Fallen Elements by Heather McVea

flatly.
    Ryan’s brow arched, and then she laughed.
“I’m not much of a fan.”
    Leah frowned and looked down at Ryan’s hand.
“No, I imagine you wouldn’t be.” The two women looked at each other
for several seconds.
    “Here you go, miss.” The blonde barista from
earlier handed Ryan another cup of tea, and then handed Leah a cup.
“And your triple tall, non-fat cappuccino.”
    Leah smiled. “Thank you.”
    Ryan looked blankly at the woman. “What’s
this?”
    Nodding toward the condiment bar and the
scene of Ryan’s calamity, the woman smiled. “That was a bad spill.
So the do over is our treat, but be careful with this one.” The
woman winked at Ryan, and walked back around the coffee bar.
    “That was nice of her.” Leah took a sip of
her coffee. “Well, I should get going.”
    “Wait.” Ryan nearly lunged at the woman,
again shocked by the urgency she felt in keeping Leah near her.
“Why are you here?”
    Leah took the lid off her coffee, and gently
blew on the steaming beverage. “I’m renovating my bookstore, and
had to file a load of paperwork for the permits.” She replaced the
lid. “What about you?”
    Ryan wanted to add sugar to her Earl Grey,
but didn’t trust herself not to repeat her earlier catastrophe. “I
just finished up with a job interview.”
    Leah’s brow raised. “That’s great. How did it
go?”
    Ryan nodded. “Pretty well. It’s -”
    An elderly man walked up with a venti cup in
his hand, and looked impatiently at the two women in front of the
condiment bar.
    “Oh, sorry.” Leah took Ryan’s forearm and
gently pulled her to the side of the bar.
    Ryan felt a prickling heat in her arm that
rapidly travelled down to her wrist. What the hell is
that?
    “What’s the job?” Leah asked.
    “It’s a community liaison position. I would
work with the director and various businesses and vendors to
coordinate county resources around social services.”
    Leah took a sip of her cappuccino. “That
sounds right up your alley.”
    Ryan nodded. “It really is; so fingers
crossed I get it.”
    Leah grinned. “I’m sure you wowed them.”
    Ryan shrugged. “I was smart enough to turn
down the coffee they offered me. Beyond that, who knows?”
    Leah’s green eyes moved from Ryan’s eyes to
her lips, and then a flush of red found the blonde woman’s cheeks.
“I should get going. Good luck with the job.”
    “Would you like to have an early lunch with
me?” Ryan blurted out. Asking the question had taken all of her
nerve, and she had no idea how she would manage an actual meal with
Leah should the woman accept the invitation.
    Leah glanced at her watch, it was a little
after eleven. “Actually, yes. I have about an hour and a half
before I have to be back to the store.”
    Ryan had half expected Leah to decline the
invitation, but now she was filled with a mixture of excitement and
trepidation. It reminded her of the first time she rode a roller
coaster. A friend of hers in undergrad had been shocked to find out
Ryan’s family had never so much as taken her to Coney Island.
    One weekend, she was hauled to Six Flags
America, east of Washington, D.C. and unceremoniously loaded onto
the Mind Eraser . She had been suspended from an overhead
track, and hurled through an inverted loop at over fifty miles an
hour. Ryan had promptly thrown up upon exiting the ride and now
hoped that wasn’t indicative of what was to come with her lunch
with Leah.
    “Where do you want to eat?” Leah asked as the
two women exited the building.
    Ryan hadn’t thought that far ahead, and
suggested the first place that popped into her head. “Don’t laugh,
but - Wegmans?”
    Leah smiled. “I love Wegmans.”
    Relieved Leah hadn’t thought her suggestion
silly, Ryan nodded. “Perfect. I’ll meet you there?”
    “Sounds good.” Leah turned and walked across
the parking lot in the opposite direction from Ryan.
    Once inside the Subaru, Ryan retrieved her
phone from the black portfolio and