The next time Eden and Annie saw Meg, she was with Park, and there was no trace of the crying, nearly cowering, shrinking woman that had accompanied the other man to the coffee shop on Meg’s previous visit. The coffee house employees watched the couple as they always did, and Meg and Park did what they always did. Leaned in. Made eyes at one another. Smiled constantly. Left with longing painfully painted into their expressions.
“How long would you give it?” Annie asked one day after Meg and Park had finally left after a lingering goodbye by the door that lasted a full ten minutes.
“Hard to say,” Eden said. “I mean, clearly, she was over that other man a long time ago. How, long has she been coming in here to see Park?”
“A year?” Annie said, her tone raised in a question.
Eden considered that. “So if a year ago, she as already thinking about an out, it might not be very long until they actually do get together.”
“If they aren’t together already,” Annie said.
The next week when Park came in, he came to the counter immediately, instead of waiting for Meg like he normally did. He was smiling, but he was also shaking. Eden was briefly concerned until Park pulled a small black box from his pocket and popped it open for her to see. Without preamble, he asked, “Do you think she’ll like it?”
Annie was peering over Eden’s shoulder to see. The ring was an emerald cut diamond. Eden guessed it was a half carot. A simple solitaire in a white gold band. She imagined it sliding down Meg’s finger, and the shining smile she would have to match its sparkle.
“Yes, Park. I think she will like it.”
As soon as the words left her, Meg came through the door. Today she was looking as sharp as always, her slim fit blazer dressing up the blue jeans she wore. Her nubuck heels clicked against the tile floor, a crisp sound filling the stillness of the shop. Park was frozen in place as she approached him, and he didn’t hide the ring box. Eden was as stiff as stone, and Annie didn’t move as inch, both transfixed on the couple standing before them.
Meg noticed that everyone was staring at her. She slowed, and then noticed what Park was holding out for Eden and Annie to see. “Park, is that…?”
He didn’t wait for her to finish. He dropped to one knee in front of her, nervously holding up the ring box and sputtering, “I know, we’re not even really together, Meg, but I love you so much and I just thought that maybe we could skip right to the end.”
The coffee house went silent. Meg’s face betrayed no expression for an uncomfortable eternity. Then she began to cry. It was an ugly cry, but one that Eden could tell was born of relief and joy. Not at all the like crying she had seen from her when she and her ex-husband had been in together, arguing and signing papers. She didn’t wipe her face. She didn’t say anything. She just wept in front of God and everyone, until Park couldn’t take it, and rose to wrap her in his arms.
Eden stole a quick glance to Annie, who was also transfixed on the strange proposal and Meg’s response. He proposed to her, but they weren’t even dating? Eden wasn’t sure what to think, but she could hear Meg and Park whispering to one another as they embraced, and it didn’t sound like her answer was no. When they pulled apart, they were both smiling. There three other patrons in the coffee house were all watching too, as Park took the ring from the box and slipped it on Meg’s finger. Somebody whistled, and then there was clapping. Meg was still crying, but now she was also beaming. Park was also crying, and smiling, and Eden also felt like her eyes were too wet.
Park and Meg turned to face her, and before they could say anything, she blurted, “Whatever you want is on me today.”
Park tried to protest, but she insisted. She rang in their drinks and watched the couple as Annie started to make them. The rest of their time together was the same as it always was, although Eden was sure there was a glow coming off them.
When they left, Annie bumped her with an elbow. “Told ya,” she said.
“You didn’t tell me anything! I told you!” Eden said, laughing.
Annie sighed. “Who are we going to gossip about now?”
Eden wondered at that too. She felt like she was a part of Meg and Park’s story now. No longer an outsider. It wasn’t quite as fun to imagine what was happening, because now she didn’t need to imagine.
“There’s always people to watch,” she said, just as a patron she had never seen before came in the door.
The next day, Annie was not working and Eden wished that was not the case around 11:30, when Meg walked into the coffeehouse with another guy. It was nearly shocking. Meg’s entire demeanor was different. She was not smiling. Her hair was not shining. She was not glowing from happiness. She looked tired, old and mean, even though she was wearing the same kind of sharp outfit complete with blazer and heels that always adorned her. Even her earrings seemed to have less life in them, as they dangled around her face.
“Hey Meg,” Eden said as she approached the counter. “You want the usual?”
Her eyes when wide at the question, and before she could answer, the man she was with looked at her curiously and asked, “The usual?” He was a whole head taller than Meg. He had graying curly hair and a very trim beard. He looked like an aging villain from a Saturday morning cartoon. Handsome, yet ominous, smiling but in a dangerous way. Meg seemed to shrink away from him when he spoke to her.
