Epilogue

Epilogue

Cassie

“It’s beautiful,” I said, setting down the latte and grabbing my phone from my back pocket. “I did amazing.”

The customer—this time it was the elderly Thai lady named June, who knew me well enough—reached for the cup before she stopped, watching as I snapped a picture of my perfect rosetta on the latte art. I checked the picture, and I went back in for another, coming in closer and propping up a lid against the side of the Hummingbird-branded cup—you know, for the aesthetic.

“How’s this picture look?” I said, showing it to June.

“Beautiful, I think,” she said. “Going on your page?”

“I think so. If Parker likes it.” I popped the lid on her drink and slid it over to her. “Have a great day, June!”

“Say hi to Parker for me,” she said, picking up the cup and heading back out the door. It made my heart sing, even all this time later, the way everyone associated me with Parker.

I turned back to the espresso bar, sliding up the next cup and spotting Sasha’s name on it. I looked up over the bar, catching Sasha there leaning against the counter, her hair longer now but still with dark roots grown out into pink tips, wearing the black Agape jacket with striking red houndstooth accents that she’d grabbed on one of our group outings not long ago. It clashed with her Express armband, poppy blue and yellow, but we were all inseparable from our bands.

“Hey, Sash,” I said. “I thought you and Rashmi were out running promo right now.”

“All wrapped up,” she said. “Her fiancé called her, so she forgot I existed and ran away to go make heart eyes at him.”

“That girl is so straight,” I laughed. “Well, can’t be helped, if they only got engaged… what, a month ago now?”

“Yeah, you’re every bit as hopeless with your girl, and you’re not even engaged yet,” Sasha said, and I turned to squishy, giggly spaghetti as I started her drink. “Hey… Cassie. Please don’t steam milk. It’s an iced latte.”

“Oh. Right.” I giggled, pouring the milk from the steaming pitcher into her cup. Sasha sighed, shaking her head with a smile.

“See, this is what I mean. I just mention Parker and you’re like this. You’ve been together a full year now and you’re still mush.”

“Not quite. Our anniversary is this weekend.” I hummed to myself as I pulled her espresso, rich and layered with a mahogany body and a deep, dark heart. “I was planning to take her on, like, a trip to the Andes or something, but I think we’re just going to go back to her hometown and tour coffee tastings there. She likes comfortable, you know?”

She smiled softly, shaking her head. “Still cannot believe you tamed Parker Ferris. That’s even more impressive than landing Gary Founders in jail.”

“Technically, that was Tatiana who did that…” I scooped ice from the bin and filled her drink up to the top, closing the lid on and pushing it across the wood plank finish of the handoff plane to Sasha. “You know, organizing all the reports of his harassment, stalking, extortion. If it weren’t for Tatiana, he’d probably still be out finding a way to creep on girls.” I chewed my cheek. “Parker still calls her Tat the Rat though. I think it’s just her weird way of saying thank you.”

“Didn’t the Port Andrea Restauranteurs’ Association also get involved?”

“Yeah. They don’t deal with coffee suppliers, but he got overconfident and tried to sell to Sapphire Dragon, and it put him officially under PARA jurisdiction. Tatiana’s report to them got him investigated, and they found enough evidence of his extortion to put him in jail. Didn’t help that he pissed off Persephone Jacobs, the Sapphire Dragon owner.”

“Don’t mess with the Dragon, huh? Well, however it happened, I’m just glad he’s gone,” she said, taking the drink and punching her straw through the top, sipping slowly as she glanced around the café. Hummingbird was quiet right now, and the brilliant rays of warm morning light filtered in through the windows, casting the wood-plank finishes and leafy vines in soft, dreamy pale golds. Between everything that had happened over the past year since taking down Gary at our meeting, I had a lot on my plate, but I still took at least a day out each week to work at Hummingbird. Keep my feet on the ground, and all that.

“Something’s on your mind,” I said.

“I heard you’re shaking things up with this place?”

I folded my arms on the side of the espresso bar, leaning in. “Oh? And the source of these leaks, pray tell?”

She gave me a wry smile. “Take one wild guess.”

I laughed. “The pipsqueak. You’ve been working with her again lately, then?”

“Yeah, she’s been heading down into Port Andrea a lot the past month. Getting away from her mom, from the sounds of things.”

