WARREN - In comfy wicker seats at a two-person table, an older couple reads the newspaper, looking up from a half-folded page to chat with a neighbor. A pair of old friends sip tea, nod to each other and speak in half-sentences. Along the back wall, a group of new friends talk excitedly, while busy moms hover over their youngsters occupied at tables with coloring books and juice.

Although its name conjures up the image of an old railroad station, The Coffee Depot on Main Street is hardly a transient hang-out. Instead, it's often where connections are made and friendships brewed among folks who might otherwise not have met.

That's especially true for co-owner Steve Lake of Bristol, who met his new bride, Lauren, one week after buying into the business in September, 2002.

For Steve Lake and Lauren Page,a cup of coffee at The Coffee Depot was the beginning of a romance that led to marriage. PHOTO BY RICHARD W. DIONNE JR.

Mr. Lake, 45, a native of Virginia, who moved to Bristol four years ago, had just become a partner in the enterprise and was getting his feet wet behind the counter when in walked Lauren Page, a blond, Warwick native who had returned from the West Coast to help a friend in Touisset with a carpentry job.

"It all started with lattes and turkey wraps," said Mr. Lake, thinking back a little more than a year before.

"Then we started talking about music," Ms. Lake, 40, recalled. That conversation led to an invitation. Mr. Lake asked her out to hear some live music at Common Fence Point in Portsmouth.

"But I didn't know it was a date," Ms. Lake said. A group of friends who were also supposed to attend the concert didn't show up. After that, things moved fairly fast. Soon after the date (that may or may not have been a date), Ms. Lake postponed a possible move back West. In spring, 2003, Mr. Lake proposed.

The wedding was last August, a picture perfect summer day, and was held in the small garden at the back of Mr. Lake's home in Bristol. The justice of the peace, Frank Camara, who married the pair, was a Coffee Depot customer who actually counseled couples at the Main Street shop who were thinking about marrying.

For a wedding gift, Paul Kenyon, a part-time Coffee Depot employee, gave them a four-night stay at his sister's bed and breakfast in Maine for a honeymoon. Kim Trusty, a frequent performer at The Coffee Depot, sang a song at the wedding.

"Everyone who had a significant hand in our wedding had some connection to The Coffee Depot," Mr. Lake said.

"The best thing about becoming involved in The Coffee Depot, with all the ups and downs associated with a new business, is that I met Lauren," he said with a smile.

The couple plans to stay in the area as Ms. Lake works on her growing interior and furniture design business and together they work on starting a family.

By Michele K. Corcoran

mcorcoran@eastbaynewspapers.com