By Monday Annie was on tender hooks in anticipation of giving Rohan the picture of the daisy. She hoped he wouldn't take it the wrong way or read too much into it. It was just a picture of a daisy. A token of thanks as the actual flower was a token of thanks from him.

He seemed very agitated when he came in. Annie had second thoughts about giving him the painting. She wondered what had happened over the weekend to push him back to day one.

"Hello, Rohan." Annie hadn't waited to take his order. She guessed he'd want his usual so she had the coffee in her hand before she went to him. He nodded at her but wouldn't look her in the eyes as he had on Friday when he had told her he was a scientist.

"Hello."

"I hope you don't mind but I've put your usual order in already." She paused. "But I can change it if you like, if it's not what you want."

He shook his head at her. "It's okay. Thanks." He looked away and opened his book.

Annie took this as him dismissing her. A surge of annoyance bit her. So that's how it was going to be today. When she put the coffee pot back on the heat, she heard the door clang. Annie looked up to see who it was. Old Sid hadn't been in yet, which was unusual.

Two attractive but over done young women came in. Annie's immediate thought was Ruby's wish for classer clientele but dismissed it because this pair looked more tarty than classy.

She watched as they stood beside Rohan's table, and then slide onto the bench opposite his. Annie noted his reaction. He sat bolt upright, pushing himself hard against the padded backing of the seat. His leg pounded up and down so fast she worried he was going to hit it on the table and bump his cup of coffee.

He attempted to slide out of the booth but one of the women moved around to his side to prevent him. He slid into the corner, hung his head and focused on his book. The two women laughed.

As Annie watched, one of them traced his jaw line with her long fingernail. Annie's earlier annoyance derailed and rested on the women.

She strode towards them. "I'm sorry but the booths and tables are for paying customers only."

They stopped laughing and stared at her.

Annie didn't take her eyes off them. She noted Rohan had lifted his head and was watching her.

"Well, we'll have two cups of coffee. You can put it on Rohan's tab. We're his work colleagues. Aren't we, Babe?" The woman rubbed her hand on his cheek.

Annie noticed him draw away sharply. His reaction was enough to indicate he was intimidated by them and that they knew it and enjoyed it. No wonder the poor man was like he was if these were the sort of people he had to work with.

A strong dose of infuriation kicked in and without thinking Annie said, "Rohan doesn't have a tab and he's not your babe." She balled her hands, hesitated for a moment, and then plunged deeper. She'd explain her reasons to Rohan later. "In fact, he's my babe and I'd appreciate it if you got your filthy whoring hands off him."

As she continued, she looked from one to the other. "If you don't, I just might put a rather large hole in those very expensive fake tits of yours and pull that stupid fake blonde hair piece out of your already thinning scalp." Annie stood her ground as they looked at her open mouthed.

Before either of them could say another thing Rohan burst into laughter. He couldn't believe this little kitten of a woman with her pouted mouth and tiny clenched fists had taken on two of his most feared adversaries. She had slammed them down in one swift swipe of her tongue and all he could do was laugh. Rohan's heart swelled with pride. How he wanted to be her babe. He had a sudden urge to hug her. Rohan lifted his boot and shoved Sally hard on the bum so she slid to the end of the bench seat in panic. Words he'd wanted to say for so long erupted from his mouth, "Fuck off, Sally."

As she got up Rohan followed. He stood looking down at Annie, his laughter gone. Rohan wanted to hug her but knew he didn't have the courage. He touched her cheek with his fingers and ran his thumb over her lips. Rohan couldn't help but smile as her name came on his exhaled breath, "Annie..." Then he left, strode through the door and disappeared in the crowd.

Ruby came and stood beside Annie with her hands on her hips. She looked at the women and jerked her head towards the door. "You heard what he said, get! Go on the pair of you, because we don't need your kind in here."

*

When they left Annie slumped down in the booth. "Oh! My! God! Ruby! Did I just say what I think I said?"

Ruby grinned and touched Annie's cheek and said, "Like it or not. The look on that man's face tells me this little white girl has just got herself one very tall weird boyfriend." She chuckled, raised her hands and wriggled them in the air as she walked off saying, "Man are you gonna have your work cut out with that one, honey."

As Annie laughed at Ruby's words the door opened again. Sid stood in the front of her and chided, "What's this? A man's away for one morning and the workers go on strike and sit down on the job."

Harry Butler chuckled and yelled across the room. "Only day you're not here and you missed the best cat fight I've witnessed in years. Little Puss there just defended Mister Short Pants against two fierce tigresses and won."

Laughing harder, Annie said, "Harry his name is Rohan and I'll have you know he's a scientist so the length of his pants don't matter and are easily fixed." She got up shaking her head and cleared Rohan's table. She thought he was going to be hungry because he hadn't eaten. Picking up his book she ran her hand affectionately over the cover. Annie put it under the counter and wondered how many days it would take him to find the courage to come back for it.

Who's cheering for Annie??

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