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“You weren’t supposed to laugh! I’m so embarrassed!” Molly hung her head. “I’m never going to get the hang of this.”
“It’s all right, love,” Mary said, her laughter tapering off. “Our owner just loves having over a hundred different types of donuts. You’ll find we have a lot of regulars with regular orders, though. They come in like clockwork and you’ll get to know them pretty well. Once you have them down pat, everything else will be a breeze.” The bell on the door rang and Mary grinned. “Here’s my favourite. His name is John. He’s a baker’s dozen powdered holes, a black medium coffee, and I usually toss in a few extra holes or make his coffee a little larger depending on if he flirts with me extravagantly or not.”
“Can you do that?” Molly asked, her eyes wide.
“Greg’s fine with it as long as it’s not in excess and it’s only with the regulars,” she said as John got up to the counter. He gave Mary a wide smile and turned on the charm, and Mary flirted right back. John ended up walking away with eighteen donut holes and a large coffee and Mary turned around triumphantly holding up a handwritten phone number. “I’ve got a date tonight!” she said excitedly.
“Oh, good for you,” Molly said with a grin. She watched the crowd at the donut shop and looked around. She hadn’t expected to go back to work at a job like this, but she was between posts with her normal type of job and Mary had pulled strings at “the best donut shop in the whole of London” and gotten Molly a job there to tide her over. She’d only been there two days but to be honest she quite liked it. The tips were actually quite good and her boss, Greg, was a rather nice bloke, nicer than most of the bosses she’d had before. The other people she worked with were almost as lovely as her friend but working with Mary was an absolute blast.
The bell at the door rang again and Mary raised an eyebrow. “And here comes the Ice Man. He’s a maple bar, a chocolate eclair and a double shot espresso. Why don’t you take care of him?”
“Do you not like him?” Molly asked, looking at the tall man with the slightly thinning hair with the impeccable three piece suit. He was unconventionally handsome, to be honest. Not her normal type, but he was striking and she felt drawn to him.
“Well, he’s cold and standoffish and never tips. None of us really like him,” she replied. “But maybe he’ll take a liking to you.” Mary gave her a tiny shove forward as he came to the counter.
“Um...hello,” Molly said, unable to look the man in the eye. Oh, lord, she was blushing. She really did think he was handsome. “What can I get for you today?”
“A maple bar, a chocolate eclair and a medium double shot espresso,” he said, his voice deep but not too deep, the tone slightly annoyed, as though she should know this even though she was new.
“And...what name should I put this for?” she asked, getting a medium cup at first, and then setting it down and then picking up a large.
“Mycroft,” he said, his tone softening slightly.
“I’ll get it for you as quickly as possible, Mycroft,” she said, going to make the espresso for him. She had actually mastered the espresso machine the first day and she made him his drink fairly quickly. Then she got him his two requested donuts as well as two of the featured flavours of donuts that were the monthly specials, slipping them into his bag. She took it all to the front of the counter and handed them to him. “I included a cherry jubilee donut and a chocolate crème eclair as well, just because I heard you were a regular and I thought you might like to try them. I...um...hope you have a good day.”
Mycroft stood there for a moment, and then set the bag and the coffee down on the counter to pull out his wallet to pay her for the food. “How much extra are the other donuts and the larger coffee?” he asked.
“Oh, no charge!” she said, her voice squeaking slightly. She still couldn’t quite look him in the eye. “I just wanted to brighten your day.”
He pulled out a few extra bills at that and then deposited them in the tip jar. “Make sure you get your fair share of that,” he said before stowing his wallet and picking up his food. I hope to see more of you soon…?”
“Molly,” she said.
“I hope to see you again soon, Molly,” he said, and when she looked up before he turned she saw him smiling. She watched him leave and felt herself grow warm and fuzzy inside.
Mary went over to the tip jar and pulled out the bills, her eyes wide. “Molly! Bloody hell, he just left a one hundred quid tip!”
Molly’s jaw dropped. “What?” she said, staring at the bills in shock.
“I think you have an admirer,” Mary said, grinning at Molly.
“Maybe I do...” Molly said, grinning widely. Well, that was a nice surprise, and made her look forward to his future visits.