The Blue City Cafe was west of Twelfth Avenue between Pike and Pine. The old Victorian home had been converted to commercial space as the area changed. The owner of the café had a hunch and she signed a long-term lease. That first year she ran a coffee counter. She waited, she watched, and she figured out that more and more kids were going to be drinking more and more exotic coffees. She traded her Formica coffee counter for cheap oriental rugs, her Folgers and doughnuts for a state-of-the-art espresso machine, homemade cookies and fruit bars. The coffee counter reopened as the Blue City Cafe, with live music on Saturdays. Her sense of where the area was going was pretty much prescient.

      Since then, the cafe had taken over the house. Most of the space had become an over-sized, laid-back living room, with small groupings of sofas, dark oak tables and chairs, exposed fir posts, and fir mullions on the windows. In the back, against the living room wall, Aaron and Maisie were deep in conversation, ignoring their lattes.

      “Come down, Maise,” Aaron was saying.

      “I am down. He knows my real dad.” She sat back. Just saying it gave her a rush. “I mean it.”

      “How?”

      “I don’t know. He just knew things about me. About when I was little.”

      “This is too crazy.”

      “I think it’s like fate, you know. Maybe Jimmy’s a messenger, sent to get me off the twenty-four-seven Olympic treadmill.”

      “And maybe we’re going too fast here.”

      “It wasn’t too fast to get it on with Star.”

      “I was stoned.”

      “Kind of groovin’ on great big breasts, huh?” Maisie smiled when Aaron blushed. She watched him, so pumped about seeing her dad she wasn’t even jealous anymore.

      “C’mon, hey…” He turned away.

      Maisie kissed his neck, his ear, then she whispered, “You are so cool. And I think it’s so awesome, the way we went for it.”

      “Yeah. Yeah, it was…” He turned back, cracking the window, then offering cigarettes. They knew they were violating the no smoking ordinance, but here in the back, it wasn’t often enforced. Aaron lit her Marlboro, then his. “Did you think it was kind of weird, the way Jimmy just watched?”

      “I liked it.” She took a slow drag, remembering. “I think he’s waiting.”

      “Maybe. I guess. What about us?” Aaron asked.

      “We’re good. We’re just experiencing some real life here. It will make us better.”

      “I’d rather be with you than with anyone.”

      “Thank you.” She gently ran her finger along the bright red Z in his hair. Sex made him act older, she was thinking. And after, he always looked good. “Me too.”

      “Maise, we’re doing great, yeah, but here’s the thing—I’m not liking the coke, and I don’t know about Jimmy.” He let the words hang there, met her eyes. “I mean he’s really nice. But there’s something about the guy, the way he’s always out there, like he’s circling or something.”

      Maisie closed her eyes, frustrated. She let go of his hand. “How many adults do you know who aren’t middle class? I mean really know. I’m not talking about the ones who work for your parents.”

      “Some.” He shrugged. “I dunno.”

      “C’mon, Aar. We live in this cocoon. I mean, we are groomed like thoroughbreds and sooo protected. I’ve been prepping for my SATs since the fourth grade. The adults we know actually believe that going to an Ivy matters. My parents check the value of their stock options every day. They worry about getting a window table at Canlis. These people aren’t like that. They’ve done some living. Hard times. Risk taking. Real life.”

      He exhaled smoke through his nose, uncertain. “It’s cool, how easy it is to be with them.”

      “Yeah,” she smiled, liking this better. “And they don’t seem so, I dunno, moralistic. Like Verlaine, always doing the hard thing.”

      “Do you think they actually know your real dad?”

      “Jimmy says he’ll take me to him.”

      “When?”

      “Soon. I think he wants to be sure I won’t tell Verlaine.”

      “Can we talk to anyone about this?”

      “No way.” Maisie mashed her cigarette butt on the open window sill. “Maybe after I meet him. For now, let’s just hang in. Show Jimmy he doesn’t have to worry.”

      “What worries me is that they found you. Maybe meeting Star was no accident.”

      “I’ve been thinking about that, too. “ Maisie waited. “You remember that sixties Italian movie, Theorem, the one Verlaine made us watch with him because it was ‘a game changer.’” Maisie made her what-a-scuz face—eyes wide, lips pursed, tip of her tongue out.

      Aaron grinned. “I do remember the movie. Yeah. Kinda strange but sexy.”

      “That’s the one. Okay. You remember how the guy comes out of nowhere—a mysterious stranger known only as “the visitor”—no money, no family, no past, no nothing. And before he’s done, he gets it on with every member of the family, male and female. And he changes all of their lives. Jimmy and Star remind me of that guy. What if my dad sent them?”

      “It’s possible, I dunno.”

      “What if he did?” And what if her weird life changed for the better because of it? “What if my dad did that?” she asked, again.

      “Maybe he did,” he turned to face her, “but until we know for sure, Maise, let’s go slow. Let’s be careful. I mean it’s okay if you want to be with them, and you can do what you want when it comes to sex—you know that’s our rule. But the coke turns me off.”

      “If you hang in with me, I’ll stay away from the coke. I need you for this. Don’t ruin it.” She touched the nape of his neck, suddenly worried. “Okay?”

      “Okay, yeah.” Aaron turned the thin, gold ring in his left ear. “Hey, there’s Billy.”

      “Will,” she corrected him. She sat up, waved Will over.

      “What’s happening?” Will sat down in a big lounge chair.

      “Real life,” Maisie laughed.

      “Are you high?”

      “Coming down,” Aaron explained.

      “You been at Star’s?”

      “Uh-huh,” Aaron said.

      Will saw their faces change. Maisie was up and in the ladies room before Abe and Corey got through the door.

      “What are you doing here?” Will asked. He was standing, physically separating his parents from his friend.

      “Looking for you,” Corey explained. “How are you, Aaron?”

      “Okay. Yeah. Fine.” Aaron stood, shook hands with Abe. “Gotta check on Maisie. She’s not feeling too hot. Give me a sec?”