Maya Dean was already in a bad mood when she got proposed to by a relative stranger.
Her most recent ex-boyfriend stole her identity and racked up an obscene amount of debt in her name that she had to pay off and she had been evicted nearly a month ago. She was currently staying in a women's shelter but she hated it. It reminded her too much of the dark days.
The people who ran it were excellent at their jobs and she would rather be there than on the streets but only just. The memories had been threatening to do her in from day one and she didn't know how much more of this she could take.
On top of all that, she had already been forced to sell her car to pay off some of the debt and had to endure taking the bus to work. It was smelly, cramped, and she kept getting hit on by people more than twice her age.
Maya had gotten to the point that she was literally hissing at those creeps like a cat to get them to buzz off. It was surprisingly effective and she thrived off of the disgusted or horrified looks on their faces.
Obviously she knew that hissing at people was weird but she didn't care. They were weird for thinking it was okay to hit on her when she could literally be their daughter. Responding to weirdness with weirdness was perfectly justified in her book.
She hated her job too. She was overqualified to be working in a coffee shop making minimum wage but it was the only place that would take her after being blacklisted from her industry.
She used to be an architect before blowing the whistle about her corrupt bosses' use of subpar materials and cutting corners while siphoning away the excess money that was supposed to be used for building. Look how she was rewarded for her honesty!
Maya would have moved to another city and tried again since she couldn't be blacklisted everywhere but that was when she got saddled with all of her ex's debt. He split town after ruining her life and it wasn't like she could afford a private investigator to find him after all that.
All of this had happened in less than a year but her life was far from sunshine and roses before then either. She hadn't trusted easily. Now she didn't trust at all.
Maya hated working in this hipster independent coffee shop because it was the type of establishment that had regular customers. Regular customers that her boss required her to be friendly with and remember their usual orders.
She wasn't in the mood to be friendly today. Some creep had hit on her on the bus again and she was so pissed off by it that she hadn't been watching where she was going when she got off and stepped in a deep puddle from yesterday's rainstorm. Her left sock and shoe were completely soaked through and so was the left leg of her black work pants up to her knee.
While trying to avoid the same fate for her other foot, she staggered and tripped out of the hole scratching her ankle so it bled. Which now throbbed like crazy. She didn't quite manage to put a bandage on in time to avoid bleeding all over her other sock.
Holding in her frustration, she forced herself to smile. She was the only one here right now other than the manager, who was busy holding interviews in the back due to the shop's ongoing staffing issues.
There weren't enough people willing to work the morning shift. That was a problem since it was the busiest time of day.
One of the baristas that worked mornings was currently on maternity leave and another was on vacation. The third had quit because they graduated college and moved out of state. Hence Maya being the only one there to deal with the rush.
People were cranky without their morning coffee. She understood that because she needed hers to survive as well. Part of the reason she was so moody this morning was that she hadn't had time to grab a cup at the shelter because her alarm didn't go off.
But did they have to take it out on her? It wasn't her fault that she was the only one there managing a line out the door.
"Welcome to Queen Bean Coffee House, what can I get you started with today?" Maya asked as amiably as she could muster despite a vein bulging on her forehead from annoyance. This person was not a regular so she had no idea what they wanted.
The customer hemmed and hawed over what she wanted for several minutes, making people behind her in line grumble. Eventually she settled on a half caramel macchiato and half hazelnut latte. Which was basically impossible since they were two separate drinks.
She had to try extremely hard to reply in her least sardonic tone. "…are you sure you don't just want a caramel macchiato with hazelnut syrup?"
"I'm sure," the customer said haughtily, catching on to her tone anyway. "And a blueberry scone."
Maya bit back a heavy sigh. "Yes, ma'am. One moment, please."
The grumbling of the line behind the ridiculous customer only grew worse. She had only been here for half an hour; why was her shift going by so slowly?
She did her best on the half and half drink but had no idea how it would actually taste. At least the customer left without complaining. The next person in line was a regular and she had to rack her brain to remember something about them to make small talk with.
"Good morning, Ned! You want your usual?"
"Yes please," the elderly man said with a warm smile. She actually didn't mind Ned; he was fairly nice for an old guy and he loved gardening.
"I'll get right on that for you," Maya promised with a more genuine smile than she offered the last lady as she started preparing his coffee. "How are your hydrangeas doing?"
"Much better now that I found out I needed to switch my fertilizer to help them grow better. The young man at the nursery was very knowledgeable. How are you doing today? Isn't the air after a storm so fresh? I've been invigorated by it."
Ha. The only thing the storm did for her was get her bad morning off to a worse start than usual. She had to lie through her teeth. "I'm doing great!"
Maya handed him his coffee and slice of lemon pound cake—Ned got the same thing every morning—and stated his total even though he knew it by heart. He left her a five dollar tip too, bless him.
Unfortunately for her, he was the only one in line who was in a good mood this morning. Everyone else was various degrees of upset about the woman who held up the line. Five customers later and her smile had become so plasticized she wasn't sure she would be able to undo it.
Her cheeks hurt but if she tried to stop smiling now, she didn't think she would be able to start again. Her smile was her best feature but it didn't come naturally. She couldn't remember the last time she smiled for real.
The rest of her wasn't that impressive. She had a messy bob of chocolate brown hair, olive skin, and close-set hazel eyes that she had been told had a mean look in them by multiple people. It wasn't her fault; it was just the way she looked!
She was also 5'2" and had a relatively boyish figure. That didn't prevent creeps from hitting on her though. They would hit on anything female.
Maya didn't care much about her appearance. It had never brought about anything good so why would she? If she had things her way, no one would ever look at her at all. She would prefer to blend into the background unnoticed.
Speaking of blending into the background unnoticed…she was completely unaware of one of the regulars choosing to take a seat rather than wait in line. Or that his sharp silver eyes were on her the entire time she dealt with the rabble.
Normally she was more aware of things like that since she was so wary of others these days. Maybe it was because she was so caught up in her own annoyance at how her morning was going.
Maya's fake smile was still plastered to her face by the time he did make it up to the register after most of the other customers had left on their rush to work or wherever they had to be for the day. The only other person here was a college student with headphones on listening to study tunes while writing a paper and occasionally stopping to eat her muffin or sip her coffee.
"Good morning, Vincent! Would you like your usual?"
This guy always ordered a large dark roasted coffee with nothing added to it. It was the bitterest kind they had here so she seriously questioned his taste. He also bought the sweetest baked good on their menu—a cherry cheesecake danish—to go with it as if to balance things out.
"Marry me," he replied.