For the Love of Lucy

The smell of freshly brewed coffee filled the house.

Louisa turned around to check the progress of the bacon. She figured they’d get out of bed for fresh made coffee and bacon. The smell of the coffee and bacon had to be wafting up the stairs.

Her teenagers had left home, gone to college, then grown up and come back to roost. No more empty nest for her.

First Brad had limped home after the divorce, and now Charles was home for a visit. A visit that seemed extended. Louisa didn’t mind the company, but her two grown-up boys had reverted to their natural slovenly state in their mother’s home. It was like high school all over again with the dirty laundry and the bickering between the boys.

She wanted them up before afternoon so they could have a lovely family meeting. Hopefully, the bacon would work, Lord knew to knock on their bedroom doors hadn’t.

While she waited she turned back to the counter, coffee was excellent for the boys, but she needed a good, strong espresso. She reached for the bag of beans in the cabinet and suppressed a devious smile. If grinding her beans didn’t wake them up, then they were dead.

She poured the beans carefully into the grinder feeling a tad guilty. Knowing her love of Cafe Breves Lucy her secret amour had gotten her the espresso maker for Christmas the years before. She shrugged and hit the button for fine then pressed down.

While the beans ground she removed the bacon from the heat and laid it on napkins. Still no sign of the boys. She reached into the fridge for the whole cream that makes a Breve a Breve and not a Latte. When it ćame to certain things, Louisa believed in only the best; coffee, cuts of meat, fit in jeans, laundry soap, and the thread count in sheets. All for different reasons, which to her mind were obvious.

The grinder stopped, so she poured the coffee grounds into the press and tapped them down carefully then locked the press into place on the espresso maker. Setting a silver pitcher under the spigot she pressed start and began to warm her cream. Still no sign of life from upstairs. When the steam wand screamed under her hand, she knew the cream was just the right consistency, a delicate foam. Louisa sighed, she had made herself espresso a thousand times, and every time she went through the steps and anticipated her drink it was a pleasure to her. If only the boys knew how perfect the gift had been, she knew that Lucy understood.

As Louisa poured her espresso into her China cup and spooned the foam on the top, she went over in her head what she was going to say. She would be gentle but firm, they had a time limit on her generosity and needed to pick up after themselves. She no longer had any desire to care for grown men, especially since her divorce. She had her love life to worry about now, Lucy hated her closeted life. She wouldn’t stand for being banned from her home forever.

Finally, she heard loud clumping on the steps and put down her teacup to cool. It was Charles the baby, wearing boxer briefs and a stained tee shirt. He reached for the bacon without a word by reaching over her. Both her boys had played basketball and towered over her tiny 5"2' frame. She turned around to greet him and almost screamed “get out” in a knee-jerk reaction.

In one giant paw he had bacon, and the other he had her teacup of freshly made espresso.

In that one moment, the content of her speech to the boys changed dramatically.

Instead Louisa sighed and turned back to the grinder. She needed to grind more beans.

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