21 The First Cappuccino (1/2)

Alan cleared his throat again, trying to recover from the shock the system gave him.”I'm afraid we only serve cappuccino in the afternoon.Would a regular coffee be acceptable?”

The woman was stumped.On the one hand, he had just refused her which she was unaccustomed to.On the other hand, he offered her the less expensive of the two options.If he was a scammer, he would go with the more expensive of the two.Still, she was displeased at his refusal.

”It better be a good cup of coffee.I'll take it to go.”She said coldly.

Alan wanted to cry.He further explained that they did not offer coffee to go, making the same excuse he did with Tom.

The woman looked ready to walk away in anger at this point.Instead, she just told him to hurry up.

Alan did so.He brought out a cup of coffee and placed it in front of her.Unlike Tom, the woman did not particularly want to interact with Alan, finding him unpleasant after his refusals.She took the coffee to one of the armchairs, sat and blew on it, trying to cool the coffee down.

Alan watched from the bar in anticipation as she took her first sip.

Her face remained calm throughout, and he couldn't tell what she thinking.

Over the course of the next 20 minutes, she leisurely drank her coffee while reading the documents she'd brought with her.

Finally, she finished.She walked up to him and returned the cup.

He nodded.”Thank you for your patronage.”

She looked at him and then opened her mouth to speak.”I thought you were scamming me at first and then I just thought you were an idiot.But your coffee was good.I'll come again.My name is Claire.”With that she nodded at him and left.

Alan celebrated inside.However, it wasn't because a beautiful woman had just complimented him.It was because he had managed to find his first new customer.That was progress.

He took the cup back to the dishwasher and then wiped the bar with a rag even though it already looked clean.

Things were looking up.

The day proceeded slowly without anyone else coming in until around 3:00 PM.At that point, the bell rang as the door swung open and Tom stepped inside.

”Good afternoon,”Alan greeted as he saw him.

Tom smiled.”It is indeed!”

”What are you so happy about?”Alan asked curiously.

Tom's grin grew wider as he explained.”Thanks to your coffee I managed to have the most productive day I've had in over a week.I even managed to come up with a solution to a title dispute over a piece of property I've been trying to purchase for months now.”

Alan nodded.”Well, congratulations to that.What can I get for you?”

Tom looked at the board above the bar again curiously, noting some changes on it.

”You added your rules to the board?”He asked.