in bold black letters: Brown Bean.

  She parks at one end of the bike rack just outside of the coffee shop and takes off her helmet, ruffling it out of possible helmet hair. After just letting herself watch her surroundings, she grabs hold of the door when a patron exits out of it and she walks in.

  The first thing she notices, aside from the sweet aroma of coffee, is a lean woman with shock blonde hair walking past her spinning a black tray on her middle finger like a basketball. She looks around, tries to catch sight of Amber Wallis, but realizes that if she sees Amber in the mornings, she’d probably be off in the afternoons like her.

  “Do you know what you want yet?” a tall, soft-spoken brunette with broad shoulders and a name tag that reads ‘Barnie’ asks from just behind the glass display. She realizes that the rows of pastries encased in the display are the same ones she helped carry to Amber’s car early that morning.

  She shakes her head and lets out a small puff of air. “Uh, no. Not yet.”

  “Ok. Take your time.”

  “Thanks.”

  She looks up at the chalkboard menu hanging from the wall and reads off possible choices. Heather doesn’t get a chance to figure out what she wants because she hears her name called out somewhere to her left.

  “Heather? Heather Willis!” She turns to face the voice calling her name out. Her eyes land on a fair skinned woman. Recognition takes a couple of seconds, but when she remembers who it is, she breaks into a wide smile.

  “Captain Lara!”

  She spreads her arms wide and goes in for a hug clapping the other woman in the back. The other woman is laughing in disbelief when they break apart. Even as she takes in the image of her old friend standing in front of her, she can’t help but wonder how someone like Lara would find herself on this side of the country, let alone this very city.

  For all the people Heather’s met throughout the years, Lara McCall remains as one of the greatest people she’d ever met. They shared Dr. Sermanni’s Intro to Philosophy in college back when she was just a freshman and Lara was a junior. They became friends after not understanding half of what he lectured about either because it was philosophy or because of his thick Scottish accent. But they didn’t become best friends until she tried out for the club soccer team that Lara captained.

  “I can’t believe it’s you! Last I heard you were doing that Habitat for Humanity thing in Oklahoma!”

  “Oh, that was ages ago. Wait, what are you doing here?”

/>   “Getting my usual cup. The Bean’s got the best coffee in the city.”

  “No, no -- I mean in Grace. Do you live here?”

  “Yeah! I have a friend who has a house in Portland and we visited this place and one thing led to another I ended up filling in a temporary leave for a teacher and then got offered the full time spot for the next year. Crazy, huh? Been teaching over at Wellsley for a few years now. What about you? What brings you here? Are you in town long or just a couple of days?”

  Heather shrugs, just trying to wrap her mind that this surprise, though pleasant, is still a surprise. She hadn’t considered a proper answer for Lara’s questions since she’d been so sure that nobody was going to know her to want to ask questions. “I, uh, don’t know yet. I’m helping part time over at the Sunnyside Bakery for now.”

  The surprise on Lara’s face leads her on an excited tangent explaining the fundraiser the soccer team she coaches is holding for the next few weeks.

  “You should come by the school sometime,” Lara offers. “Maybe check out when we have tryouts. Could always use a second soccer opinion.”

  Heather ducks her head and runs a hand through her hair. “It’s been so long since I really played. I doubt I’d be much help.” Lara just waves her off with a smile.

  “Yeah, but it’s just like riding a bike. You never forget.”

  “Sure, maybe.” She shrugs again, at a loss for words. “I think that’d be pretty cool.”

  “Good. Think about it. I gotta finish running errands. But it’s so good to see you, Heather! Una to see you again soon, all right?” They exchange goodbyes before Lara excuses herself with one last wave leaving Heather standing in the middle of the shop.

  She heads to the counter just to move from the spot she’d been standing in and the same barista greets her. “So what’ll it be?”

  Her mind blanks. “Uh. Coffee.”

  ***

  Feeling the weight of the Bean’s keys for the last couple of weeks alongside her apartment and car keys fills Amber with an overwhelming sense of pride. It doesn’t change much of what she does every day, but it does change how she feels about it.

  And, boy, does she feel good.

  Amber didn’t know quite what she wanted to do after college, just wanted to go where life would take her. She just never would have thought a small summer road trip from Berkeley up to the Portland/Seattle area with her college friends was going to be the answer. But after a short stop through Grace on the way back home just for the sake of last minute exploring, she’d fallen in love with the place.

  It was that trip to the city square where she and her friends stopped in Brown Bean and it just felt like the place she wanted to be, needed to be.

  Amber doesn’t know if it’s there’s something in the water here, but this small unassuming city won her over and she was sold. But if there was something in the water, then she gets why Brown Bean is such a hit with the locals and passing travelers alike.

  Despite the confusion from her friends and family, they wished her good luck as Amber made the move to Grace, Oregon by the time October rolled around that same year.

  It’s been nearing her fourth year here and despite taking on odd jobs to fill up her time, like announcing for the weekly trivia night at Nina’s Bar & Grill and the occasional nature park tour guide at Tarren Park, her focus has largely remained with the Bean ever since she got the job. So to be able to have these keys just validates something inside of herself and she feels great to be doing more.

  ***

  “I have a knock-knock joke for you,” Heather says by way of greeting.

  “Of course you do,” she answers when she goes in the bakery, but there’s a twitch of a smile on her lips. “So we’re moving to knock knock jokes now?”

  “Knock, knock,” Heather says, waiting for her to play along. She does, but first she resists. She’s fairly certain that Heather gets a bigger kick getting her to participate but that doesn’t mean that Amber won’t have her own fun. “Knock, knock.”

