The Perfect Blend

By Avery Warren

Rich Girl.

Lilliana Goodwin has been thriving in her career, thanks in no small part to her privileged background. For the longest time, she thought her life was on the right track. All she needed was love. And then Ginny came along…

Poor Girl.

Ginny Williams has always enjoyed giving to and doing for others, especially if she can make them feel warm and cozy. Working at a coffee shop is practically a family tradition. All she's missing out on is love. But she has a crush on Lilliana, who seems tantalizingly out of reach…

A Surprising Pairing.

When Lilliana and Ginny come together, they find it's not so difficult to blend their worlds. Especially once they connect over shared loss and the still-resonating wounds of the past. They soon learn that they are better together, and that their love can reach others. All they have to do is take the first step.

The Perfect Blend is a low-angst, feel-good 30,000 word lesbian romance novella in which love is all anyone needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Two Muses
• Release date: Dec 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215061749

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Don’t take all day getting ready or no one’s getting their coffee, Gin. You can’t expect me to do your job for you.

Ginny Williams wrapped her arms around herself and took a deep breath. Amanda was an impossible boss—always complaining, always glaring at her like she’d just stomped on her puppy... and always calling her Gin, which she hated. If Amanda’s overbearing presence was an everyday thing at the coffee shop, Ginny would have quit long ago. Especially having to face it first thing in the morning. Good thing her love of her job outweighed her dislike of her entitled boss.

Grateful these kinds of days were only a once or twice a week thing, Ginny finished pulling her long, blonde hair back into a ponytail and then tied her pale brown apron behind her waist. It was a chilly mid-November day, but being at Coffee Love always filled her with warmth. Maybe because it made her feel connected with both family and the wider community, things Amanda could never ruin. Not even at her worst.

Amanda continued grumbling from somewhere behind the counter, We’re going to miss the morning crowd, and what’s the point of having a coffee shop if you aren’t open in the morning? Where the heck are the lids? Why am I looking for them, when you’re the one who knows where to find them? Why do I even do this to myself?

After taking a steadying breath, Ginny dared to respond to what she knew were rhetorical questions. Rhetorical, because Amanda didn’t work. At all.

They’re in a different place, because you told me I could reorganize last month for a better workflow. It takes time to get used to where everything is, but once you do, I promise it’s easier. 

That first part wasn’t exactly true. Ginny and the other baristas had reorganized after months of grumbling about how the shop wasn’t set up to serve customers efficiently. Now they had a better set-up and knew where things were, organized by ingredient or supply type, and where they fit into the process of completing orders. Ginny was counting on Amanda to forget that she hadn’t actually given them permission to make those changes.

Whatever. Obviously, this is why I pay you the big bucks, so you can make me look like an idiot before the sun even rises. Amanda blew out a breath, straightened, and put her hands on her hips before untying her pristine apron and tossing it on the counter. I’m out of here. Do your job and don’t bother me for the rest of the week. My family is expecting me for the holiday weekend, and you know what that means.

Amanda stomped out of Coffee Love without so much as a goodbye and Ginny tried to keep her lips from pushing together into a pout. Yeah, she knew what Amanda meant. Her boss was going to be spending the rest of the week in her family’s luxurious home in the Hamptons, getting quizzed about why she was thirty-five and single, while Ginny ran the shop alone with her barely-adult co-workers. 

What a tragic life you lead, boss, Ginny muttered to herself as she checked to make sure everything was ready for the day. Amanda had a tendency to come in, mess up the simplest task, blame Ginny for her own ineptitude, and then leave her to clean up her mistakes. Ginny didn’t understand why her boss bothered showing up, when she could leave the actual work to everyone else. Amanda didn’t even seem to like running the place, let alone being there.

As soon as Amanda’s car roared into the otherwise quiet Greenwich Village street, Ginny grinned and hung up the discarded apron. Alone at last. The best words ever invented for a situation like hers. Even the most positive, happy-go-lucky extrovert needed their solitude after an Amanda encounter.

With her boss out of her hair, Ginny filled and programmed the various machines and stocked the baked goods case with some of the shop’s more popular items. 

At least one thing Amanda said was true. She paid Ginny decently enough to run the shop in her stead. When she’d started there a few years ago, someone else was the middle manager, putting up with Amanda’s crap. As soon as that person left, Amanda had grudgingly promoted Ginny. Despite the fact that Amanda was an entitled brat, she recognized a good worker when she saw one.

The promotion, if Ginny could call it that, had come with a hefty raise, perhaps because Amanda knew it was the only way to compensate someone for putting up with her. At least it was enough to pad Ginny’s savings account and inch her closer to her dream of running her own coffee shop. Her ambition was to emulate her grandfather, who had taught her everything she knew about coffee, baking, and giving the kind of customer service that impacted a community.

