“I was just on my way to the pier,” said Taylor. “I was hoping to grab a cranberry muffin. Please tell me you have cranberry muffins.”
“I see. You just came by for a quicky.” My eyes swept up and down his body again. “Well, I’m happy to oblige.” I glanced at Christy and resisted the temptation to stick my tongue out at her. She smiled and gave me a thumbs up.
I walked back to the counter with Taylor following. “Does it have to be cranberry? I have apple cinnamon and banana nut.”
He rubbed his chin while he looked through the glass at the options on display then he looked at me. “I had a very specific craving, you understand.”
I nodded. “I hate to disappoint. I can only offer you a nut and send you on your way.”
Christy, from beside the entrance door, burst out laughing. She quickly covered her mouth. Taylor turned to look at her. He laughed too.
“Forgive me,” said Christy. “I have a dirty mind.”
“Having a dirty mind is no crime at all,” he said. He turned back to me and, with the affectation of a bad porn actor, said, “I’ll have one of each. I’ve got quite the appetite. If you know what I mean.”
I answered with my own porn-voice impression. “Just let me bag those muffins, if you know what I mean.”
When he left, we watched him walk down the sidewalk until he was out of sight. Then Cindy turned to me and stuck up her hand. “High five.”
“I can’t believe I did that,” I said. “And to a customer!”
“I’m proud of you.”
I was proud of me, too.
Business was slow in the late afternoon. I was about to head home, just waiting for Jenny’s shift to start, when Taylor came back. He wasn’t in jogging shorts or a T-shirt, but in smart slacks and a pressed cotton shirt. For a second I thought it might be his doppelganger.
“Hello Gwen.”
“Hello Taylor.”
He looked around at the empty tables then back at me. “Slow day?”
I tilted my head and smiled. “Well, I have had one customer, a repeat customer.”
Taylor raised his brow and offered a knowing grin. “Is that so?”
“It would seem he can’t get enough.” I leaned against the counter in a way that the counter pinched my dress, hiking it up a bit so I could show off some leg in my pose. “He came by for a quickie, got his ‘nut muffin’, if you know what I mean, and then came back for more.”
Taylor wiped the grin off his face, but it came back immediately and wider. “It’s funny you should say that.”
“Is it, now?”
“I was hoping I could get a quickie, too.”
“Sure,” I said and I tossed back my hair like I was in a shampoo commercial. “And would you like a muffin, too?”
He bit down on his lower lip and looked from me to the pastry display case. “Actually, I’m feeling sinful. I shouldn’t, but I’m going to have a cinnamon roll.”
“Cinnamon roll, my favorite.” I strutted around the counter. “I like a good glaze every now and then,” I said, fluttering my eyebrows.
I caught a glimpse of Cindy. Her eyes and her mouth were open wide. I winked at her while I bagged the roll.
Again, we watched him walk down the sidewalk until he was out of sight. Then Cindy turned to me and said proudly, “Damn, I didn’t think you had it in you. I’m impressed.”
I was impressed with myself, too. “Hey, if those Marines want to play games, that’s fine with me. Just as long as they understand: I’m not the toy.”
Cindy congratulated me on my new attitude. I was feeling pretty good about myself. But the celebration came to an abrupt halt when…
...Taylor walked in.
The real Taylor. The Taylor in T-shirt and jogging shorts.
“Hello Gwen,” he said very casually. “How’s it going?”
I just stared at him, mouth agape.
“You look surprised,” he said.
I pointed to the right where ‘Taylor’ in smart slacks and a pressed cotton shirt had just gone. “You… How…”
Taylor glanced over his shoulder at where I was pointing then back at me. “I was hoping to catch my brother, Tristan, but I’m guessing from that surprised look on your face that he beat me here.” A smile started to spread from his lips then he covered his mouth to hide his grin.
“Your brother, Tristan?”
Taylor nodded. “I couldn’t help thinking I might have been a bit too forward this morning. Anyway, when Tristan said he was coming by, I thought maybe I should be here, too. Unless you mistake him for me, which happens.”
I put a hand to my chin and closed my jaw. “I believe that it does.”
“I’m sorry I missed him,” he said. “How long ago did he leave?”
I put up two fingers. “Two minutes.”
He bit down on his lower lip, looked behind him then at the display case. “Are those banana muffins?”
I nodded. “Banana nut. I gave you one earlier today.”
“Uh, oh.”
“What do you mean, uh, oh?”
He smiled. “Did I come in here earlier and buy a banana nut muffin?”
I nodded. “And an apple cinnamon muffin. Do you have a problem with your memory?”
He shook his head. “No, but apparently my brother is having a problem with his diet.”
“Your brother, Tristan.”
He chuckled. “No, my brother Travis.”
I was upset at myself for not being able to tell the triplets apart. But more so than that, I was upset at myself for playing a game and playing it badly. When I told Holly about my day, she had a laugh. At first this only made me more upset, but then I had to admit she was right; it was funny, and I laughed along with her.
“Wow, triplets,” said Holly. “And they were hot?”
I nodded emphatically. “Very.”
“Please tell me you got a phone number, or three.”
I nodded. “Yes.” I raised my eyebrows. “I got all three, in fact.”
“Gwen.” Holly took a step back and looked me up and down as if I’d just slipped into a new gown. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately, but I like it.”
I smiled. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me, either. But I like it, too.”
“Actually, Taylor gave me his phone number and his brothers’ numbers, too. He felt bad about the confusion, didn’t want any hard feelings. I told him as long as I got the last word in, there was no problem.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
I pulled out my phone. “I’m going to send one of them, and only one of them, a sexy text. That way they’ll know I didn’t get played. I’m the one who’s playing them.”
“Sounds dangerous and mischievous,” said Holly. “I’m in.”
“For Travis, the one I was making those over-the-top innuendos with, how about”—I started typing—“Come in for a quickie any time. But don’t tell your brothers or…” I looked up at Holly hoping she could help me finish.
“Don’t tell your brothers,” said Holly, “unless you want to share.”