That seemed reasonable enough. Sutton had started her own ‘Drean lifestyle blog and was working on finding her niche, and as much as she snuck down to Port Andrea without her mom knowing—usually showing up unexpectedly at my and Parker’s place, where we’d converted the second bedroom into a photography studio—she’d gotten in with my friends. She and Sasha had struck up a sisterly relationship, trash-talking each other almost as much as she did with Parker while Sasha took her under her wing, and it made me feel warm thinking about it.

Sasha, who had been so terrified of authenticity, turning around now and teaching it to the next generation. She’d only come out on her page about six months ago now, a full half a year after she came out to the rest of us, but she just looked so happy these days. Even when she was arguing with Sutton, calling her pipsqueak and nosy little runt.

“Her mom is… a lot,” I said.

She sucked absently at her drink. “Yeah… Parker seems a lot more comfortable these days. It’s been nice seeing you both own it on social media that you’ve cut off your parents. Normalizing boundaries, and all that. But, you’re dodging the subject,” she said, setting down her drink with a smile. “Sutton already clued me in something’s happening here. Spill.”

I laughed. “Okay, okay. Just keep tighter lips about it than Sutton, all right? We’re thinking of gaying the place up.”

She arched an eyebrow. “You work here, so, I don’t know how it’s getting gayer.”

“Okay, like, fair. But that’s not what I mean.” I turned as Gloria on register slid another drink down the bar for me, and I put on the milk to steam for the dark caramel soy latte. Only after finishing it and handing it off to the girl who was here chatting with her friend, both wearing Express armbands, did I turn back to Sasha and say, “So—we’ve got a lot of cafés now.”

“Yeah, I know. I see your little blue-and-yellow signs everywhere. It’s like walking through IKEA.”

I laughed drily. “Yeah… we weren’t exactly expecting that. Morning Magic only officially folded four months ago, and over half of their signed cafés came to us looking for a replacement. Branding our partner cafés as gathering spaces to meet new friends has been great, but I think we’re hitting diminishing returns.”

“So you’re branching out, starting with your own home coffee shop as a testing ground.”

“Exactly! We’ve been talking with the owner here, Josiah—he’s gay, so he’s been receptive. We’re going to brand Hummingbird as a queer version of the Express brand.”

“Always the new best time to meet a new gay best friend?” She sipped her coffee again, looking around the space, probably imagining it full of people with septum piercings and colored hair. “I like it. I feel like all the designated queer spaces are bars and clubs. Port Andrea’s full of gay people and coffee, so I think it’s a market ripe for the taking, establishing a queer scene that isn’t about alcohol or nightlife.”

“Yeah, we can’t let you just keep seducing everyone in Strawberry Lounge for the rest of time,” I laughed. She cleared her throat.

“I’m still working up to asking that one girl out.”

“What?” I scrunched up my face. “You’re totally out now. What’s stopping you?”

She hung her head. “Self-doubt. Hopeless lesbianism. I mean, we’ve been just casual friends for so long, it’d probably be weird. I think I missed my shot.”

“Uh, no. Oh my god. I’m telling Parker, and we’re getting you a date with this girl.”

“Hold on—no,” she said, hands flying up in front of her. “No, no. That’s going to make things awkward. It’s really fine. It’s just a crush—”

“Sash, you’ve been crushing on her for, like, two years. Do something about it.

“No. What if she says no?” She crossed her arms, looking down. “If she wanted to go out, she’d have asked by now.”

“I’ll bet you a million billion dollars she’s saying the same thing. Ugh. Fine, I won’t tell Parker. But we are one hundred percent getting you that girlfriend. Just you wait.”

“Cassie…” A soft smile played over her lips. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Now that my personal brand is really gay, I’m all about scoring you a girl.”

“That’s not what I mean.” She picked up her drink, turning back to the door. “I’ll see you around, okay?”

“Oh, um,” I said, looking between her and where another cup queued up on the bar. “See you around! And, um—you’re so welcome! For whatever I did!”

It was another three hours before I finished my shift, hanging my apron up in the back and heading out into the front. My heart soared when I saw Parker there, leaning over the counter, talking to Savannah on register. She glanced up at me, and the tiniest little smile played over her lips.

Somehow, a year in, and I still turned to mush every time I saw that secret little smile just for me.

“Hey, Darth Unicorn,” she said. “Ready to head out?”

“Parker,” I laughed, stepping around the counter. “Did you come here just to pick me up?”

“Eh…” She looked me over. “You’re still a bit tall for that.”

