The Coffee Shop by Lauren Hunter Page B

pretty much open to just about anything. I love everything you just mentioned, so you pick.”
    “This is the pizza thing all over again, isn’t it?”
    “Pizza thing?” But then she remembered that night he came to her apartment and they ordered take out. She sighed. “In a way, but I am honestly open to just about everything.”
    “All right, but next time, you choose.”
    “Agreed.”
    Opening a cabinet filled with DVDs, Derrick ran his finger over the covers. “Ah, here’s one. I think you’ll like it.” Closing the cabinet, he removed the DVD from its case and slipped it into the machine. He sat down next to Annie as the movie started.
    “What is it?”
    “It’s a surprise.”
    Annie turned to face him. “That’s it, where’s a felt pen? I am going to write surprise across your forehead!”
    Grabbing her before she had a chance to jump up, Derrick pulled her down on top of him on the sofa.
    “Felt pen! Give me a felt pen.”
    “I tell you what, I’ll make you some popcorn if you promise not to write surprise on my forehead in my sleep.” Annie stopped struggling and became thoughtful.
    “All right, it’s a trade, popcorn, in exchange for not writing surprise on your forehead.”
    Derrick paused the movie. “It’ll only take a minute.”
    Annie waited while Derrick popped a bag of microwave popcorn, and returning in record time, he set the bowl on her lap. Sitting next to her, he put his arm around her.
    “There, how’s that?”
    “Pretty good. The fire, the movie, popcorn. What, no wine?”
    Holding up a finger, he reached over the back of the sofa, and picked up two empty glasses, handing one to her. Going back over the sofa, he came back up with the wine and her sparkling apple juice.
    “I was joking, you do realize. These are cold. What, did you have them in ice buckets?”
    “Yep.”
    “When did you do this?”
    “When you went to get your boots from your room.”
    “You literally thought of everything.”
    Derrick filled their glasses, and settling back, he put his arm around her once more.
    He was close to her, his arm reaching up and around her shoulder as he sat next to her, and in that moment, it just felt right. The two of them close on the sofa as they watched a movie. She smiled, and as she helped herself to the bowl of popcorn in her lap, she relaxed against him.
    It didn’t take long before Annie was fast asleep, her head resting against his chest as she slept soundly upon him. Derrick put his feet up on the coffee table and watched television, until he too drifted off.

Chapter Nine
    Annie opened her eyes.
    “Ah, you’re awake.”
    Jumping up from the sofa, she let out a noise that sounded like some small animal with its tail caught in a door. “What the…you…we…?”
    “I think you’re trying to say good morning?”
    “Did you, did I, did we?”
    “I know you can do it. You just put more than two words together, and you can make a sentence.”
    “What’s going on here?”
    “There you go. I knew you could do it.” He grinned up at her, leaning back on the sofa, both hands stretched out over the back. “You fell asleep watching the movie last night. I didn’t wish to disturb you, and before you know it I too had fallen asleep. And there you have it.”
    “Oh. Right. Yes.”
    “See, now you’re only speaking one word sentences.”
    Reaching up she pressed her fingers to her mouth. “I hope I didn’t slobber all over you?”
    He looked to his shirt. “You don’t seem to have. But that snoring, you’ll really have to do something about that. I thought a freight train was coming through my living room.”
    “You are kidding.” But he just stared up at her. “Tell me you are kidding!”
    Derrick couldn’t hold a straight face any longer. “Yes, I am kidding. But you should have seen the look on your face just now. It was priceless.”
    “Yes, I’ll just bet it was. And how does it compare to the expression I have on my face now?”
    “Well, I