"Thank you."

Flora looked up from her sketchbook when she heard a familiar voice and saw Julian picking up his drink at the counter. When he turned and noticed her watching him, a smile spread across his face. Flora found she could not hold back a smile of her own. She set aside her work as he approached and took a seat in the leather armchair beside her own.

"Hey, how you been?" he asked.

"Not too bad. Yourself?"

"Just got off from work, so pretty tired."

"Oh, well I won't keep you—"

"No, no." Julian smiled. "I always have time to chat with a coffee friend. Besides, sitting is a really nice thing right now."

"What do you do for—" Flora's eyes widened when she caught sight of the blood running down his right arm. "You're bleeding!"

He glanced down at the blood casually. "Oh, right. Guess I didn't bandage that as well as I thought I had."

Flora set her spiced mocha latte on the low table in front of the two armchairs and scooted to the edge of her seat. Without even asking, she grabbed his hand and examined it closely. His index finger was wrapped in a bandage, but the blood had seeped through and was now trickling down his wrist.

"How on earth did this happen?" she asked, looking up at him.

His eyes were fixed on his hand still being held in her own, but when she spoke, his gaze moved to her face. He gave a quick smile. "Occupational hazard. It's okay, I've got plenty of bandages."

He set his coffee down and dug into the pocket of his jeans with his free hand, pulling out several bandages as well as bandage wrappers and other pieces of trash. Flora tried not to laugh as the pieces of paper scattered all over the floor.

"Here, let me see those," she said as she released his hand and took the pile of bandages from him.

"I'm a bit of a slob, sorry."

Flora chose a sturdy looking butterfly bandage and unwrapped it. "So where exactly do you work that you would slice your finger open like this?"

"A diner."

"Are you a chef?"

"More like a cook, but I'm totally down with you calling me a chef. Makes me sound way cooler."

A soft laugh escaped Flora's lips, but when she removed Julian's old bandage, the laughter quickly dissipated. "Julian, this is a really bad cut. Are you sure you don't need stitches?"

He waved away her concerns. "Please, I've had stitches before. This cut definitely doesn't warrant a trip to the ER."

Raising her eyebrows skeptically, she proceeded to wrap the fresh bandage around the cut. "How did you manage to hurt yourself so badly?"

"I got distracted."

"By what, exactly?"

"Ah, the music I was listening."

"You got distracted by music?"

"Yeah, it happens sometimes."

"It had to be pretty great music to get so distracted."

"Yeah, yeah, it was."

"So who was it?"

"Hmm?"

"The singer. Or band. The one that distracted you so badly you almost sliced your finger off."

Clearing his throat, Julian averted his eyes. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

Still holding his hand, Flora leaned forward with a wicked smile. "Is it so bad that you actually refuse to tell me?"

He glanced down at his hand and then up at her. Wincing slightly, he let out a defeated sigh. "Fine, fine, it was..."

He mumbled something, but Flora couldn't make out what. "What was that?"

Another mumble, but even leaning in close, she couldn't understand him.

"One more time," she said.

Letting out another sigh, Julian fixed his gaze on her and said, "Taylor Swift.

A surprised laugh burst from her. Julian visibly deflated.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a weirdo" he mumbled.

Controlling herself, Flora shook her head, although her smile was still intact. "No, it's not that. I'm just surprised. Delightfully surprised."

He arched an eyebrow at her, a smile playing on his lips. "Delightfully surprised?"

"Yeah, it just wasn't the response I was expecting. But I think it's great. Not many guys would own up to liking Taylor Swift."

"Do you like her?"

"No. I mean, I don't dislike her, I just haven't really listened to her stuff. A few songs on the radio, but that's it. I personally have nothing against her or her music."

"Who's your favorite musician?"

"Me? I guess I'd have to say Lights."

"Is that a band or a person?"

"A person. She's a Canadian electropop singer, songwriter, and musician."

"Never heard of her."

"Yeah, I get that reaction a lot. She's awesome, though. Especially live."

"You've been to her shows?"

"A few. She has an amazing energy and stage presence."

"Guess I'll have to check her out."

"My favorite song is the acoustic version of Siberia. Gives me chills every time."

"Well, with a title like that."

Flora grinned. "All right, taste in music aside, what diner do you work at?"

"The Feed Bag."

She paused for a moment, letting the name sink in. "Seriously? It's really called that?"

"Yup. I've tried to get Doug—the owner—to consider changing it, but no luck. He's very fond of the name."

"I can only imagine what kind of a person would name their diner the Feed Bag."

"He's actually a good guy. Little scary when you first meet him, but once you get past the beard and the tattoos, he's a teddy bear."

Trying to keep her smile from growing at Julian's term of endearment for his boss, she asked, "So did you go to school for cooking? Or is this a hobby turned career?"

"Little of both. Started out as something I just enjoyed doing as a kid. But when I graduated from high school, I decided to take classes. In Lowell, actually."

"Why did you settle down here, then?"

"This is where I grew up. I didn't really want to go too far, so I applied for the open position at Doug's place and I've been working there ever since."

"How long is that?"

"Five or six years, I think? I dunno, time gets away from me."

"So are you good?"

"Good at cooking?"

"Yes."

Julian gave a rather confident smile. "I like to think I'm pretty good. Particularly with breakfast and desserts."

"If you went to culinary school, how can you suck at making coffee? It seems pretty basic."

His confidence slipped away. "I have no idea, but I always manage to screw it up. I broke three coffeemakers before I finally gave up and just started coming here."

"Did you ever think of using instant coffee?"

"Eh, it's not the same. I have it for the winter in case there's a blizzard and I can't get here. Otherwise, I'd rather spend the extra money for a decent cup."

"Yeah, I keep an emergency stash of instant coffee myself. But I agree, it's not the same."

"Besides, if I stuck to drinking instant at home, I would never have had the pleasure of meeting you. And then who would I be able to confess my embarrassing musical taste to?"

Julian gave a teasing grin. Something about his smile was so warm and inviting. Much like some people's laughs were contagious, Flora found that she could not resist beaming back whenever he smiled.

"Anyhow, I should head home," Julian said at last, bending down to scoop up the trash that had fallen out of his pocket. "Stewart gets lonely if I'm gone for too long."

There was a twinge of disappointment in Flora's chest, but she smiled nonetheless. "We wouldn't want a cranky cactus, now would we?"

Julian paused at the door and flashed that intoxicating smile once more. "Definitely not. Although, at least I know I can always have you bandage up any nasty scratches he might give me."

Flora's smile grew as she waved goodbye. When Julian had left, she sunk back into the armchair and opened up her sketchbook. Tapping her pencil against the blank page, she found it almost impossible to concentrate on her designs. Closing the book again, she pulled out her phone and looked up "Taylor Swift" in her music store app.