"You won't mind taking this back to Langier's and getting me a good one."
'Oh, yeah sure, Jesse. I'll just get my coat on and drive on down to Langier's to get you a fresh hot chocolate, because I'm just here to do your bidding.' Joanne shook her head at herself as she stood outside of Langier's. 'Why don't I tell that girl off? She's not much of a friend lately.' She knew it was pitiful and stupid, but this wasn't really about Jesse's hot chocolate. She figured she could go over to the office and see if the schedule was up for next week. That was the lie she was telling herself. She tried to prove to herself that she didn't really want to see him as she pushed into the shop. She pretended that she didn't want to see if Daniel looked at her the same way he had that night. 'That's just stupid. The man was drunk off of his ass.' As she got into line, she wondered, 'Maybe, if I see him and he's different, I can stop the stupid thoughts. He didn't want me, right? If he acts like he doesn't know me, I can convince myself to forget what he said...'
"Joanne? Long time, no see," David Langier smiled at her and pulled her out of the line. "How is that young man of yours?"
"Who, Gary? He's fine, I guess."
"You guess?"
"Yeah," she tried to lie, "I've just been so busy with the start of classes. We haven't had much time."
"Too bad for him," he placed a hand on her arm and showed her to a table in the corner. "Do you have time to talk?"
It was a little after noon on a Saturday. Of course she didn't have anything else going on. 'I wish I could lie'
"Sure," cautiously came out of her mouth. "I'm just getting something for a friend."
"Good. We can have a chat."
'Chat?' Jo wasn't too sure about herself anymore. She didn't want to be rude, so she agreed to the conversation. The elder Langier excused himself and went over to one of the workers behind the counter. He said something with a nod toward Jo and returned with a calm smile to his face.
*
At first, Dan thought he imagined her speaking outside the kitchen door, but the door swung open and he saw the side of her face as she nodded to his dad. He moved toward the door, but he got an order for two of the special chocolates. 'Pop knows I'm the only one that can do that. He's keeping me busy. What is he trying to pull?'
*
"So, tell me about yourself." Jo could have sworn David scanned her body. 'Or did he just notice me move my hands to my lap?'
"There's not much to tell. I'm a student. I graduate this semester."
"No," he frowned, "where are you from? What do your parents do? That sort of thing."
'Why the hell does this guy want to make nice all of the sudden?' "I'm from about an hour north of here. My dad's an artist, and Mom works in a bank."
"An artist? What kind of an artist?"
"Painting mostly, but he's done sculpture and other things over the years. I think Mom would paint too, if he'd give her enough room in the studio."
"And why aren't you an artist. It must be in the blood like most things," David raised an eyebrow.
'Wow. He wants to carry on a normal conversation after what he did before.' "I thought I'd be a painter, but I'm not too good with anything but hands. I doubt if a career could be made in hand portraits."
David surprised her with a laugh, "I don't know. There are some who would pay a lot of money for a painting of my hands in dough."
She couldn't help but smile back, "I'm sure there are." She'd been caught up in the familiarity of his smile. It slowly moved across his eyes, as if he himself were surprised that the emotion had managed to take his entire face. She looked down to keep from seeing the similarity to his son's smile. His long fingers traced a pattern on the tablecloth. Daniel's hands were just as slender.
'I figured a bread maker's hands would be more solid.'
As though he heard her thoughts, David said, "It's hereditary. The long fingers. Our family were bowmen, and later, musicians. Even now, Daniel and I are the only ones without music."
"Dan plays the piano at the Bans," she informed him.
"Yes, well, he stopped that before Christmas," he looked to his employee as two mugs of hot chocolate were placed in front of them.
*
Dan watched from the door as she put her fingers around the outside of her mug to warm up her fingers. He wanted to talk to her. He thought she wouldn't come within a mile of the place. 'If she's here,' he figured, 'It's not as bad as Christmas break. I have a tiny chance left. What the hell am I gonna say!?' He moved back into the kitchen to regroup.
* Just from the scent that traveled up from the liquid, she could tell this was the real thing. The drink that she'd missed for over a month beckoned to her. She stared down at the whipped cream. 'I don't need you, hot chocolate. You won't win me over so easy.' She felt David's hand close around hers.
"You have such small hands. Does your mother?"
Oddly, Joanne couldn't move away from his caressing fingers. She just looked back into his frowning face. 'Is he hitting on me? No. He couldn't...Is he?'
"Hey, man," Jo looked up into Jeremy's smiling face. "I thought you were too old for this shit. This is ridiculous."
"Jerry! You're staying in town?" He let go of Jo's fingers and shook Jerry's hand. "I thought you were headed for Cleveland."
Jeremy stared down into her eyes. She couldn't seem to do anything but stare right back. A jumble of words crowded into her throat and froze there.
David acknowledged their attention, "You two know each other?"
His response was a low, "Do we, Jo? Or are you gonna act like you don't know me, again?"
"We know each other," she frowned as she cleared her throat and forced herself to look away. 'What good would it do?'