  With a dramatic exasperated sigh, she answers. “Who’s there?”

  “Hula.”

  “Hula who?”

  Heather stares at her, an unreadable expression on her face. Amber furrows her brows in confusion until the punch line dawns on her and her face changes to a scowl. It only causes Heather to laugh from behind the counter, obviously far too pleased with herself.

  “You’re like a fountain of really bad jokes. Do you tell those at parties?”

  “Sure. But the crowd’s usually not as tough, though.” Amber throws a half-hearted glare at Heather winking at her before following the other woman round the back to get the baked goods.

  Another morning, another bad joke. But Amber doesn’t seem to mind too much.

  ***

  During the small lull between rush hours at the Bean, Amber spots Ana with an opened textbook at a nearby table tapping a highlighter on the page.

  “Studying?” she asks when she takes the chair across her coworker.

  “Oh, uh, yeah,” Ana replies. “We have a quiz today in Bio and I wanted to do some last minute studying.”

  “Do you like the classes over at Grace Tech?”

  Ana nods along before wedging her lighter in the middle of the book. “Yeah. My gen eds have been great so far.”

  Amber smiles and lets Ana get back to her studying and wonders if maybe she can just take a gander at their course listings to see if there’s any she’d be interested in.

  She mulls over her ideas for some time until Janine walks in with a forlorn expression on her face.

  “Give me the usual. Shaken, not stirred,” Janine orders as she rests her forehead on the counter. Ana’s about to get up and help her but she waves her off so she can finish studying. She can handle Janine.

  “Sometimes I think it’d be a good idea to serve alcohol around here but then I think how fast you’d get liver poisoning.”

  “I’d puke all over this place.”

  Amber chuckles even as she slides the saucer with Janine’s chocolate chip muffin towards her. “The first time you ever puke in here would also be your last because Una will permanently ban you.”

  At the mention of Una’s name, Janine lifts her head up and looks around. “Is she here?”

  “Sorry to break your heart,” she says over her shoulder as she prep’s Janine’s drink, “but she won't be back ‘til later.”

  Janine drops her head back down on the counter and mutters. “Just my luck. Have my heart broken twice.”

  “What is it this time?”

  Janine groans before picking her head up long enough to tell the story. Amber stands in amusement listening to Janine’s misfortune of getting cat fished by some 39 year old straight mom in Arkansas posing as a lesbian 24 year old woman going to law school in Chicago. The woman had sent Janine a picture of her but it had a watermark on the corner that hadn’t been photoshopped out.

  “She said she just got bored and lonely!” Janine cries into her chocolate chip muffin while she picks at it. “Everyone gets bored and lonely but the solution to that is finding a hobby or adopting a cat, not make up some random person. I really liked her.”

  Amber reaches over and pats Janine on the head. “How long did you know her?”

  “A month. But it’s the principle of the matter! What if I fell in love with her and I found out she wasn’t even real?”

  She shakes her head. “Maybe you should just try to stay local for now.”

  “Oh, please! There’s nobody available in this city! They’re either straight, married, or both! And I’d consider you because you’re pretty hot but you know too much about me. I’d have to kill you if we ever broke up.”

  “I’m flattered, I guess.” She walks out from behind the counter and occupies the table Ana just vacated after finishing her study break. “Maybe you should stop looking so hard. Just let the Universe do its thing or whatever. You never know, the right person for you could be the next person who
comes through that door. I’d already like them since they obviously have superior taste in coffee.”

  As if beckoning the Universe to help prove Amber’s point, they hear the bell above the door ring and the pair both snap their heads towards the door to see who walks in. Amber starts laughing and Janine scowls at her when they find Ms. Dahlberg, the owner of the guitar store a few blocks over, walk in in her khaki shorts and open sandals like it's not currently winter.

  “There's no way my destiny is with her!” Amber only laughs harder.

  “I don’t know, Jan. She’s got that exotic Swedish charm.”

  “Ugh, stop. You’re making me want to vomit.”

  The bell above the door rings again and Amber looks up to find Sarah walk in and head towards the front counter. She excuses herself from a now-sulking Janine and approaches the bakery deliverer.

  “Hey, Sarah, how’s it going?”

  Sarah smiles when she sees her. “Is Una around?”

  “Sorry, she’s out. Is there anything I can help with?” She beams when Sarah asks if she’s the next one in charge. Sarah goes on to explain that Dianne needs an update and clarification on the quantities of their specific orders because some of the numbers were off. After jotting down the right message, she assures Sarah that she and Una will get back with them as soon as possible.

  “Hey, since I’m here, I thought I’d let you know that the fundraiser over at Wellsley is gonna end sometime next week so I’ll be back to delivering in the morning.”

  “Oh. That’s, um, that’s great.”

  “Yeah. It’s good that you guys have been able to get them, but I still feel bad that you’re doing my job, you know?”

  “It hasn’t been a problem, you know.” Amber keeps a smile on her face, but she’d be lying if she’s not thinking about the end to her new morning routine of seeing Heather and hearing those lame jokes. “Plus, I’ve gotten used to Heather’s lame jokes.”

  Recognition flashes in Sarah’s eyes and she laughs. “They’re like good bad jokes. I’ve ended up telling a couple to my family back in Vancouver. She’s pretty cool, don’t you think?”

  Before she can answer, the two of them turn to the noise by the bussing counter and find Janine hunched over picking up broken pieces of the saucer plate. Ana is quick to her feet with the broom and the dust pan to help her.