“You are? What color?”
“A light yellow. With all the natural light coming in from the windows, I thought it’d look nice.”
I tried to envision what he was describing. “I agree. Anything will look better than that dark gray you have.”
“It wasn’t my choice, either. When I bought the house, I wasn’t in the mood to do any work to it, but now I am. If you’re not busy, I thought you could come with me to pick out a color before I get started.”
“Is this your way of roping me into helping you paint your dining room?” I joked since he already knew I would.
Solomon shrugged and pulled up in front of my café. “I mean, I wouldn’t object if you offered.”
I laughed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, and yes, I’ll help you.”
“Pick out a color or paint?”
I shot him a wide grin as any thoughts about Paul and sauerkraut disappeared. “Both.”
“Perfect. I’ll text you later.”
“Great. Oh, and Erin wanted me to tell you hi.”
After leaving Solomon’s car, I entered the café and was pleasantly surprised to see the small line that’d formed. When I opened The Coffee Bean a little over a year ago, I had aspirations to provide the townsfolk with good, quality coffee and offer a few people employment. Paying my bills from the income would be a bonus, too. Fortunately, it’d surpassed my expectations, and the positive word of mouth was bringing in new faces every week.
“Solomon says hi,” I told Erin as I breezed past her to wash my hands behind the counter.
She and Chad were handling the line with ease, but I tried to step in and help as much as possible until other duties pulled me away. They didn’t say a word as I took up a post behind the pastry case to fill those orders. Erin rang up the customers, and Chad made the drinks, and we worked like a well-oiled machine until the line was gone.
Once that was finished, I helped Chad and Erin while they took turns with their lunch breaks, and then I retreated to my office to catch up on some paperwork. It was only then that I took out my phone and noticed I had a missed message from Paul.
Paul: I’m sorry about lunch. I arrived late and saw you getting chummy with some other guy, so I figured you weren’t interested anymore.
I gasped when I read his message. Was he kidding me right now? First, he was late. Second, he ordered extra sauerkraut. And third, I was talking to my best friend, and he would’ve known that if he were there on time.
I thought hard about a way to respond to him, but the longer I sat there, the more my irritation increased. Finally, I reined in my anger as I typed out my response.
Me: If you would have stopped by the table to pick up the lunch I bought you, you would’ve known that he was my best friend, Solomon. My interest in you wasn’t lost until you stood me up.
After pressing the button to send the message, I immediately blocked his account because I had nothing else to say to him, and I didn’t give a damn about any excuse he’d give me for a reply.
I set my phone down on the desk and wiggled the mouse around to wake my computer. I had plenty of work to do to keep me busy, and the last thing I needed to worry about was someone who ate sauerkraut for lunch and was terrible at communication.
But the lunch hour wasn’t a complete bust. I ate a delicious sandwich, and I got to spend a little unscheduled time with my best friend. So being stood up aside, it wasn’t too terrible. But maybe it was a sign from the dating Gods that I needed to take the break I’d mentioned to Solomon. Or I needed to find a new pond to fish in because I threw back all the fish that were biting.
I needed to stop dwelling on it, though, and get to work. The paperwork wouldn’t do itself, and I wasn’t going to stay later than usual because I was allowing my mind to wander. I had better things to do, and none of them included working into the wee hours of the morning. And with that thought in mind, I clicked open a file and got to work—leaving all thoughts about sauerkraut and fishing poles behind.
Four
Solomon
“What do you think about this one?” I asked as I pointed to a paint sample on the wall.
Brody peered at it and crinkled his nose. “It’s way too bright. Your dining room would look like it was colored in Hi-Liter.”
I rolled my eyes even though he did have a point and looked at the various shades of yellow, again.
“How about this one?” he suggested.
I stroked my chin as I studied the color he indicated. “It’s very pale.”
“It’s subtle and will look nice without being overbearing. Especially since the room has that big window, and the space is a bit larger.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” a woman said from beside me, “but your husband is right.”
I turned my head to see a middle-aged woman with her hair pulled back in a ponytail hovering beside me. “Oh, he’s—” I started to correct her when he cut me off.
“Thank you,” he said with an exaggerated tone before turning toward me. “Did you hear that? I’m right.”
I threw up my hands in mock surrender. “Fine. We’ll go with your choice.”
“Thank you for your help, ma’am,” Brody said, giving her a wide smile.
“Of course! Always happy to help out when I can. Your room will be lovely in that color.”
I grabbed the paint sample and carried it to the counter so the man working could mix up two gallons for me. Brody grabbed a few disposable pans, paint rollers, tape, brushes, and some mixing sticks and laid them all on the counter.
“Why didn’t you correct her?” I asked when the man disappeared to grab my paint.
Brody shrugged. “No point. It’d only lead to making her feel bad for assuming, which in turn would become a weird conversation. It was easier that way.”
He had a point. “I’m anxious to see how this will look. I got the kind that has primer already in it, so we don’t need to worry about that.”
“What’s this we?”
“I thought you were going to help me paint.”
Brody pursed his lips. “Fine, but you’re buying me dinner.”
“I already planned on it,” I said with an eye roll.
“Pizza?”
“With extra pepperoni.”
“You drive a hard bargain. How can I say no to extra pepperoni?”
“I know. Why do you think I went straight for the big guns?”
Brody snorted. “You’ve got big guns, all right.”
“Flattery won’t get you out of helping me paint.”
“It was worth a shot. But I guess if I get pizza with extra pepperoni out of the deal, it won’t be too bad.”
The associate returned with the paint, and after ringing everything up, we left the store. “At least it’s only one room and not the entire house.”
“About that…” I joked.
“No way. I only agreed to one room.”
“I was kidding. The rest of the house is fine. I just didn’t like that gray. And with you helping me, it’ll get done much quicker.”