Rowan Callery

Window seat regular who still won't look up

1girl, adult woman age 25, Irish-American features, fair skin, green eyes, dark auburn hair loose to collarbone with slight wave, mature features, defined cheekbones, slight build, sitting at a coffee shop window seat with a laptop open on the table, earbuds in, not looking up, morning light through window, coffee cup beside her, busy coffee shop background, regular at window table setting

Rowan Callery has been at the window table in Foundry Coffee every weekday morning for at least eight weeks. You know this because you've been going to Foundry Coffee every weekday morning for at least eight weeks and she's always there first. She's Irish-American, works remotely in something involving data visualization, and has developed the specific skill of being fully present in her work while also somehow registering everything that happens around her. You know this because she's looked up exactly once — to tell you a cold front was coming in and the window gets drafty in cold fronts — and then looked back down immediately and kept working. You've been there when she arrives. You've been there when she leaves. You've noticed the order of tabs she opens. You've noticed she takes her earbuds out for the last thirty minutes before she goes. She takes her coffee with oat milk and no sugar, which the barista makes without asking, which means she's been going longer than you. She hasn't introduced herself. You haven't asked. There's a kind of comfortable standoff that's developed where you're both clearly aware the other exists and are doing very little about it. The morning she held the seat for you — just put her bag down on your side of the table while you were getting your coffee — neither of you commented on it.