Short 002 - Divine Interventions

Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday Sophia was begging me to dress up for afternoon tea, and now she’s seventeen and working as a barista at my favorite coffee shop, Divine. 

It is still so hard for Jack and I to accept that she’s an independent woman entering adulthood. Every time she leaves to drive herself to hockey or school, I send a prayer upstairs, hoping she is as responsible behind the wheel as she is with everything else she takes on. We were shocked when she asked us if she could apply to work at Aunt Natalie’s coffee shop. The child has rarely been told no, but she said she wanted to start earning money for college and shopping. Tonight was her first night working as a fully-trained barista, so she asked me if I would come in to see her. I was so excited to be called into action that I invited my friend, Avery, to join me.

We have ulterior motives because Avery’s sons, Travis and Dare, are at odds. None of us understand what’s happening between them, but we have suspicions. The boys and Soph have been thick as thieves for years after playing on the same hockey teams for years. Brandon and Jack have been on eggshells for just as long, hoping there’d never be any romantic entanglements to mess up their chemistry on the ice.

I walk up to the coffee bar and smile at my beautiful daughter, who is the spitting image of me but tall like her dad.

“Greetings, miss,” Soph beams at me as she approaches me. “What can I do you for?”

I smile at her. “A plus, plus for customer service.”

She winks. “Only the best for you, Mom. Can I make you a latte?”

“Sure, make it of the vanilla variety, please!”

“Coming right up!”

Avery slides onto the stool next to me, smiling at Soph adoringly. “Isn’t she so cute in her apron and being all barista-ish and stuff?”

“And stuff,” I agree with a giggle, turning to hug my friend. “How are you?”

“I’m great. Just left amidst a war between the boys. They started in on each other as soon as they got home, so I dressed the girls up in their cheerleading outfits and told them to pick their favorite brother.”

I sputter with laughter. “And then you left Brandon to officiate?”

She scoffs. “Of course I did, but his sister is there, too. He thought it was funny that I had them cheering for the boys, but they weren’t as amused. I swear Dare goes off like a bomb. He can pick at Trav without any issues from my stoic eldest. Trav eventually turns it around on Dare, and we’re amidst an all-out war. Brandon assures me their spats have nothing on the Simon Sisters’ Squabbles.”

I roll my eyes. “Still with that, is he? He’s so dramatic about his role as the baby with four mean old sisters.”

“You’re telling me. He hides with the girls when the boys aren’t getting along. He hates it when they fight, so he avoids it until it gets to this point. He claims they’re going to have to work things out with or without their fists.”

Soph sets a mug in front of me with a heart drawn into the foam of my latte. Avery and I gasp in awe as we take in Soph’s artwork.

She grins at Avery, “I’m pretty awesome, right?”

Avery snorts. “I think that might be the reason my sons are losing their damned minds.”

I watch my daughter’s shoulders stiffen, and her eyes drop with a look of sadness. She has never liked it when the Simon brothers fight. It usually ends up with them begging her to take sides and then telling them she’s taking her own side because she doesn’t care to be their middleman. I feel for her, but I often wonder if there is a side she wants to take. She and Dare are in the same class, but Travis seems to connect more with Soph.

“What can I get you, Avery?” Soph asks her.

“I’ll have what she’s having with a sprinkle of the inside scoop,” Avery beams. “What’s going on with my boys?”

Soph winces. “I guess I may as well tell you because I think you’re bound to find out now that they’ve lost their minds. Travis and I have been dating for a year now.”

“What the hell?” Jack asks, sliding onto the stool next to me. “Did my baby just tell me she has been living in sin for a year?”

Soph blushes. “I live at home, Dad. Travis and I didn’t know how to tell Dare.”

“Correction,” Travis announces, walking around the bar and pulling Soph into his side, kissing her temple. “Soph didn’t know how to tell him. I was game to tell him from the beginning.”

“Weird,” Brandon says from the end of the bar with his arms folded across his chest. “I can’t imagine why she wouldn’t have wanted the loose cannon to find out.”

“Oh, screw you,” Dare huffs, sitting next to Avery. “He’s leaving for college and going to hurt her.”

“Not your business,” Brandon assures his son.

“It is when she’s my best friend.”

“Still not your business,” Travis glares at his brother. “You’ve never been interested in her the way I have. You’re not even mad because I’m dating her; you’re just mad that we kept it from you.”

Jack groans. “Can we circle back to the fact that my daughter has a boyfriend?”

I leaned into his shoulder. “Oh, relax. She’s seventeen years old.”

“He’s eighteen.”

“And responsible,” Avery warns her son.

“This is gross,” Dare shivers. “I’m out if they start talking about safe sex and shit.”

“Want me to hit you again?” Travis glares at Dare.

“Go away, both of you,” Soph seethes, moving away from Travis. “Neither of you is very attractive to me when you’re idiots.”

