When a new face appeared at the counter, one or another of the women would approach with a smile and a cheerful greeting. Two older men chose a booth behind the stranger. They wore matching khaki pants with careful pleats down the front. One of the men was rather rotund and swayed as he walked. With each passing word, he panted as if he could never catch his breath. A thin belt made its way around her waist, magnifying her ample midsection. The other man was thin and casual. A yellowed thermal shirt hid beneath the shiny nylon jacket that danced with embroidered horses. The men enjoyed warm brown hair with open faces and copious amounts of coffee. Ruby wrote them a note and slid it towards the burly, well-dressed man. While she poured the last glasses, the old man, breathless, put his hand in his pocket and leafed through large banknotes. "Miss Ruby, do you have change for fifty?" Ruby continued to fill their plain ivory cups, and without sparing a glance replied, "Now, darling, if I were fifty, that would be a change!" The men burst out laughing, the one with the wallet panting and coughing. Proud to make them laugh, Ruby smiled and winked playfully at them and walked back behind the counter. Four women crowded into the booth behind the men and chatted with each other. They all had massive, thick hair. The first woman had short, jet-black hair, another blonde and full of curls, another shoulder-length and fiery red, and the last sported a brown bob. The stranger looked at him curiously. Their shoes were orthopedic with wide Velcro straps, their pants a palette of polyester shades. They wore loose-knit cardigans, elegant sweatshirts and delicate gold jewelry. As their hair appeared young and... middle of paper... Anger placed his hand over Ruby's, his distinctly sapphire eyes searching hers. “Ruby, life is full of difficult decisions. Sometimes we lose the things we hold dear, but that doesn't mean all is lost." Ruby studied the stranger as he spoke. He saw his father's beautiful straight nose. The wave of his hair, the furrow of his forehead were all too familiar. He had dreamed of this young man's face since he was fifteen. It was hard to believe that he was in front of her now. “Forgive yourself, Ruby. Forgive Agnese. A mother deserves it." Ruby's eyes blinked back unyielding tears. She didn't know what to say to the stranger, but she hoped he felt what she felt. Relieved by the surprising knock of a regular customer, Ruby realized it was 4:00. He wiped his watery eyes and found a tissue for his nose before rushing to open the door and flip the sign to "open"..”