Luckily for Bella, Ike's Coffee had tee shirts instead of tanks for their employees to wear.

Bella selected a small and ducked into the bathroom to change. She was surprised and delighted that the manager of the little coffee shop two doors down from Jake's had hired her on the spot and asked if she could start right away. Job-hunting foreplay was not her thing.

"Looks good." Esme looked her over and nodded. "That's a nice color for you."

"Yeah?" Bella glanced down at the dark blue shirt. "Cool."

Esme was a small, delicate looking woman with caramel colored hair and hazel eyes. She appeared to be about thirty, but she had an aura of mom-ness that Bella associated with older women. She looked like she probably had a husband, three kids, four cats, a dog, and a tank full of fish at home.

"I'm really glad you came in," Esme said, handing her a bunch of paperwork to read and sign. "My regular Friday girl up and quit five days ago, and Alice and I have been insane ever since. She's the other manager. She'll be coming in at three, so she'll be training you. You'll like Alice. She's…perky."

"It must be the coffee," Bella said, nodding sagely.

Esme laughed. "It soaks into your skin after a while. You find yourself permanently buzzed. Or crashing. It's a vicious cycle.

"So, you're new in town, huh?" Esme slid onto the stool next to her and watched as Bella filled out her forms. "Where are you from?"

"Phoenix."

"Wow. Kind of an extreme change for you."

"Yeah. That was what I was going for."

"So…why the big move?"

Bella gave a one-shouldered shrug. "It was time for a fresh start. Something completely different, you know?"

"So you just packed up and left?" Esme sighed. "Ah, the joys of singledom. No kids or husband to drag along. No mortgage, no PTA..."

Bella laughed. "I knew you were a mom. How many?"

"Two, a boy and a girl. My little one just started the first grade. I got this job because I couldn't stand staying home alone all day."

"I get that." Bella smiled and thought about all the days she'd spent lounging around the house with nothing to do but watch Animal Planet.

"So, I usually have the mornings, and Alice takes the evenings. We have two other employees, Seth and Leah. Right now we're just scheduling two at a time, so you won't see them that much. Just me and Alice."

Bella nodded. "It's a good thing I don't hate you, then."

Esme snickered. "The day is young."

"How late do you stay open?" Bella asked.

"Usually six, unless it's completely dead."

"That's good. I'm going to be working nights at a bar down the street, so I'll never have a conflict."

"Two jobs?" Esme's eyebrow arched. "Are you an insomniac or something?"

Bella shook her head. "Nope, just young, broke and fabulous."

"I hear ya, sista. How well I remember the days of ramen noodles and peanut butter." Esme rolled her eyes. "Trust me, it won't last forever. Which bar?"

"Jake's."

"Really? Jake's a good guy." Esme peeked up at her slyly. "Not too shabby looking, either."

Bella giggled. "He's hot, I must admit. But I would hate to be known as the girl who climbed on the boss to climb up the ladder."

Esme all but shrieked with laughter. "And here I've been fantasizing about cornering you in the supply room."

Alice found the two of them giggling madly when she walked in.

"Esme, stop snorting the Columbian Supreme and work," she admonished, pulling off her raincoat.

"Wow, I didn't know you could snort coffee," Bella said.

"It's the only way to fly." The tiny brunette's eyes rested on Bella's almost-completed paperwork. "You climbing on board? Thank God. I was about to put out an ad in Hookers Weekly if it would get us another pair of hands. I'm Alice Brandon."

"I'm Bella, Bella Swan." She held out her hand, which Alice bypassed and came right in for a hug.

At five-foot-four, Bella had never been in the back row in school photos. But with Esme at about five-two and Alice even shorter, she felt like Brigitte Nielsen towering over the Surreal Life crew.

"At my other job, I'm surrounded by freaking giant guys and girls in stilettos," she commented. "I'm going to have to adjust my angles on a daily basis working with you two."

"No knocking the short girls," Alice said, giggling. "We fight dirty."

She quickly learned that Esme and Alice were like two female Teletubbies. They giggled, they hugged, they loved everyone. When Esme took off ten minutes later, it was with an enthusiastic embrace and a promise to get to know each other better soon.

"Wow. You guys are like the Welcome Wagon of Seattle. Is there anyone you don't hug?"

Alice pretended to consider. "I don't hug Republicans."

"You do know I'm from Arizona, right? The Land of the Free-Range Rednecks?"

"Oh, that's okay, we'll fix you."

Alice seemed to be on Garrett's wavelength, because she quizzed Bella incessantly in between teaching her how to build coffees and run the shop. "So, how long have you been in town?"

"About two weeks. I've been working my other job for a week now. It's going good."

"Yeah? You sure you're going to be able to handle two jobs?"

"I hope so. But they're both only part time, anyway."

"In a perfect world. But the other baristas here are both flakes, so you may get called in for extra shifts."

"That's cool with me. I'd like to expand my diet from Campbell's soup and Spaghetti-Os sometime soon."

"Wow, you are living large."

Bella was doing another impersonation of a zombie on NyQuil by the time they closed up at five-thirty. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been awake for so long.

"Why don't you go home and take a nap?" Alice said. "I can close. I know that first days are exhausting."

"You have no idea," Bella groaned, sitting with her head on the counter. "Thanks. I'll make it up to you."

"Hells yes, you will. Go. No fainting in my shop."

She'd been afraid that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep and get a good snooze in before heading over to Jake's at eight, but her fears were unfounded. She was out the second that her head hit the couch.

