Cappuccino Secrets
Excerpt from novel "Soul Mates"
By Alex Shapiro

Denise Laroche and Jonathan Gray squeezed their way through the hungry crowds filling Cafe Lalo on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Smiled indulgingly when they spotted the empty square table by the window.
"Two cappuccinos and we'll share a cheesecake," Jonathan ordered, pleased with the confirmation on Denise's face. He eyed the teen waitress and concentrated, fully, on the mini-skirt brushing dangerously over his legs.
"Nice try." Denise winked.
"So, what are you tying to say?" he asked, once the waitress left with their order.
Her fingers untangled her mane of hair. "You heard me."
"Tell me again."
Denise's evergreen eyes focused back on Jonathan's face, her determined chin pointed forward. "How much you got so far?"
"Can't believe the Ray story. He's, umm... that's a coincidence."
"Was. He's dead now." Her fingers twirled around the ice water glass by her side. "Doctor Ray Taylor was Doctor Thomas Taylor's younger brother. Thomas is Eileen's physician. From what I'm told, the two could have been twins, born some almost a decade apart."
"Oh, yeah?" Jonathan pursed his voluptuous lips, trying to suppress a smile. Snorted watching Denise's moves. "You know, as if we need icy-cold water in the middle of a blizzard."
"Jeez, Jonathan, no wonder you can't follow what I'm trying to tell you for over an hour now."
"I sure do follow and it hasn't been an hour, not yet." He curved his thin brow and smacked his lips. "Nah, my Ellie was not into unexpected love encounters, you know, like love affairs, as far as I know anyway." Jonathan's dark eyes focused on the mini-skirt waitress heading their way, her arms holding a tray full with colorful treats.
"Here you are, sir."
"Thank you, sugar." He smiled and tried to refocus his attention on the young woman in front of him and the story at hand.
"Enjoy, sir."
"Hmm, hmm." His gaze followed the mini-skirt.
"Jonathan, focus."
"I sure do." He smiled at Denise. "As I said, it cannot be possible. My Ellie would never do this to me. Not then, not now. Never!"
"Nothing's that certain, Jonathan."
"Well, I can't believe she would. We were madly in love, blinded by it. We had the sizzling heat, the long and sweaty summer nights in the bayou, making love all night long and losing sleep over it and not care at all, we-"
"OK, that's enough Jonathan, I got the picture."
"You asked..."
Denise smiled at him. "Your eyes still glow when you talk about her. You still in love with her?"
"Maybe, maybe not, I dunno. We were in love, maybe too much, burnt me to the bone and beyond, and that I am sure."
"Yeah, so you say..."
"It's been a while, years passed between us. Time is indeed a healer. At least it does its best..."
Denise's eyes darkened with something he couldn't yet put his finger on. He was determined to get to the bottom of it.
"This Ray guy," Jonathan continued, "fully aware of his condition-"
"You call AIDS a condition one more time and the cheesecake is all mine."
"...Fully aware of his disease, made sure to pass it on to Ellie, huh? Am I making sense of your story?"
Denise sipped her drink. Smirked. "Yucky, this cappuccino needs some sweetening." She torn apart some pink and blue envelops on the table next to her and mixed the powder in her drink. Tasted again. "Now, that's better. Please, do continue."
"Where do I come in this story of yours?" He toyed with the ribbon of whip cream framing the cake.
"You tell me." Denise's tongue twisted around a fork-full of creamy cheesecake. "You followed me." She started to chew.
"Take your time, sugar," he whispered, watched her lips curve and relax then curve again.
She closed her eyes and swallowed. "Hmm... this is good." Denise pointed her empty fork to the chunky slice. She opened her eyes and sent a serious look across the table. Her fingers reached for his hand. "Jonathan, you may be infected. You have to get tested."
"I'm not." He didn't blink and his mind refused to function. He disregarded the thought.
"Do you have a test that says so?"
"I might." His face relaxed in a shadowy smile. "Do you think I'm not careful? Do you think I'm suicidal?"
"Eileen keeps telling me this story. I only know the beginning. The story is about you two taking a trip down South." She winked. "I know about your heated adventures in the wee hours of the night, and I know about the ring."
"You what?" Jonathan's eyes widened.
"But there's always something she chooses not to say," Denise continued, "some dark omen she prefers to leave untouched. As if she's afraid to touch her demon. I can feel it. As if something in her past is still haunting her and she desires to keep it imprisoned, as if this... this whatever she's afraid of has full control over her past and her present life."
"When did she tell you all these?"
Denise took another bite, left the fork rest inside her mouth. "She's always too exhausted half-way into the story and passes out or falls asleep."
"Hey, thank you for sharing." Jonathan's hand reached out for hers.
Denise pulled her hand free. Watched the people outside struggle to stroll through fat, watery snowflakes. Her brows curved, her head cocked.
"Denise? What's the matter?" Jonathan turned and followed her stare.
"That's him!" Her hand grabbed Jonathan's arm and shook. "Look, it's him, it's Doctor Taylor." Her eyes focused back across the table, on Jonathan's face. "He wanted to talk with you about Eileen. He thought you could help her."
They watched the tall gray-haired man entering the cafe and followed his sturdy steps inside, watched him stop to wave at a mini-skirt waitress then scanned the place, watched his eyes widened with recognition.