“Ha, ha. Hilarious, darling.”

“Here’s your caramel latte, Parker,” Savannah said, setting a drink down on the handoff plane. “We’re supposed to pull and toss these muffins at four, so do you two want to just take them?”

“Yes,” Parker said, cutting in front of me before I could say a word. “Yes, we’ll take every single baked good you’re giving us. There’s blueberry, right? I’m snagging the blueberry one. Thanks, Savannah.”

Once we stepped out into the cool, brisk spring air over Culver Square, Parker took a big bite of her blueberry muffin, crumbs falling over her oversized hoodie.

“Didn’t even let me get a word in edgewise there,” I said, nudging her as I took the white chocolate orange muffin with my own iced latte.

“She who hesitates is lost,” Parker said.

“That’s sweet of you to come pick me up. I know you’re not a big fan of Crystal Road.”

She wrinkled her nose, heading down the stairs ahead of me onto Crystal Road, all lined with artsy boutiques. “I am not sweet. I’m mean and nasty.”

“Sweetheart, that line didn’t work a year ago, and it definitely won’t work now.”

“I just figure Hummingbird won’t be so bad if it’s going to be gay. The kind of place I’d go to pick up girls, if I weren’t spoken for.”

I glanced sidelong at her. “You sound like you miss it.”

She laughed. “Nah. I already scored the hottest girl in Port Andrea. I played that game and won. Did you decide yet what kind of godawful content video we’re filming today?”

“Flatterer,” I laughed, swatting her arm, even though I just wanted to dance with her in the street and kiss her and tell her I loved her. “Oh my god, though, I so did. We’re doing Q&A together again!”

“Ugh, we did that last month.”

“Um… that’s actually kind of a while.” I turned the corner onto Warren Street, walking against the whipping winds that threw my hair around my neck. “Okay, but get this. We’re doing gay Q&A.”

“Oh, so we’ll be talking about what positions we like, and—”

“No, no, no no,” I blurted, face heating up. “Oh my god. That’s just for you to know, Scruffy!”

“Oh, but don’t I know it,” she hummed. “It’s nice you’re so flexible. It’s like I can spread you over anything in the apartment—”

“Oh my god, we’re not talking about this in the middle of the street,” I said, hiding my face behind my muffin. “No! That’s not gay Q&A. I’ve collected a bunch of cute and fun questions on queer topics, and we’re going to answer them. And it’ll be PG-13, Parker.”

“I mean, being not PG-13 on that first Q&A led us to some pretty good outcomes…”

I sighed, hanging my head, just giving up on fighting the blush. “Yes, dear. But, um… we can have sex later, without needing an excuse, if you want.”

She laughed. “Gay Q&A, huh? Unicorn really has come a long way from the days of being the perfect, pretty little straight girl.”

I turned under the archway into Amity Street, heading down the way to our old apartment. Honestly, there was no way we were ever getting out of the place now. It was the backdrop all our followers knew, and it was our memories, and it was our home.

Besides, Amity Street was literally so pretty. I could take pictures here for days.

“Well,” I said, “I like being gay. And it turns out, my followers like me gay, too.”

Honestly, the reception had been unbelievable. Even ignoring everyone rallying to boycott Morning Magic, the way everybody lined up to support me when I came out had been the most amazing thing. I’d cried, like, forty times over the following week, just from how grateful I was. I lost a couple thousand followers, but more flooded in after that, and honestly, they loved the authenticity. I felt ridiculous for having worried about it for so long.

“No kidding they do,” Parker said. “I have to see a thousand different people hitting on my girlfriend every time you post a selfie. I want to go through and tell them all off.”

All the stars could have aligned, and the most amazing thing to happen would still be me managing to make Parker jealous over me. I sidled up closer to her, brushing my arm with hers. “No one’s taking me away from you, sweetheart. I love you with all my heart.”

“That’s corny.”

I stuck out my tongue. “I know. You know who you fell in love with.”

“Ugh, too true. I love you with all my heart, too, but that’s not saying much, because it’s a cold, shriveled little lump of—”

“Parker,” I laughed. She groaned, slowing as we approached our apartment.

“Ugh, why is the world’s worst butch here?”

I followed her gaze to the door that led up to our apartment, catching sight of Athena and Jennifer there talking in low voices, sharing things on their phones. Given they were just about always wearing a bowtie-suit and a form-fitting dress, it was almost like they were different people right now, both in t-shirts and jeans. Athena was the first to look up from her phone and notice us, waving enthusiastically.

