I am not her - Mint (5.)

For a moment, Michael seemed surprised by Anna's reaction. It almost seemed as if he had forgotten what had happened between them, or there was another possibility, and the more likely one was that he simply didn't want to remember, which would be in keeping with his nature. Since every time he did something, whatever it was he always hammered on until the last second. Anna always felt like punching him for it, and she still does.

The man smiled at her with his typical smile that she had previously found irresistible, calling it twisted in her mind.

"Dad, do you and Aunt Anna know each other?" Julie shouted, making the shop owner flinch slightly, and she wasn't the only one. The girl still standing next to her jerked as well, but Anna barely registered it. Her gaze flicked to the little naughty girl who stood opposite her father, looking like an angry devil. Michael seemed unfazed by his daughter's behavior.     

"Yes, sweetheart, this is Anna." He looked down at his daughter without stopping looking so cheerful. "That's the girl I've been telling you so much about," he finished, picking the little princess up in his arms again and walking her over to Anna, whose damn heart skipped a beat again and the soft scent of aftershave hit her nose.

Still the same, she thought. She'd never been able to define the scent, until now. Peppermint, she realized suddenly. The scent had been so inviting to her then.

Damn it, pull yourself together, Anna Zejn! She cursed herself mentally and squeezed the cane harder in her fingers, that is, as hard as she could.

"And how are you since we haven't seen each other?" To Anna's misfortune, Michael had taken his seat in the shop and Julie was flitting between the shelves, picking out books because it turned out she'd rather have all the picture books, which she couldn't pass up. But she was allowed to borrow two books instead of one. So now she was flitting around like a little tramp, carrying them to her coffee table, figuring she'd choose later.

"Okay," Anna replied while looking around to see if anyone needed anything. Surprisingly enough, the shop was quite full today, and almost everyone was sipping coffee, which a girl who introduced herself as Andrea helped Anna deliver. The shop owner was incredibly grateful to her for that.  She promised the girl that today, whatever she ordered would be on the house. She knew that if Andrea hadn't been here, she would have had to deliver it herself and then she wouldn't have avoided the questions Michael would have asked.

"Dad, can I have this one, too?" Anna was snapped out of her thoughts by the cheerful voice of Julie, who came running out of the back where they had the children's book area.

Anna looked down at the book that was being held in the children's hands. At that moment her breath caught for a second.

"Ah, your favorite story. No, sorry, second favorite!" Michael was just paying attention to his daughter, giving Anna room to calm down. Oh God, help! she muttered to herself, as Julie was currently holding the book the young woman had given her daughter just before...