Loves Journey: Chapter 14

Coffee Shop

Joe walked into the restaurant; his head slumped down; a frown on his face. Karyn noticed him the moment he walked in. He looked vaguely familiar; maybe he was in here before, she thought to herself.

He certainly had the day from hell. First, he'd gotten an earful from Amanda about how little time he was spending with the boys, even though he'd been taking them pretty often the last few weeks.

Flashback:

"Joe," she'd begun, "if all you're going to do is let them watch television or play games, they can stay home for that. The point of you getting the boys, or so I thought, was for you to actually do something with them."

"Amanda, sometimes stuff comes up with my job, and I'm not able to spend all the time I'd allocated for them. And other times, it takes me longer than I expected to finish up something. You should understand; doesn't stuff come up with your job?"

"Joseph King," Amanda cut him off, "don't you even try to go there. Yes, IFF does keep me away, sometimes more often than I'd like to be, but I'm still with Jamie and Philip a lot more than you are. And when I am with them, I'm with them, not working."

"I—" Amanda cut Joe off and continued with what she had to say.

"So, unless you are going to commit to actually spending time with them this weekend and later when we go away for our honeymoon, I'll just ask Mother to keep them."

"Don't I have some say in this?"

"Yes, you do; it all depends on what you plan on doing."

"What if something comes up with work?"

"Joe, I get that, sometimes those things do happen, but you need to put the boys first, as much as you can and not take on extra work unless you have to."

"Well, I," Joe stuttered, not knowing what to say.

End of Flashback

After that, he attempted to ask about the incident with the kidnapping and two murders, but she gave only a minimal account, most of what he'd already heard on the news. Amanda then said she had to go and finish up getting some last minute things done at work; she only had a few more days in the office; then she was off for two days before her and Lee's ceremony.

That was just before he left for lunch. His ears felt as though they were still ringing. Karyn walked over and asked, "Sir, what can I get you? My shift is about to end, but I can take your order before I go."

"Oh, let me see, just a coffee, with cream and sugar and a ham sandwich on rye, please."

"Would you like some water?"

"Sure."

Karyn returned a few minutes later; her apron now discarded. "Your order will be out in a few minutes. I hope you have a good day."

"Thank you, same to you," Joe replied, his eyes glancing down at the waitress' slightly rounded belly.

Karyn clocked out, then headed towards the exit. She waited by the door and watched until Joe's order came out and was placed in front of her last customer. She was just about to step outside when she noticed how sad his expression continued to be. Karyn glanced at her watch. She had a few minutes before her ride would be there. Karyn stepped back over to the table and asked, "I'm waiting for a ride; would you like some company for a few minutes?"

Joe thought about it for a second.

"I need to get off my feet, anyway," Karyn added.

"Sure," Joe replied hesitantly.

"Good," Karyn returned, sitting down quickly and sticking her hand out towards Joe. "By the way, my name is Karyn White. What's your name?"

"Joseph King, but everyone just calls me Joe," Joe answered, holding his hand out to shake Karyn's hand.

"Nice to meet you!" Karyn said.

"Nice to meet you too," Joe remarked not sure what to say.

"You seemed so sad, I couldn't help but sit down and try and cheer you up."

Joe glanced at the young woman. She couldn't be more than about twenty, twenty-one. "Oh, I'm not sad," Joe began.

"Well, you sure don't look happy."

"Well, I…" Joe trailed off.

"It's okay; I know I'm a stranger. Look, I'll start, and if you decide you want to tell me something of interest, go ahead, if not, that's okay too."

"Yeah, sure," Joe began, but before he could finish his statement, Karyn was off and running; talking so fast, Joe could hardly even get a word in edgewise. But for some reason, this didn't bother Joe. Occasionally, she paused; and he'd say a few words and then she'd start up again.

Karyn paused momentarily in the conversation when Joe's food arrived, but then started right back talking.

"Do you want something?" Joe offered.

"No, you forget I work in this place," Karyn said with a smile. Joe raised an eyebrow. "I'm kidding, but no seriously I'm fine."

She talked about how the father of her baby was no longer in the picture, how she much she loved her job there at the coffee shop; but she was only working there part-time. She was actually an intern at a law firm. And she even managed to make him laugh a few times; telling stories about her internship.

"There was this one document that I thought I'd shredded that wasn't supposed to be."

"What did you do?"

"I tried to put it back together of course."

"You're joking?"

"Well, it wasn't completely torn up yet, just part way. Anyway, once I had most of it back together; I realized that it was the wrong document and that I hadn't put the document in the shredder, to begin with."

Despite himself, Joe laughed.

Joe managed to tell her that he was divorced and had two sons and that he worked at a law firm.

"So, why so sad Joe?"

"Oh has to do with some personal stuff."

"The ex-wife, I get it."

"Well," Joe began but was cut off by the sound of a horn from outside.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Oh, that's my ride now. No place to park around here."

Karyn stood up and started towards the door, but then turned back, "Well, at least I was able to get you to laugh, at least a little."

"You did," Joe replied. "Thank you!"

"Maybe, I'll see you again."

"Maybe."

Well, that was an interesting conversation. And the woman was a very chatty young woman. Joe thought to himself as he watched the waitress leave the restaurant. I wonder who was picking her up. She never did say who it was.

Joe finished off his food and coffee and stood to leave to go back to work. It might be interesting chatting with Karyn again sometime. At least it wouldn't be a dull conversation.