“I come here a lot for work,” she said, brushing away his inquiry. “The usual is fine,” she said to Eden.
Eden wished she could pass her a note. Meg was clearly in distress with this man. Why didn’t they have something like an “angel shot” on the menu, only known to those who used the women’s bathroom. She wondered if she mentioned it, if Meg would pick up on what she was asking. Instead, Eden just stared at her for too long, smiling, waiting for her to say anything, or suggest anything, or ask for anything else from her. When she didn’t, Eden very slowly turned her attention to the man. “And what can I get for you?” she asked.
“The usual, I guess,” he said. He was smiling, but Eden could see the way it made Meg shudder. She stepped out of the way so that man could pay and Eden’s eyes went to the man’s left hand, where she saw a plain gold wedding band. Her stomach dropped. This man must be Meg’s husband.
“Anytime else?” Eden asked, trying not to let her voice waver. She glanced at Meg, who just looked away from her, and crossed her arms. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.
“No,” the man said. And he sounded rude when he said it.
Eden made the drinks and passed them over to the couple. When they left the counter, she immediately pulled out her phone and texted Annie. She’s in here with another guy.
Meg? Annie’s reply was instant.
I think it’s her husband. I don’t like him. I don’t think she likes him. She furiously typed out all the details, sending about 12 messages in a row before she finally ran out of things to say about it. She chewed on her thumbnail as she tried to watch the two of them surreptitiously. They were arguing in hushed tones. The man had a folder full of papers that he was flipping through, pointing things out to her as she shook her head. Eventually, Meg got up from the table and headed towards the bathroom.
She’s going to the bathroom. I’m going to follow her and ask what is going on.
Annie sent a thumbs up emoji with the words Good choice. This guy sounds like a prick.
Eden waited about a minute before she started to move. “Wendy, I’m stepping away,” she called to the back room, where her coworker for this shift was organizing the delivery from that morning. Eden marched to the bathroom and nearly threw open the door in her haste to find out what was going on with Meg. When she entered the bathroom, she heard the crying, but it quickly stopped.
She was in one of the two stalls. Eden didn’t even pretend like she needed to use the unoccupied one. “Meg?” she asked softly.
The sniffling stopped, but she didn’t answer. After about a minute of uncomfortable silence, the stall door opened and Meg emerged, wiping away her tears with a wad of toilet paper. She looked at Eden with desperation, but the words that came out of her mouth were, “It’s okay, Eden. Don’t worry about me.”
Eden wasn’t going to let her back away though. “It’s not okay,” Eden said. “I can see that. I’ve never seen you look…like this,” she said, gesturing at Meg. “Do you need to call somebody? You want me to get the police to get him out of here?”
“No!” Meg said. She looked horrified, but only for a moment, before it melted into a smile. “No, Eden, I don’t need that. Although, I really appreciate you looking out for me.”
“Of course,” she said. She was confused, but she was just going to let the situation play out. “I wanna help, if I can. What can I do?”
“Well,” Meg said, moving to the sink and starting to wash her hands. “You can let me finish signing the divorce papers, so that he can get out of here.” She finished washing, and pulled a paper towel from the dispenser. She looked right at Eden, and she could see that beautiful, bright smile, the one she had when she was with Park, trying to spread across her face. “I love that you came in here to check on me.”
“I…I had to,” she said.
Meg nodded. “You’re a really sweet person,” Meg said. She threw the paper towel away and moved around Eden towards the door. “Hopefully this won’t take long.” She left the bathroom, leaving Eden with too many questions.
She pulled her phone out of her smock. It is her husband. They’re getting divorced.
“Hey Park,” Eden said as he slowly approached the counter. “Cappuccino today? Or you wanna do the flat white again?” She began to take a fresh cup off the stack next to the register, her pen ready to scribble down his order.
“Oh, cappuccino is fine,” he said. He always seemed timid when they spoke, not at all the same demeanor he had with Meg. He looked over his shoulder, watching the door.
“Looking for your wife?” Eden asked, as she rung in his order to the computer.
“My wife?” he asked, his cheeks coloring. “No, Meg’s not my wife.”
“Oh!” Eden said, acting surprised. She had never really thought the two of them were married. “I’m sorry, I just assumed…”
“It’s okay,” he said. “We are just…close. You know?” He smiled, but he looked so uncomfortable that Eden almost felt bad about her plan to pry information out of him.
“I have friends like that too,” she said, an attempt to ease his nerves. The man was practically bouncing on his toes from anxiety. “How long have you known each other?” she asked.
