Kite In The Snow by Karla Lopez

 

I set the doughnut on a napkin and leave it placed in the center of the island with a note letting Mae know I’ll be downstairs, and we will be opening today.

After being snowed in for a couple of days, it feels great to get up and work again. I love my coffee shop; it fulfills me in more ways than I can describe. I do have to say after spending those days with Mae, they also filled my soul with sunshine.

She made me laugh so many times, and I had her smiling a few times. She’s really timid. There’s always sadness and fear lingering in the depth of her eyes.

My chest tightens thinking about the way she wakes up every night with nightmares. Hints to why I’m letting her sleep in; she always looks tired. I want her to feel refreshed for her and her baby.

Man, I felt on top of the world being able to talk to bean, which is what I started calling her baby because saying ‘he’ didn’t sit well. Just in case this bean’s a girl. Bean seems gender neutral enough.

Speaking to bean made me feel like I was a part of Mae and her baby’s life, and it felt like enough. It felt like a moment I’ve been waiting my whole life for.

I make my way through my routine with opening the cafe and greeting Camila and James when they come in. Per usual, James is grumpy with having to wake up early and Camila is her happy, soft-like self. She makes everything around her seem lighter and calmer, something that I strive to have here in my cafe.

I follow James into the kitchen while he starts prepping to start his early recipes of all his morning treats he puts out. “Dude, come ride with me tonight.”

James loves to go sledding in the middle of the night. Well, with polar night you can do it anytime of the day, but he loves to go at our mountain peak when the stars are aligned in the perfect place and their shine is the only thing lighting the way.

It’s fun and it’s something I enjoy doing with him, but after the few days I’ve spent with Mae, I don’t want to leave her and bean. I want to continue our nightly routine where we listen to music while I read poetry to her, and she rubs her belly. Her swollen belly that’s holding the precious bean that I’m starting to get attached to.

I guess I understand what people mean with they say they fall fast because I feel like that’s me.

“I can’t. Mae is staying with me.” His head snaps my way and confusion sets in on his face.

“Wow. How did that happen?”  I check the time and see we’re two minutes from opening, and I know I have to cut this conversation short.

“I have to go help Camila, but it’s a long story that I’ll tell you soon over sledding.”

I leave, not waiting for his response. I’m just not ready to share the little I know about Mae. I want it to mean something that I know and hold close to me.

After a few hours of work, Mae finally comes down with her spirits high and ready to work. I work around her and Camila as she continues to shadow her.

Her casual not so casual stares make my skin tingle, and I want to do something irrational like hold her till she’s mine. When there aren’t any customers to help, she turns toward me.

Shyness bounces in her eyes and it makes me giddy. “Thank you for my doughnut,” she whispers.

I stare at her plump, pinkish lips, and I can’t help the lust that I feel by watching them. “You’re welcome.” I smile wide enough, making sure my dimple is on display, and her eyes soften at the gesture.

Yeah, we’re making progress.

A few hours later, I’m in the kitchen cleaning up when a crash rings outside the door and I rush out. I see Mae shaking on the floor, trying to clean up a broken cup. Camila has a stunned expression and James looks freaked out. Tears streak Mae’s cheeks, and I instantly go to her, but she jumps away and runs to the restroom at the back of the shop.

Without asking James what happened, I follow Mae. I softly knock for a few minutes before Mae finally opens the door. I see blood on her hands, and without thinking, I grab them, and she sobs out loud. I instantly let them go, but she surprises me when she leans forward and sobs into my chest.

I wrap my arms around her and softly rub her back as she cries. I keep my eyes on her hands, looking for the source of the blood and realize she cut herself with the cup she broke. The cut seems small, and it looks like it’s stopped bleeding.

When her cries die down, I stare at her gorgeous red-rimmed, blue eyes and wait for her to speak. She does after a few minutes of staring.

“I’m sorry about the cup.”

“I don’t care about the cup.” I hold her face in my palms and her skin is softer than I imagined.

“He hurt me,” she whispers.

I grow stiff and wonder if she’s talking about James. “No, he didn’t do anything but accidentally touch me. It just triggered a bad memory.”

I instantly relax, but then I feel like a dick for questioning James. He would never hurt anyone. “The father of my baby—of bean.” She gives a small smile at the use of the nickname I gave him or her.

“The father of my baby used to hurt me.” I close my eyes to shield myself from her words. I feel my blood boil, and I’ve never felt the anger I feel now. My jaw ticks with how hard I’m grinding my teeth. How could he hurt someone so precious?

“That’s why you have nightmares,” I say softly.

She shakes her head, ashamed. “Yes, I relive every awful thing he used to do to me.” I shake my head, feeling the pain simmer underneath my skin. The pain for her. For bean.

“He wasn’t always like that. He used to be sweet and kind. A loving boy who had dreams, but once he lost those dreams, he started to drink. Making me do things I didn’t want to.” She looks down at her belly, and I feel like the wind is knocked out of me.

He forced her, and that’s why she’s pregnant.

“I used to beg him to stop. It hurt so much, but it wasn’t just the physical pain, it was the internal one. It felt like he stuck his hand inside of me and broke me. He broke the girl I used to be. He stole my shine. He stole me from me.” She sobs, hitting her palms against my chest in agony.

The ache of pain I feel in my bones is what’s causing me to stop her from talking. She chokes on air as she sobs, and I hold her to my chest. I feel my eyesight cloud with unshed tears, and I try to blink rapidly for them to stop.

I will give my own life for this shell of a woman to have at least one ounce of happiness in her life.