“Hey, Cassie,” Athena said. “Nice to see specifically you.”

“Hi, Jennifer,” Parker said. “You’re the only one I’m happy to see here.”

“Hi, you two,” I laughed. “Swinging by? Do you want to come in?”

“We’ll just be quick,” Jennifer said, but Athena had other ideas.

“Are those extra muffins? Oh my god, I’ll give you anything for a muffin.”

Jennifer sighed. “Athena, darling, you ate thirty minutes ago.”

“I know. I don’t know how I’ve made it this long without food.”

I shook the bag. “Please do share. Let’s get inside and I’ll put on some coffee.”

“That one I’ll gratefully take,” Jennifer said.

“You had coffee an hour ago,” Athena said. Jennifer put her nose in the air.

“Calling that sludge coffee is a stretch. I dirtied my palate with coffee-adjacent grime.”

“See, I didn’t actually think it was all that bad,” Athena said.

When we got inside, Athena crashed on the couch, taking a chocolate chip muffin and digging in like it was her life’s calling. I sat down next to her while Parker started coffee, and I said, “So, what’s up?”

“I have an offer,” Jennifer said, sinking into the armchair. “I’d like to do a… sort of post-mortem story about everything that happened with Morning Magic. The first writeup I did, back when it was breaking, was a hit. I think we could do a deeper dive into the coffee scene with this, a bit more investigative.”

“Gary Founders is a textbook bad guy,” Athena said. “Makes for an interesting story, getting to the bottom of all the exploitation that landed him in the clink.”

“Oh, um,” I started, an anxious feeling thrumming in my chest, but Parker came over and forcefully inserted herself into the conversation by just up and sitting on my lap. She was small enough to make it work, anyway, so I just wrapped my arms around her.

“You’re not dredging up old traumas by asking Cass a million questions about that slimy naked mole rat of a man,” she said. “Go for it if you want, but if you need to interview someone, ask me.”

“Parker,” I said, squeezing her. “You don’t need to do that. I’m okay, really. Thank you.”

“Unicorn, I know your body language. Lying is useless.”

I hung my head, sighing. “Okay… I mean, you do.”

“I understand,” Jennifer said. “I think I’ll focus more on Express’s mission—and what you all are doing going forward—and let Gary Founders serve as background material. No prying interviews. I understand what he did was traumatic for a lot of people.”

I buried my face against the back of Parker’s head, her short hairs tickling my lips. “Thanks,” I said. “I’m happy to help out with your story however I can.”

“It’ll have to wait, either way,” Athena said, sinking way back in the sofa, kicking her feet up on the coffee table. “We’re heading to Europe this weekend.”

“Oh, wow,” I said. “Um… that’s a buried lead. Where are you going?”

Jennifer sat up straighter. “Starting in Spain, up through France, then Italy, and across to Greece. It’s an extended tour I’m doing for an international series, so I’ll be out for three months. Athena has… invited herself.”

“I figure it’ll be good to get some more exposure to different styles,” Athena said. “I can’t flounder at Rose Bloom doing the same thing forever. We’re moving back towards series of small plates, and I want to be able to make them into a culinary voyage.”

“Didn’t stress out your cooks enough, yet, huh,” Parker sighed. “What’s happening with Rose Bloom while you’re gone?”

“Oh, Misha’s taking over,” Athena laughed.

“The sous chef who’s so overworked she’s threatened to skin you and wallpaper her kitchen with it?”

“Misha said what?” I said, and Athena put her hands up.

“I know, right? It’s horrible. Who wallpapers a kitchen?”

“No, uh.” I scratched my head. “That’s not the issue.”

“She’ll be fine, anyway,” Athena said, taking a big bite of her muffin and putting a hand over her mouth as she spoke. “She’s always been talking about how she wants more control.”

Parker shrugged. “Eh… just so long as I don’t have to see the wallpaper, I don’t really mind if you get flayed.”

“I mind if you get flayed,” I said. “Please don’t get flayed?”

“Your girlfriend’s so much nicer than you deserve, Parker,” Athena said.

Well, I doubted that. But I still just got so much warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest whenever someone called us girlfriends. It was still hard to wrap my head around that it was real.