“We worked together some years ago,” he said. “And, we recently just…ran into each other in the grocery store.” He laughed. A nervous laugh. The kind of laugh you do when you’re hiding something that you’d rather not say.
Eden didn’t press anymore. She handed the cup off to Annie as she took Park’s payment. “That was fortuitous!” she said. “It’s like a movie.”
Park just smiled, but he also bit his bottom lip. He glanced away from her, towards the door, just as Meg walked in. She was wearing the black heels today, black blazer with bright pink pants. Her hair was styled into soft curls around her face. She took off her sunglasses as she came towards the counter, reaching for him with one arm. They hugged, greeting one another as if they hadn’t seen each other in years, completely ignoring the fact that Eden was standing not two feet from them.
When Park pulled away from her, he said, “Eden thought we were married.” Then he and Meg both laughed as if it was the funniest thing they had ever heard.
Eden waiting politely and patiently at the counter, knowing what Meg was going to order, but not ringing it in until she was ready.
When Meg finally stopped laughing, she took a long step to the register and said under her breath to Eden, “I mean, if he’d have asked me ten years ago, we would be married.” She laughed at herself some more, and that’s when Eden saw that she was wearing a wedding ring. She tried not to smile too broadly at this bit of information. She couldn’t wait to pick this apart with Annie.
“Iced coffee, room for cream?” Eden asked, not commenting on the information or the scandal that she was imagining.
“You know… today, let me get whatever he got,” Meg said.
Eden froze. This had never happened before. “Sure,” she said, ringing in a second cappuccino and handing the cup off to Annie before she began pushing buttons on the monitor in front of her.
Park and Meg quickly ignored everyone and everything that wasn’t each other. Just like always. Eden watched them from behind the counter intermittently, between serving other customers and keeping the counter tidy. When Annie strolled in, she nearly ran to the backroom to intercept her.
“Meg is married, but Park isn’t. They used to work together but lost touch for a long time, and then ran into each other at the grocery store.”
Annie was tying her around her waist. She didn’t say anything as she retied her ponytail and put on her visor. Eden watched her slow movements, tapping a finger against her arm as she waited. Finally, Annie took a long drink out of her water bottle, screwing the cap back on, and then placing it in the cubby next to her bag and her keys. “So,” Annie began, “it’s not a possibility, but he still wants her.”
Eden grasped onto those words with glee, the secret burning her lips even as she spoke it. “But that’s the thing! I think she wants him too!”
“Did she say something to make you think that?” Annie asked. They both began moving back towards the counter, the door to the back room continuing to swing as they exited the store room.
Eden dropped her voice. “She said, kinda under her breath, that if he’d asked ten years ago, they would be married.”
Annie’s eyes widened for just a moment before a slow smile crept across her face. “Oh, I see,” she said. “So there’s trouble in paradise.”
“She didn’t say anything about her husband to me,” Eden said. Her eyes trailed across the coffee house, resting on the friends as they talked, leaning forward into each other, all smiles. Meg’s face was particularly glorious today, and her black curls were shining just like her expression. She was wearing golden earrings that flashed in the light every time she laughed. She was beautiful.
There was a customer at the counter. Annie moved around her to greet the man and take the order. Eden moved towards the espresso machine to get started making his drink. A line formed behind him, and Eden and Annie didn’t get a chance to talk any more about Meg and Park for a long stretch.
But Eden watched them as they left, hugging one another for a long time (although this time there was no peck on the cheek). They split from one another in the parking lot, each going their own way. Eden wondered if Meg’s husband knew about these meetings with Park. She wondered if Meg was as happy with him as she was when she was here in the coffee house. It didn’t seem like she could look at anyone else with the same intensity as she looked at Park.
“Maybe she’s that way with everyone,” Annie said later, when there was a lull, and they stood behind the counter with their arms crossed, feeling tired and ready for shift end.
Eden looked at her watch. They only had twenty minutes left. “She’s never that way with me,” Eden said. She picked as a thread coming loose on her apron, wondering what the end goal was for either of them. Why would a married woman meet up with a man, especially if she felt such joy like that around him, if she was already happy with another man? Why would a man continually meet a married woman—and kiss her!—if he wasn’t trying to start a relationship with her? It was clear now that the two were not simply friends. But they weren’t quite at the beginning of a romance either. Or were they?
“You know, we don’t know if these are their only meet ups,” Eden offered.
Annie nodded. “So you think they are having affair?”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Eden said.
Annie grimaced as if she didn’t agree. “I don’t know. They see too nervous around each other for that.”
Maybe that was true. Eden didn’t know. And really, it wasn’t her business anyway. But they were right there in front of her face at least once a week, and she just wanted to know what was going on.
