Coffee Scoop Read Free

home, his family, and his education. Maybe she would move on to ask him to speak about his adopted country, get him talking about the kids he claimed to be helping and . . .
    “Miss Collins, I hope you’re hungry.”
    Carrie reined in her thoughts and focused on the businessman beside her. “What? Yes, actually I don’t particularly care for airplane food.”
    “Then you’re in for quite a treat.  
    Fifteen minutes later the limo pulled to the curb in front of a nondescript building in the shadow of downtown. Before the driver could exit the vehicle, Mr. Baxter jumped out and offered Carrie help in doing the same. The spicy scent of something yummy tickled Carrie’s nose. Her stomach grumbled a protest at her slow pace as she and Ryan walked toward the humble façade of a restaurant called Ixtapa.
    Funny, she’d driven within a few hundred yards of this spot and never noticed it.
    A fresh coat of green paint covered the door and decorated the hand-lettered sign stating the hours of business. Inside the dozen or so tables were covered with bright red cloth and filled with happily chatting diners. Mariachi music blared from a speaker situated behind an antiquated cash register, adding to the noise level.
    Not much hope for a decent interview in this chaos. However, a wonderful meal did seem to be a distinct possibility.
    A slender main dressed in a white chef’s outfit picked his way through the crowd to meet them with a smile. Just above the pocket on his shirt the name Javier was embroidered in brilliant turquoise thread. “ Buenos nochas , Senior Baxter, Senorita.” Javier swung his gaze toward Carrie then back to Mr. Baxter. “Just the two of you?”
    At Mr. Baxter’s nod, the trio headed off toward the rear of the restaurant, weaving around chairs and people until they reached a surprisingly quiet corner. Javier held a metal chair out for Carrie, and she settled onto its cracked red vinyl seat in time to watch a waiter appear with a basket piled high with chips and a brilliant yellow bowl of poblano pepper salsa.
    Javier and Mr. Baxter carried on a spirited discussion in Spanish while Carrie settled her purse beside her. A dark-eyed little girl peered at her from the booth to her left, offering a snaggle-toothed smile before sliding down out of sight at her mother’s insistence.
    Carrie watched the men’s faces go from happy to serious as their voices lowered. An envelope passed from the chef to his customer then more discussion took place.
    When Javier nodded, Mr. Baxter shook his hand. The chef gave instructions to a nearby bus boy in rapid-fire manner then scurried off to the kitchen, sparing Carrie a quick smile as he hurried past.
    “I hope you don’t mind, Miss Collins.” Ryan settled the napkin into his lap. “I took the liberty of ordering for us.”
    She smiled rather than state her independence. Since when did men still order for their dates?  
    Dates? This was not a date. This was a business dinner, and no matter how wonderful the food or how charming the company, she intended to keep things all business.
    After all, she had a story to get, a feature writing job to land, and her Lord to serve.

CHAPTER THREE

    The food was as good as the company, and it nearly cost Ryan his promise to concentrate on the reason for his trip rather than the woman across the table. After all, his whirlwind visit to the States had one purpose: to find new outlets for distributing the coffee that funded Casa de Dios.
    It seemed bad form to come right out and beg the woman for publicity, so he endured her barrage of polite generic questions and waited for the chance to slip in some morsel of information on Heavenly Beans. He admitted his connection to Harvard Business School grudgingly, but not because of any shame over graduating from the prestigious university. Quite the contrary. He felt humbled and in awe of the fact that the Lord had allowed him such a fine education, especially since he’d done very little