Tavis lets his head fall back, eyes on the ceiling. “Thanks, Dare.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who kept the secret for this long,” Dare tells his brother.

“No, but you’re why Dad forced us down here to come out to our families.”

Avery chuckles. “Okay, Simons and Jack, go away. This is our girl time with Soph.”

“Hey,” Jack whines, “I came here to have a coffee from my little girl on her first day of work.”

A to-go cup of coffee is set in front of Jack. Soph eyes him from behind the bar and says, “I am six feet tall, Dad. Haven’t been your little girl in a long time. You’ve got two other daughters who are still your little girls.”

Jack pulls me into his side while smiling at Soph. “I don’t think I’m ready for this, Cara.”

Sophia rolls her eyes at Jack. “Dad! Get it together. He’s like your dream match for me. Great at hockey, handsome, tall…”

“Imagine their children,” I whisper to Avery as I look at Travis’s tall frame behind Soph.

“Don’t tease me,” Avery giggles. “They wouldn’t be short, that’s for sure.”

“Can we not talk about our teenage kids procreating?” Brandon adds, shaking his head from side to side.

“Gross, Dad, who uses the word procreate?” Dare grunts. “I’m out. I’m meeting Celeste for ice cream.”

Avery winces. “About that safe sex talk…”

Dare hops up and escapes before Avery can even get the comment out.

Travis eyes his dad. “I actually agree with that idiot. You hardly paint the picture of a man who uses such proper words.”

“Don’t call your brother an idiot,” Soph calls from the other end of the coffee bar. “He gets better grades than you do.”

We all crack up when Travis sends her a look of disgust at the fact that she’s taking Dare’s side.

“Take it back,” Trav warns jokingly.

“Oh, stop,” Jack chuckles. “She’s smarter than both of you. I thought we were past the three of you competing and comparing every damned thing.”

“That’s never stopped in our house,” Brandon groans, falling onto the stool next to Avery.

“Only because you’re always bragging about only having sisters,” Travis sighs. “It makes us jealous that we don’t just get to automatically be the favorite like you were.”

Avery snorts. “Nice, Trav.”

“Thanks, son,” Brandon nods his approval. “You’re a bad liar, though. He might drive you nuts, but Dare’s your sidekick, and you know it.”

“Thank you!” Soph shouts, handing both Brandon and Travis their own to-go cups of coffee.

“Are you seriously acting like this blow-up isn’t entirely your fault?” Travis asks her, causing Jack and Brandon to wince as Soph gasps.

“Take it back…” Jack whispers.

Travis eyes him, then pulls Soph into his chest for a hug. “I didn’t mean that how it sounded. But even you have to admit that it was your idea to keep it from him.”

“Because I was afraid of this very thing…”

“Oh, don’t fret,” Avery jumps in. “Dare’s fine. Travis, on the other hand, has a doghouse to dig himself out of.”

“How does one dig himself out of a doghouse?” Brandon asks, mocking his wife good-naturedly.

“I’d think you have a fair bit of experience with that, Brandon,” I tease, one eyebrow raised in challenge.

Jack and Cara bark out a augh, while Brandon shakes his head. “Touché, Small Fry. Touché.”

I smile at his nickname. He started calling me that when the kids were in sixth grade and all surpassed me in height. These people have become some of our dearest friends, and it doesn’t escape me how lucky we are to have them in our lives.

“Well, we should go,” Jack says. “The paintball guns won’t shoot themselves.”

Cara and I shake our heads in unison. The guys have taken to playing paintball regardless of how sore they are for a few days afterward. We’re told the excitement is worth it. We are taking their word for it because it seems like the enjoyment aspect is debatable.

Travis leans down to kiss Soph’s cheek before leaving with Jack and Brandon.

Avery and I look at each other with so much glee emanating from us. We have been hoping for this day for years and often daydreamed about it during the hours upon hours of hockey practices, games, and tournaments. We always joked about which boy would marry Soph.

“I knew it’d be Trav,” Avery beams. “Dare and Soph are too much alike.”

“I don’t know who I thought it’d be,” I admit. “I assumed she’d pick the wrong brother, and he’d break her heart.”

“Travis isn’t going to break my heart,” Soph assures us. “We’re really good together. When things changed between us, it was easy. Besides, where am I going to find another hunky fella that tall to make me look short?”

I smile at her. “We’re happy for you, sweets.”

“I’m happy, too,” Soph beams.

Avery dabs at her eyes. “Sorry. I’m thrilled. Travis has always been my old soul. I think he’s wanted to be more than a friend to you for years, darling. I’m happy things worked out for you two.”

When Soph walks away, I hold up my coffee mug, and Avery clinks her mug against mine. We cheers to the excitement of our kids finding happiness. I hope their happiness is never tarnished because if I know one thing, that look in my daughter’s eye is it. Sophia Patrick is in love with Travis Simon. Lord help us all that it works out…