Chapter 27 You Again

John kissed Anna goodbye as she dropped him back off at his car in downtown Asheville. She was preparing to leave when the phone rang. Anna couldn’t help but smile as she answered the call.
“Well hello again, long time no speak.”
“What’s wrong with me calling my wife?”
“Nothing,” Anna laughed as she sat back and watched the people walk by on the sidewalk. “Couldn’t wait to hear my voice huh?”
“Actually I wanted to thank you for lunch and tell you how happy I am that you are coming to work at my office. “
“I thought you were mad about it?” Anna admitted as she played with the zipper on her purse.” You were acting weird about it at lunch.”
John sighed into the phone and Anna could picture him leaning back in the seat as he drove. “I didn’t mean to, I just have gotten so used to being the one to rescue you that I felt funny when you wanted to work away from me.”
“I am a big girl John.”
“I know, it just goes against everything in me to not help you.”
“I know,” Anna said with a smile “And I think it’s very sweet, but I’m all grown up and I have to do things like succeeding or failing on my own.”
“You’re right,” He agreed quietly “I’m sorry if I was not as supportive as I should have been.”
“It’s okay,” Anna said with a smile knowing that John really was sorry.
“When will you be home?” John asked quietly.
“I have just a few more places to go then I’ll be home.”
“Are we okay?”
“Yes, I just need to go a few more places, we’re fine.”
“I love you, Anna, you know that right? I wasn’t trying to be a controlling jerk.”
Anna met her own eyes in the rearview mirror and couldn’t help the silly smile on her face.
“I know, me too, see you soon.”
As they hung up Anna drove to her favorite coffee spot in Asheville. The blue and yellow door displayed a cheery welcome sign that drew her in. Izzy’s never failed to make her smile with its hardwood floors, chipped counter, and amazing Mexican Mocha, it was one of the best reasons to drive to downtown. She ordered her Mocha and a chocolate chip cookie and stood to wait. She had a million things on her mind and didn’t notice anyone besides her until a gentle touch on her arm startled her out of her thoughts.
“Anna,” a soft voice said at her elbow.
“Oh my God!” she said with a gasp as she turned to face Anthony “you scared the crap out of me.”
Anthony laughed and pushed his long blond bangs off his forehead as his blue eyes laughed down at her.
“Sorry about that, I saw you standing there lost in thought and I wondered if you wanted to share my table.”
Anna hesitated, not sure how John would take her having coffee with Anthony considering how much he’d chased her in high school. “Won’t your fiancée mind? She seems to hate me so I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t want us having coffee together.”
“Honestly I don’t really care. Unless your husband would mind?
“No my husband won’t mind, He trusts me.”
“Okay then, right this way.”
Anna grabbed her coffee and cookie and followed, suddenly wishing she had said no. While they had been friends in high school there was always that element of desire on his side that had made it strained. They settled in under a hand-painted print by a local artist and Anna took the first sip sighing in pleasure.
“I forgot how much I love this coffee.”
Anthony raised an eyebrow and sipped his own latte. His eyes traveled over her and Anna looked away really wishing she had refused.
“You loved coffee, even in high school. Remember that Mocha Madness coffee that they used to sell at the place you used to work downtown, Jo’s wasn’t it?”
Anna smiled and found herself laughing. Anna had worked at Jo’s all through her junior and senior years of high school, coming out of it more a slave to her caffeine habit than when she’d started. Jo’s was a little old fashioned place started by a wonderful old woman named Jo and her husband. They sold amazing coffee and homemade baked good that were easy to become addicted to. It was a simple place, with mismatched plates and an atmosphere that felt like you were sitting in your grandmother’s kitchen. It had broken Anna’s heart when they had to close when Jo died when Anna was in her first year of college.
“How could I forget, Jo and Sid were like parents to me. I still miss her.”
“Well, I remember how that Mocha Madness used to amp me up for days. You used to cut me off after one remember.
Anna laughed and nodded remembering the sign that had hung above the counter warning patrons about the kick the coffee had.
“Sometimes you were an unruly customer for sure.”
I heard Sid moved to Florida last year to live with his daughter.” Anthony said as he sipped his coffee quietly.
“I know, I stopped by and saw him before he left. I still talk to him from time to time.”
“Do you ever wonder what might have happened if we had made different choices back then?”
“Sometimes,” she said as she finished her sip of coffee “but I think that things happen for a reason.”
“Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if we had gotten together?”