When she awoke with a start, disoriented and aching, the shadows on the walls were all different. She nearly fell off the couch in her haste to grab her phone and check the time.

7:45. Praise the Lord.

Rising from the couch, she stripped off her blue Ike's polo and ran into her bedroom, searching for the new girl-cut tee shirt that Jake had presented her with the night before. She pulled it on and grabbed her purse before bolting out the door, then had to come back to grab her keys and phone.

Thank God I don't have to find a place to park, she thought as she sprinted the five blocks from her apartment to Jake's.

•••

"Aren't you just the punctual one?" Rosalie said from behind the bar when Bella skidded in at eight on the nose.

"Sorry," she wheezed. "I got a day job today, and crashed out on the couch when I got home. I set my phone alarm for AM instead of PM."

"Right on," Rosalie seemed unimpressed. "Way to make an entrance. Your eye makeup is all wacked out, by the way."

Bella groaned. She darted into the back room to ditch her stuff and try to fix her eyes in the cracked mirror.

"Here," Rosalie said from behind her, handing her a small bag. "Go to town. Don't use my lipstick, it'll look awful on you."

"Thanks," Bella said in surprise. "Aren't you afraid of Bella cooties?"

"Your cooties don't scare me, girl. I gots three older brothers."

Bella used Rosalie's mascara and a little black eyeliner to fix the crazy Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys look she had going on, threw on an apron, and rushed back out into the bar.

"We have live music at nine," Rosalie informed her. "A couple of local guys. It'll probably get a little nuts. You ready to be on your own?"

Bella swallowed. "No."

"Good. You've got the strip. Have fun."

Bella looked over at the section of booths against the wall known as the strip. Only two were occupied, and the others were all clean. She went over and checked on the two tables, then went back to the bar and Rosalie.

"You need any help?" she asked as she slid onto a barstool.

Rosalie shook her head. "Good right now." The blonde tossed her hair and eyed Bella critically. "You need some serious assistance with your technique, girl. Come over this Sunday and we'll work on it, okay? I'll make nachos."

Bella just about fell out of her chair. "Huh? You're inviting me over?"

"Do any of these guys need professional advice with their makeup?" Rosalie nodded to the five or six guys sitting at the bar.

"No…"

"Then don't argue. Bring some wine."

Bella gaped at her.

"What?" Rosalie asked in irritation. "Who else in this dive am I going to hang out with? The Teflon Triplets? I'm working my way through grad school. I need human companionship with someone who doesn't think that vampire novels are classic literature."

Bella blinked and tilted her head. "I have been known to read vampire novels."

"I forgive you. As long as you know that Frank Lloyd Wright didn't fly the first airplane, we're good."

"What are you studying?"

"Engineering."

Bella toppled out of her chair.

"Jeez, girl, do you have an inner ear problem?"

"I thought you were going to say 'fashion' or 'advertising,'" Bella said, her mouth hanging open as she clambered back onto the stool.

"Don't make me gag. You've got customers."

Bella turned around and spotted a few girls settling into a booth. With a last awed look at Rosalie, who replied with a roll of the eyes and a shooing gesture with one hand, she tripped over to greet her customers.

"Hi, ladies," she said, her hand on her hip. "How's it going tonight?"

"Good," one of the girls said absently. "You got any drink specials?"

"Two for one drafts start at nine."

"Is that when Edward's playing?"

"Uh, someone's playing. One of them may or may not be an Edward."

The girl nodded. "Yeah. We'll, uh, have a couple of cosmos."

"Sure." Bella pursed her lips. "Can I see some ID?"

The girl scowled. "I didn't bring it in," she muttered.

"How about a Coke, then?" Bella said knowingly, and was rewarded with a glare and a nod. "You?" She asked the girl's companion.

"I forgot it," she said sheepishly. "I'll have a Sprite."

"7-Up okay?"

"Sure."

"Coming right up."

Bella trooped back to the bar. "A Coke and a 7-Up for the forgetful ladies without ID," she said to Garrett.

He looked up and scowled. "Why did the Numbnuts Twins let them in?"

"We can only speculate."

"Shit. Keep an eye on them. Make sure no one buys them anything."

"Got it." Bella felt an evil grin coming on.

Business started to pick up just before the musicians were scheduled to start playing. Bella was doing her best impression of a belly dancer, slithering through the crowds with trays balanced on her shoulder. She prayed that people would settle down and drink for a while when the music fired up.

All such thoughts fled from her mind, however, when she heard the voice that came over the sound system.

His voice sounded like the fusion of Van Morrison, Tracy Chapman and Ben Harper, and played the keys like John Schmidt. Her hands went slack at her sides, staring blankly up at the stage.

It was him.

The guy from last week, the grouchy guy who had ordered a Sam Adams. The grouchy guy who looked like Seattle's answer to Rob Lowe.

Oh, God, I think I'm going to come in my jeans.

His voice – that sexy, reedy tenor that sounded like dark chocolate over strawberries – seemed to shoot right down to her stomach and beyond, causing heat to spread all across her skin. To her breasts and her thighs and her little girly bits.

Careful, girl. Don't let your mind go there. Just…work. Yeah, work.

"I need a pitcher of Bud and an Appletini," she shouted to Garrett when she reached the bar.

"Got it. Hey, your boyfriend's back." He nodded up to the musicians

"Thank you, I noticed." She shot a glance up towards the stage…

And found herself staring into a pair of gorgeous, gleaming green eyes.