Chapter Text
It was 11:00 pm on New Year’s Eve at Chanel’s Bar and Grill in Weehawken, New Jersey. A blizzard had driven many folks indoors, but Ava was there with her boss, Chanel, and a knot of devout partiers who absolutely insisted on spending New Year’s Eve partying at their favorite local watering hole.
The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” was playing on the jukebox as Ava dispensed a row of $5 pints of crappy domestic beer. Not really a party song. “J.C!” she called to the hot drunk guy who had put it on. “Come on, man, why are you putting this stuff on? It’s New Year’s Eve, man!”
The door banged open. At this point, with the snow coming down so fast it looked like the sky was throwing rocks, Ava couldn’t imagine it being any more locals. Those had stopped coming in about an hour ago when the snow started getting really bad. This had to be someone forced off the highway nearby. Chanel’s was crouched in the shadow of an overpass. Only someone crazy would be on the road right now.
What Ava was not expecting was a gaggle of nuns to come through the door. Yep, that’s right. Nuns. Five of them. In full habits and wimples and the whole nine yards. Great, she thought.
J.C. got excited. He turned around to Ava, pointing at them as they entered, and started singing awfully loud, “HERE COME THE NUNS, DO DO DO DOOOO…”
Ava rolled her eyes. Chanel had planned for the idea that they were all going to be stuck there for the night, till the plows rolled through in the morning. But being stuck in there with a bunch of nuns was not her idea of a good time. She imagined it was going to put a damper on the party.
Still, she figured she’d be hospitable. “Happy New Year’s, sisters! Come on in, get out of the cold! Can we get you anything?”
One of them approached the bar. She was pretty, but her mouth was set in a firm, determined line. Ava could tell perfectly well that she didn’t want to be here. “Good evening. I’m sorry to trouble you. We were trying to get ahead of the storm, but it moved in faster than expected.”
“Well, that’s okay. Chanel rented a bunch of cots and stuff cause she figured we were gonna end up with a lot of overnighters.”
She didn’t miss the young nun’s displeasure as she glanced around the place. “Well, we don't want to impose.” She had an accent. English, Ava thought. She sounded proper. Like she went to boarding school or something.
Ava snorted. “Look Sister, you guys are lucky you made it here in one piece. The roads are pretty much impassible at this point. Just be grateful you found us, have a beer or something and get comfy.”
The nun scowled. “I don’t drink.”
Ava glanced past her at one of the group who came in with her, who, she realized as she gave a second look, was not actually wearing a habit. Just a long, black leather duster. This particular nun-adjacent woman was already at a table with three of Ava’s regulars, shotgunning a beer. “Looks like she does.”
The nun turned around. “Oh, for god’s sake. Mary!”
Mary finished her beer and crushed the empty can. She looked at the nun. “What? Relax, Bea. It’s New Year’s Eve!”
The rest of the nuns have settled around a table in the farthest corner. They’re watching Ava interact with the woman in front of her. Ava can’t even remember what’s the right direction to cross herself in.
“Bea? That’s your name?”
“ Beatrice . Sister Beatrice.”
Ava sighed. “Sister Beatrice. I know you said you don’t drink, but can I get you and your fellow sisters a round of hot chocolates on the house? You guys came in out of a literal blizzard. You must all be cold.”
Sister Beatrice looked at her for a moment, blinking. “Yes, a round of hot chocolates, please,” she said after a moment. “We can pay. Thank you.”
She nodded politely and went back to sit with the other nuns.
Chanel came out from the kitchen in back and leaned over Ava’s shoulder. “She’s cute,” she purred.
“She’s a nun , Chanel.”
“So she probably needs love.”
Ava rolled her eyes and went over to the coffee bar to put together the hot chocolates. She spent an extra couple of minutes foaming the milk. She wanted to give these nuns the best, most decadent, dare she say sinful hot chocolate they’d ever had.
When she brought it to the table, she distributed it to four very grateful sisters (the fifth was having beers with the regulars). She placed Sister Beatrice’s drink down first. As she distributed the rest, Ava watched out of the corner of her eye as Beatrice sipped at her drink. A little butterfly beat its wings in her stomach as Beatrice’s eyes fluttered closed at her first taste.
By the time Ava had finished setting them down, Sister Beatrice had set her chocolate down and was looking at Ava with something like alarm. “This is too good.”
Ava grinned. “I know, it’s better than sex, right? I mean, not that you guys would know.” She chuckled a little awkwardly.
“No,” Sister Beatrice said, “it’s too good.” She sounded genuinely aggrieved at how good it was.
“Oh, what like it’s a sin?” Ava cackled. “Forgive me sister, for I have sinned, it’s been three years since my last hot chocolate.”
Beatrice stood up, trembling with frustration. “Why are you like this?”
Ava stepped back, thrown by the nun’s intensity. Her dark eyes roiled like she had storm clouds in them. For a moment Ava would almost have preferred to be out in the blizzard than standing here with this nun trembling angrily at her for making her a really good hot chocolate.
She took a breath. “Cause it’s New Year’s. And it’s a blizzard outside. And yeah, having a bunch of nuns rock up into my bar is probably gonna put a damper on the party–– except for Sister Shotgun over there–– but I wanna make everyone comfortable, because that’s what I do. You don’t want booze? I’ll make you hot chocolate. You want to take a nap? I’ll pull out one some cots for you guys in the stockroom upstairs. You don’t like the music? We’ll change it. I don’t have any hymns on that jukebox but I’m sure we can find something.”
“Do you have Dolly Parton?” a particularly sweet-faced little nun asked.
“Probably.” She turned around to JC. “Hey! JC! Make yourself useful! Find some Dolly Parton on that jukebox, dude!”
JC hollered something drunkenly, took out a dollar from his pocket and stumbled over to the jukebox.
“See, Sister Beatrice? I’ve got a pretty good handle on things here. I wanna make it comfortable for everyone, and if the fates have decided that that includes a bunch of nuns who blew in out of the biggest blizzard in a decade, then…that’s just what it is.”
Sister Beatrice’s look seemed to soften. A little flush crept into her cheeks. “I’m… I’m sorry. It’s been a very long day. I was needlessly rude.”
Ava held out her hand. “I’m Ava.”
“Beatrice. Just… Beatrice.” She clasped Ava’s hand. Ava noticed how lovely her hands were, like a painting. How long and elegant her fingers were, with short, perfectly kept nails. How strong her grip was.
“Not a nun tonight?” Ava teased. But she saw something in the way the nun looked at her, for just a second, that seemed intrigued by that idea.
She let go. “No. But I’m just Beatrice… to my friends.” She smiled as if she was afraid to let the smile out, as if she was afraid she couldn’t control how bright it could be if she just unleashed it all.
Ava forced herself to stop staring at her pretty lips. “Want to see how I make the hot chocolate?”
Beatrice nodded. “Yes, very much.”
Ava nodded toward the bar. “Come back behind the bar. I’ll show you.”
Ava knew she was probably nuts to think it, but she wanted to know more about this woman. How does someone this pretty, this elegant, wind up a nun? Why was she so shaken just by an excellent hot chocolate? Why does she keep hearing Chanel’s voice in her head, So maybe she needs love?
Ava smiles to herself. She’s got all night to find out.