EVEN ALMOST PERFECT GIRLS get off-days. Unfortunately for Olivia, her next one came on the day of her second cooking class. It was bright and sunny but Olivia was feeling extra crabby, mostly because she didn't get enough sleep at her parents' house and the early morning light was hurting her tired eyes.
Her dad was feeling neglected since her mom started this small arts and crafts business. She spent most of her days making cute craft projects involving mason jars, dried twigs, vintage lace, and ribbons. Her projects were Pinterest-worthy and people were snatching them up faster than she could make them. But while her mom was happy and preoccupied, that translated to a bored, needy, recently retired dad whose only hobby was to watch old crime procedurals on TV.
To help out (dutiful and almost perfect daughter that she was), Olivia volunteered to get him out of her mom's hair as she was preparing for a weekend craft bazaar. So, they dubbed it impromptu father-daughter Friday and they ended up doing a Law & Order: SVU marathon.
Normally, she didn't mind, but since she had to get up at an ungodly hour (translation: any time before noon on a weekend) for cooking class with Nate, Crabby Olivia came out to play.
Staying over at her parents’ also meant that her clothing choices were limited—the only clothes she had there were her girly, frilly things, the ones she didn’t wear anymore. The least frilly one, a lightweight ivory-colored sundress with thin straps and a flowing, full skirt left her at a massive disadvantage as she waited for Nate outside the convenience store near the weekend market. It had only been fifteen minutes, but she already counted six guys staring, two who actually wolf-whistled, and one who tried to get her number.
“Hey, Liv!" She turned to the voice and saw Nate walking briskly towards her. It didn't escape her notice that he had christened her with a nickname. She didn't usually go by nicknames (even her parents called her Olivia), but with Nate looking so hot in another rumpled black t-shirt and jeans, she almost forgave him for the offense. Almost.
"Ready for a crash course on shopping for the finest cooking ingredients?" Nate asked, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. Olivia could hardly imagine what was so exciting about the weekend organic market they were visiting across the street.
"How can you be so chipper?" She slid her oversized sunglasses up to push her hair back. "Are you always like this in the mornings?" She grumbled a bit. "Morning people annoy me."
"But it's a lovely day," he countered. "The market is bustling with all sorts of good things, the air is breezy, and I'm with a gorgeous girl. What's not to like about the morning?" Nate opened the paper bag he was carrying and produced two commuter mugs. "Here, this might cheer you up," Nate offered.
Olivia ignored the fact that he called her a gorgeous girl (but it was a fact that he did call her gorgeous). Instead, she sniffed at the smoke wafting from the mug's sipping hole. She could smell coffee with the faintest chocolate undertones. She took a sip and was rewarded with a brew strong enough to wake a college student passed out from a night of partying.
"Barako. A friend brought me a bag last night, so I couldn't resist putting some through the French press. You like?" Nate asked, but he already knew the answer when Olivia ignored him to drink more.
"I love it. And I feel partly human now."
"Great. Come on, we have the market to conquer." Nate offered her his arm and she took it. They made quite the pair, coffee in one hand, the other in the other, all ready to see what the city's biggest weekend organic market had to offer.
Olivia didn't expect to find a weekend market interesting, but it was. They were greeted by mountains of the freshest produce, buckets of live seafood flown in from all over the country, freshly-baked loaves of artisan bread from weekend bakers, bins of exotic spices sold by volume, and farm-fresh fare like carabao's milk and organic salted duck eggs.
