“I thought maybe you weren’t over him yet and that was why tonight was more difficult.”
“Trust me, I’m over him. I got over him pretty quickly, considering. Tonight wasn’t difficult, Jack. I’m not a stranger to awkward dinners. Tonight was…just a first. That’s all. It was our first dinner, too, and I actually think we did a pretty good job, don’t you agree? Still, I think we should work on getting to know each other a little bit, just talk about random stuff. The next one should go down better. Also, I thought you’d be distant when we were around other people—that’s why I was surprised when you touched me…so much.” She peered at the door. “Aren’t you gonna open it?”
She still had my jacket on. “The key is in your right pocket,” I replied, reaching for it before she could do it herself. She froze when my hand slid into the pocket and inadvertently touched her body through the lining. I stopped when my fingers touched the keys and met her startled eyes. We stood exactly like that as I slowly pulled the keys out. Her throat moved as she swallowed, and she looked away first, laughing awkwardly.
Unlocking the door, I stood back so she could enter. Inside, after taking off her shoes, she slid my jacket from her shoulders and handed it back to me. “Thank you.” She avoided my eyes, and I realized I didn’t like it.
“You’re welcome.” I took it off her hands and neither one of us walked away from each other.
I thought she looked beautiful with her hair down and a little messy, her lips bare and her eyes still sparkling. I was heading straight for trouble if I was noticing the details.
She smiled a little. “Well, do you think we should—”
My phone started ringing in my hand and she paused mid-sentence. Dragging my eyes away from her lips as her smile slowly faded, I looked down at the screen and my entire body tightened. Ignoring the call, I looked up at Rose. “I need to take this. It’s about work and I might need to drop by the office for a bit.”
“Now? At this hour?”
I clenched my jaw. “I’m afraid so.”
“Okay then. I hope it’s not something too important.”
“We’ll see. If I don’t see you around when I come back… Goodnight, Rose.”
Riding the elevator down, I put my jacket back on and tried not to lose it. When I was back in the lobby, the doorman rose again.
“Good evening,” I said, trying my best not to sound angry.
He looked startled for a second, making me feel even worse, but then gave me a quick smile and nodded. “Good evening, sir.”
Before I could step out of the building, my phone started to go off again. Anger surged through my body and my fingers tightened around the phone. I had known I would eventually hear from him, but hadn’t thought it would happen so soon.
Finding the cold bite of the air refreshing, I took a deep breath and caught a whiff of Rose’s scent from my jacket. With her smell surrounding me, cursing myself, I answered the call.
“What the hell do you want?”
“How nice of you to ask. I think we need to have a talk, Jack. I imagine we have a lot of things to say to each other.”
I gritted my teeth. “When?”
“How about now? Do you think you can get away from your beautiful bride for a late-night drink?”
“Tell me where.”
He was just a few blocks away from us, the son of a bitch also known as Joshua Landon. Rose’s ex-fiancé. Had he watched Rose and I as we returned from dinner? Livid, as soon as I ended the call, I headed toward the bar where he was waiting.
Chapter Eight
Rose
I had known the last few days leading up to Monday, my opening day, would be hectic and maybe not so easy, and I wasn’t wrong. If Jack hadn’t been dropping by to pick me up, I would’ve probably ended up sleeping on the floor inside the coffee shop just so I could make sure everything was ready. But, Jack…he had been…Jack was…a whole other subject.
I had deemed Friday the second biggest day next to the opening day. It was the day the coffee shop’s sign was going to go up and all the people of New York would be able to see it.
The black and white striped awnings had been installed around noon, and the sign was up only a few hours after that. I might have shed a few happy tears looking up at that thing.
Around the Corner Coffee Shop.
I knew I was officially freaking out about the opening when I started making lists for everything I could think of: what kind of freshly made sandwiches I would prepare, the first week’s pastry menu, the first day’s pastry menu…the lists just went on and on. While I was happily busy with all of that, a slow drizzle of rain had started, a pretty soundtrack in the background. As much as some people hated winter in New York, I loved it.
Jack showed up earlier than his usual time. I wasn’t surprised to see him when he showed up anymore, and it felt normal to have him in the space. I was looking forward to it even. It was the first time I’d realized I was starting to enjoy his grumpy company. It’d been three weeks since he had returned from London and started to come around every night. That was a lot of help I hadn’t expected to have, and I thought somewhere along the way something had changed between us.
This time, before he could ask me, I asked for his help as soon as he stepped over the threshold.
“Good, you’re here. Can you help me put the custom decals up on the windows?”
He hesitated only for a moment, as if he was surprised. “Sure. Why not? I’m here anyway,” he said at last, as if he wasn’t there specifically to help me. As he took off his coat and then suit jacket, I settled in for my daily show: the sleeve roll-up. And what a show it was, every single night. You’d think it would get repetitive, but no. Just no.
“Slow day at work?” I asked after wiping the invisible drool from the side of my mouth. He took the word Around from my waiting hands and climbed up the ladder until he could reach the top left corner of the window facing north.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re here early.”
“I was in the neighborhood, had a quick meeting with an old client, so I thought I’d drop by.”
I smiled up at him, but he wasn’t looking at me. “You seem to have so many meetings around here. There was another one the other day, right?” He frowned down at me, but before he could say anything, I pushed forward. “Anyway, as I keep saying every time you’re here, I appreciate the help.”
“I can see that.” He opened his palm, waiting for me to give him the next decal.
I sighed. “I marked where that’s gonna go.”
He didn’t reply or even acknowledge that I’d spoken, but placed the exactly where I’d marked for it to go.
I took a deep breath. “So, how are you, Rose?” I started. “I’ve been pretty busy with work these last few days, and so have you. How are you? Did you manage to get a good night’s sleep last night? Are you excited about the opening?”
Then I answered myself. “Aww, thank you so much for asking, Jack. I have a killer headache right now, but I can’t complain too much. I did manage to sleep the entire night last night, thank you very much for asking. It was one of the very few good sleeps I’ve had since moving in with you. I guess you went back to your office again last night—how late did you get in? I think I was fast asleep. Also, did you have a good day at work today?”