Once Athena and Jennifer headed out, we got straight to our Q&A session, where Parker—predictably—gave extremely not PG-13 answers to every other question. Aside from cutting those out, it was only light editing, and I had it up within the hour as Parker went through her emails. We snuggled up together on the couch and put on Anyone’s Guess for the umpteenth time as comments rolled in.

you 2 are HILARIOUS. makes me so happy whenever I see you uploaded something new!

ur so cute together!! i want a gf so bad

And then, from Sutton Ferris, you go, sis! You and Cassie are SO funny here!

“Think we should tell them how Sutton actually talks to you?” I said, planting a quick kiss on the side of her head.

“She’d never forgive you. Her reputation would be ruined.”

“Mm. Well, I don’t want to risk the wrath of an angry Ferris girl. They can be quite powerful.”

She laughed, turning and meeting me in a small, soft kiss. “You’re the one who ended Gary’s career with a Coca-Cola to the face.”

“You’re the one who had the idea to expose all the things Gary did and then livestream the meeting. You’re brutal.”

She ran her fingers down my arm, caressing gently. It sent shivers through me, the way she stroked me like I was the most precious thing in the world. “He hurt my obnoxious little pastel Unicorn. There’s no forgiveness for that.”

I softened, running a hand over her cheek. “I really love you so much, you know.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when her phone lit up. “Ugh, her,” she muttered, picking up her phone and tapping the screen. I grabbed the remote and paused the TV.

“Who?”

“The rat.”

I paused. “You’re so mean to her. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, just Express business.” She paused. “And asking if we can meet tonight. Want to go see a rat?”

“No, but I’d love to see Tatiana. What for?”

She gave me a sidelong grin. “Double date.”

I paused. “A double date? She’s bringing her girlfriend?”

“Yeah. Tat the Rat says they’re finally ready to start going out together again.”

“Oh, that’s amazing,” I said. “It’s awful they had to stop for so long just from Gary using it for blackmail…”

“Apparently that’s all in the past,” she said, putting her phone down. “She says her girlfriend finally came out. Their first date as a public item, and they want us to come. Can you believe it? Just angling to try to get her old pay rate back.”

“Are you serious?” I turned to her on the sofa. “She came out?”

“Thanks to somebody.” She elbowed me playfully. “Rat-iana says you inspired Morgan to come out publicly. Sounds like it went pretty rough, but Rat-a-Tat-Tat is giving her support.”

“Oh my god. You’re kidding.” I put a hand to my mouth, a thick feeling in my throat. Parker just gave me a small, playful smile, her eyes twinkling.

“You really don’t know how much you inspire people, do you, Unicorn? I swear. You even inspired me. If it weren’t for you, I’d be stuck back in Brightstown working at a coffee shop for minimum wage trying to pay off my debt. I owe you one. And I intend to pay it back by making you the happiest Unicorn ever, so you’ve got a life of that ahead of you.”

I laughed, still feeling like I could start crying any second, as I took her hand and squeezed. “You’re already doing great, Marshmallow,” I said. “There’s no way I could possibly be happier.”

“There might be one,” she said, looking away. “I wanted to ask you something, but… just swear you won’t rub it in my face.”

I squeezed her hand again. “What is it, darling?”

She cleared her throat. “Can we… maybe start doing that awful morning routine on Saturdays, too? I feel like I can’t focus all weekend without it.”

I felt like I’d just won the lottery. “Oh my god,” I said, and she put a hand over her ear.

“Oh, she’s squealing.”

“Yes, we can do it on Saturdays, too! Oh my god, you did make me happier! I’m so happy I could dance—”

“That’s you ninety percent of the time—”

“And sing and laugh—”

“Still nothing new.”

I pulled her into a tight embrace, and she grunted and choked out something about how I was crushing her, but I needed to crush her for just one second. She relented and wrapped her arms around me, too, though, holding me just as tight.

“You inspire me, too,” I said. “Inspired me to break shit every time I feel crap, too.”

“You owe me royalties on my saying, since you were so cruel to it before.”

I nuzzled my nose into her hair. “Not a chance. Now, should we get ready to go?”

“Yeah, I guess… let me get on my Armada watch so I look put-together.”

She said that, but she actually just wore it to every important event because she never wanted to forget that I’d been unreserved in giving her things without ever asking something in return, even from the very beginning. And how that very thing ended up saving her business.

I knew, because she’d said it to Tatiana once when she didn’t know I was in earshot. But I’d never tell her I knew.

After all, she hated when I called her nice.