They started coming into the coffeehouse about 8 months ago. The woman was perhaps in her mid-forties. She colored her hair. Sometimes the roots grew out to where Eden could see them, streaks of gray among the black. She was about Eden’s height, a little over 5 foot 3, unless she was wearing heels. And she liked to wear heels. She wore them with jeans even. She always had a blazer on. Her name was Meg and she drank iced coffee with no flavoring. She always asked for Eden to leave room for cream. She carried a bag that was big enough for a laptop, though Eden never saw her use while she was there.
The man’s name was Park. He was older than Meg Well, maybe. Not by much. His beard was graying, but it was hard to see because it wasn’t thick. He still had a full head of hair though, no balding even though his temples were silver. He wasn’t tall for a man, but he was taller than Meg. Unless she was wearing heels. Then they were the same height. He wore everything from jeans, to suits, to sweats when they came in. Sometimes he had a backpack. Sometimes he brought nothing. He would usually arrive first, and he would wait near the counter for her before he ordered. He drank everything on the menu, but he had his favorites—the cappuccino with a swirl of vanilla syrup, or the americano. Lots of days he just ordered black.
“Do you think they’re dating?” Eden asked her coworker, Annie. Meg and Park came into the coffeehouse in the middle of the day, at least once a week. It was usually slow at that time of day and she liked to gossip about the customers to anyone else who was with her.
“Beats me,” Annie said, smacking her gum, though she too was looking at the table were the pair were talking with their heads close together.
They never touched, but they always smiled. Sometimes they would hug, but not all the time. Mostly they would just sit, leaning into each other, just like they were doing now. It always made Eden think of the scene from Lady and the Tramp when the dogs were eating spaghetti. All those two needed was an excuse to kiss and Eden was sure they would do it. Whatever was in their bags from day to day went untouched.
They didn’t do any work together. The laptops, if they had them in their bags, never emerged. They didn’t check their phones. They didn’t ever write anything down on a notepad produced from Park’s backpack or Meg’s purse. These were not meet ups for anything other than drinking coffee and staring into each other’s eyes.
“Maybe they’re having an affair,” Eden said. The shop was slower than usual today.
“He doesn’t wear a wedding ring,” Annie countered as she swept the floor.
Eden stuck her hands into her apron pocket, studying that hands of her patrons. She could clear see that Park did not wear a wedding ring, but she couldn’t see Meg’s left had at all. It was clutched around her coffee cup. Meg’s hair was tied up in a ponytail today. She was wearing a black turtle neck under her blazer, and her jeans were a dark wash. She had a patent leather black pumps. She had crossed her legs and was sitting back in her chair as Park told her a story. He was in jeans and tennis shoes, and his zip up was dark gray. He had been wearing a green plaid scarf but he’d taken it off his neck about ten minutes ago, and it was slung over the back of her chair across the peacoat he wore. Meg laughed at something he said and then leaned forward, nearly whispering to him in response. It was so annoying that Eden could never hear what they were saying.
“Maybe he’s her brother,” Annie said, coming behind her to whisper the words into her ear.
A customer approached the counter and she was momentarily distracted from her spying. She took the man’s order and as she stepped the espresso machine, she saw that Meg was standing up. Park stood too. Today they hugged. It was a short hug today—not a lover’s hug, not a long, lingering “I’ll miss you”, not a hug for someone who is having a rough day. Just a quick one armed hug. They were both still holding their coffee cups as they moved to the door. Park took Meg’s cup so she could button her jacket, and then she returned the favor. The two of them stared at each other, smiling awkwardly, like they didn’t want to say goodbye. Then Park leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. She laughed and it looked like he apologized, though Meg didn’t look upset at all. Her face was rosy, glowing even. They left the coffee house.
Eden handed the drink to the waiting customer at the counter, then went to find Annie. She was putting the broom away in the back. “He’s not her brother,” she said. “He kissed her!” she said.
Annie didn’t seem nearly as scandalized as Eden felt. “What kind of kiss?”
“Just a quick peck on the cheek,” Eden said.
Annie frowned, and blew a bubble with her gum. “Eh…could still be her brother I guess.”
“My brother never kisses me. And he doesn’t look at me like that.”
“Yeah, that’s fair,” Annie said. “Next time they come in, you should ask how they know each other.”
“What…just…ask?” Eden gasped.
“Why not? They come in here all the time. You know their names. You now exactly what Meg is going to order, and you can form a good guess for what Park is going to order based on what he’s wearing. They make chitchat with you sometimes. Why not ask them?”
The Quick and the Dead 