Free Until I Saw Your Smile by J.J. Murray

Peach and strawberry pastries today. I’ll bring you one of each.”
    â€œSounds good.” He took a long swig of coffee. “I am already addicted to this coffee.”
    â€œGood.” She disappeared into the back.
    Matthew sat in the middle booth, pushing his jacket against the wall and watching the sunlight intensify. Peaceful. This place is peaceful. It doesn’t make sense. I’m sucking down caffeine and feeling peaceful. I wonder if Angela has Wi-Fi. I could come here every morning, “borrow” her Internet—
    â€œSo about last night . . .” Angela stood beside him, holding out a plate of peach and strawberry pastries.
    She moves stealthily in those black walking shoes, and there are at least six pastries on that plate. “Will you join me?”
    â€œFor a few minutes I can,” she said, sliding onto the bench seat opposite him. “The church crowd won’t be here for at least half an hour.” She folded her hands in front of her. “So tell me why your jacket got high last night.”
    â€œI went to a protest that turned into a block party that turned into a house party in Queens.”
    Angela blinked and shook her head. “Why’d you go to a house party all the way over in Queens?”
    â€œI needed an adventure.”
    â€œI didn’t mean it that way,” Angela said. “I meant, why’d you go out to Queens for adventure? What’s wrong with finding adventure in Williamsburg?”
    â€œNothing. I just wanted to get away, you know?”
    â€œNo, I don’t know,” Angela said. “I’m kind of glued to this place. I’m open seven days a week.”
    â€œOh, right.” No days off? That’s a raunchy deal. “Don’t you ever get sick of where you are sometimes and have to go somewhere else to realize that where you’re from isn’t all that bad?”
    â€œI know what you’re saying.” She pointed at the pastries. “They’re getting cold.”
    â€œOh.” He sampled one of the peach pastries. “Delicious.”
    â€œThank you.”
    Her hands never stay still. Is she nervous? “Trust me, Angela, I like Williamsburg a whole lot better than I will ever like Queens. I don’t think I’ll be going back anytime soon.”
    â€œWhat happened?” she asked.
    She seems genuinely interested. Something about her eyes. Great eye contact. They’re hard to look away from. “Well, I met a woman who later fought with another woman who was her ex from prison, and I spent the night in Queens criminal court trying to get the first woman’s charges reduced.”
    Angela’s eyes popped. “You’re a lawyer?”
    Why doesn’t anyone believe I’m a lawyer? “Sometimes.”
    â€œYou don’t look like one.”
    â€œI’ll take that as a compliment,” Matthew said.
    She looked around the back of the booth at the front door. “Not that I know what a lawyer is supposed to look like.” She faced him again. “Go on with your story. Did you get her charges reduced?”
    â€œMiraculously, I did,” Matthew said. “She still has to go back to prison for three years for violating her parole, but I got the assault charge dropped because of self-defense and the assault on a police officer dropped completely.”
    â€œYour date assaulted a cop?” Angela asked.
    â€œWell, she wasn’t exactly my date,” he said. “We met at the party.”
    â€œOh.” Angela narrowed her eyes. “So you hooked up with her at this party.”
    Well, we almost did. Too much bass in the bathroom. “We hung out.”
    â€œUh huh.” She sipped her coffee. “And this hookup assaulted a cop.”
    Angela certainly gets to the point. “We didn’t hook up. She broke the cop’s nose when he grabbed her, um, her buttocks.”
    Angela shook her head slightly.