Ginny took another moment to appreciate the pre-morning rush quiet. Most people thought she was crazy, but early morning was her favorite time of day. That was when she opened the shop, usually on her own, and prepared everything. Another hour later, a steady stream of commuters walked through that door, ready for the two things she couldn’t wait to give them: coffee and a smile.

She liked to think she was there to help get their day off to a good start, that maybe they would take her chipper, It’s so nice to see you again. I hope you have a fantastic day! with them as they set off to tackle whatever jobs or challenges awaited them during the next eight to twelve hours.

The first customer to arrive everyday was one of her favorites, an artist named Mel who also rose with the sun. She always tipped Ginny a dollar, took her first sip, and said, You’re a goddess of caffeine.

It didn’t get much better than that, as far as Ginny was concerned.

By eight o’clock, she had served up countless coffees and fresh-baked pastries to an array of customers that always gave her a reason to keep smiling. College students, yoga class attendees, even businessmen in expensive suits who went out of their way to get their coffee in the Village just because Coffee Love was special enough to keep them coming back for more.

It was almost time for her favorite of them all. Not that Ginny didn’t adore Mel with her pixie cut hair, thrifted clothing, and easygoing demeanor. Mel always took the sunniest seat by the window and people watched while doodling, and was great to talk to during the downtime. But there was a particular person Ginny looked forward to seeing every day for different reasons. Reasons she would rather keep to herself.

Lilliana Goodwin walked through the front door as if on cue. There was something magical about her slow-mo entrance, from the way the weak November sunlight glowed on the straight strands of dark hair cut in layers around her face, to the way her green eyes drew Ginny’s gaze to hers.

Even if Lilliana was on the phone outside the coffee shop, even if she looked like she was engrossed in an important conversation, she shoved the device in her purse before she walked in, and then she made eye contact and smiled directly at Ginny. Every. Single. Freakin. Day. The shop could have wall-to-wall customers, and Lilliana seemed to only have eyes for Ginny.

Good morning, Lilliana. It’s so nice to see you again! The greeting wasn’t simply automatic for Ginny. She meant it and hoped she didn’t infuse her voice with so much warmth that the other customers took it for... Ginny swallowed and averted her gaze for a moment, but not before she saw Lillian’s smile become a touch smug.

Good morning, Ginny. It’s very nice to see you, too. Her voice was like honey, rich and warm, yet soft and inviting. May I please have my usual today?

Definitely. That was another thing Ginny appreciated—how polite Lilliana was when ordering. Even though she gave off the vibe of a businesswoman in a hurry, especially today in her elegant red blazer and skinny leather pants, she was never in too much of a rush to use courtesy or kind words.

Ginny turned away from Lilliana’s stunning beauty and started working on her order. At first, she’d thought Lilliana was like every other walking dollar sign wearing a tailored suit. New Yorkers had a certain air about them. Rich or poor, fancy or simple, you could tell a native of the city by the confident, sometimes swaggering way they carried themselves. It was a marked contrast to the lack of guile and pretension of a Jersey girl like Ginny.

Lilliana in particular had all the confidence of the Manhattan elite, but there was a softness that tempered her posh appearance. She had the ability to make Ginny feel like she was the only person in the world at the moment. The only one that mattered to Lilliana. Who didn’t want more of that?

The problem was Ginny wanted more of her constantly. Lilliana had gone from customer, ever since she started coming to the shop the previous December, to impossible crush over the course of only a few months.

Ginny topped off Lilliana’s drink with whipped cream and a sprinkle of fragrant cinnamon, and stifled a sigh.

Some things weren’t meant to be. Like a romance between a cash-poor barista who lived in a basement studio apartment and a high-powered executive who probably had a wealthy upper east side pedigree and the entire world at her feet.

Ignoring the dull ache in her chest, Ginny turned to Lilliana with her order and said, Here’s your latte. Extra cinnamon and whipped cream, just for you. I hope you have a wonderful day!

The brush of Lilliana’s fingertips against Ginny’s made her shiver. She would give the woman standing in front of her so much more than cinnamon and whipped cream, if she could. But what would a woman like Lilliana ever want with someone like Ginny?

CHAPTER 2

Lilliana’s fingers closed around the brown and white striped to-go cup, heat seeping into her palms. It was a welcome respite from the late autumn chill outside. Ginny’s face was flushed and a little shiny. It wouldn’t have been appropriate to reach up and push the waves of honey-blonde hair that’d fallen loose from her ponytail away from her face. But Lilliana wanted to.

So badly.

Thank you. It’s nice to have someone who looks out for me. She suppressed the rest of what she wanted to say by taking a sip of the coffee. It burned her tongue, but it was better than blurting out what Lilliana was thinking. Let me be the one who looks out