Page 48 of A Barista's Guide to Love & Larceny
“Not exactly,” Kass hedged.
“Ugh, you’re the worst.”
“I hope you won’t be saying that at the end of the night.”
“Me too.” At his look of terror, she added, “Just kidding, I’m having a great time. Promise.”
“Don’t do me like that,” Kass said. “I’m delicate!”
“Sure you are,” Dani said, but she did feel kind of guilty, and resolved not to induce that kind of reaction in him again.
Her antennae started to tingle as they turned onto Depot Street, home of the centuries-old train station. It had shut down decades ago and been converted into a dozen different variations on a theme, the latest being a posh shopping center designed to draw in students and young professionals on the weekends. Dani had never actually been there herself, but she had the sneaking suspicion she knew exactly where Kass was taking her.
They turned into the train-yard-turned-parking lot, blearily illuminated by wrought iron lamps with strings of Edison-style lightbulbs hung between them, and Dani peered around with interest. The station itself sat on their left, a hulking nineteenth-centurybuilding made of cream brick and curved glass ceilings, and the tracks extended out to their right, with moored train cars repainted in eye-catching red and teal and sunflower yellow. A couple of them housed shops now, one a bookstore, another a brewery, though the outdoor patio was empty save for one person with a giant umbrella, smoking a cigarette. Kass steered his car toward the station and scored a parking spot close to the entrance.
“Are we going where I think we’re going?” Dani asked as he turned off the engine.
Kass hesitated, the mysterious confidence he’d been exuding earlier evaporating. “On second thought, this is probably totally uncool,” he said, making as though to start the car again. “Let’s go somewhere else.”
“Wait, what?” Dani reached out and grabbed his wrist before he could turn the key. “That’s not what I—if you’re trying to take me to Summoning, please don’t stop now. I’ve been dying to go ever since they opened.”
Some of his doubt softened. “For real?”
“Uh, yeah,” she said. “Why wouldn’t I want to go to the cool, new, artisan, globally and ethically sourced, magical coffee place in town?”
“But youworkat a coffee shop,” Kass said miserably. “I should have thought of something better.”
“Hecate’s bones,” Dani said. “I just told you I’ve been dying to go. I swear it on my life. I swear it on my hair.” She was trying not to laugh at this point; his own self-deprecation was quite lovable.
“And you’re not just saying that?”
“Ipromise.”
Kass took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay, cool. Because there’s this event tonight, a pairing. Coffees from around the world matched with spells that work well with their flavor profiles.”
“What!” Dani exclaimed. “That sounds so neat. We’re not late, are we?”
Laughing with more ease, Kass checked his watch. “We’re ten minutes early,” he said. “Just how I like it.”
They hurried into the station, which was glistening with rain and the light of the rainbow neon letters that readSummoning Coffeeabove the door. The coffeehouse—Dani couldn’t bring herself to call it a shop, or a café, because it was far grander, far vaster than her own—occupied the left half of the station, with the roof rising a hundred feet over their heads, its swirled glass flooded with the downpour.
The coffee counter was immediately to their right when they walked in, and Dani’s eyes grew wide at the sight of the gleaming, top-of-the-line espresso machines, far newer and fancier than anything she’d ever used. The baristas were dressed in aprons made of canvas and leather, as if they were artisans prepared to work their craft.
Theywereartisans, Dani corrected herself, remembering how Kass had admonished her earlier.
All in all, the space had a retro vibe, scattered with overstuffed velvet armchairs, cable-knitted rugs, and lamps with patterned shades. The event seemed to be taking place in the far corner across from the bar, where people were starting to find their seats at several long tables. The baristas were already passing out flights of coffee.
“That’s us,” Kass said. His hand lighted politely on the middle of her back—not too low to be overly forward, but not too high for the cue to be mistaken. Dani forced herself to act nonchalant as he guided her over. The barista supervising the event asked for the name Kass had signed up with—Kass Gianakos—and they made their way to their assigned seats.
Dani’s excitement mounted as they were given their flights: wooden trays with three covered mini mugs of hot coffee and a shot glass of iced, along with four stoppered bottles that contained the swirling, glittering energy of premade spells. She resisted the urge to read the cards that explained each coffee’s origins and the nature ofthe spell they’d chosen to pair with it, instead turning her attention to the head barista as he began his opening spiel. It proved more difficult to follow along than she’d anticipated, though, because Kass apparently did not have the attention span for this, or at least preferred to spend the time distracting her with jokes and anecdotes he thought of whenever the barista mentioned basically anything.
She had to hush him when it came time for the actual tasting. “Our first coffee is a single origin,” the barista was saying. “A Colombian medium roast, more on the light side of the spectrum. This is a dessert coffee. Go ahead and uncover it and take a smell.” Dani obeyed with enthusiasm, cupping the tiny mug in both hands, and inhaled the steam rolling off the surface of the liquid. “First impressions on aroma?”
“Coffee,” Kass said under his breath.
“Brown sugar,” Dani said, loud enough for the barista to catch.
“Good,” he said. “Brown sugar and hazelnut are the main notes. Go ahead and taste it.”
