Marriage For One

“So you have no problem with this, then? I really like working with you, and I won’t risk that for a guy, but if it’s okay with you, I might go for it one of these days.”

How the hell was I supposed to decide on something like this? “As long as it doesn’t affect your work, I think I’m okay with it? You sure about this, though? I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable if he isn’t interested.” It probably wasn’t one of my finest ideas, but I didn’t know how to say no. I was still a romantic at heart, despite my own marital status.

“Oh, no. He isn’t ready yet. I’m gonna have to work on him little by little, which is the fun part, to be honest.” She gave me a blinding smile, bouncing twice on her feet. “Okay, I’ll go wash my hands and unload the last batch of coffee cups then get everything else ready.”

Before I could say okay, she was already back in the kitchen, her eyes lingering on Owen as she walked past him.

If I wanted something real with Jack, would I have to work on him little by little? Not that it didn’t sound fun. But would I even want to complicate things like that? He wasn’t the romantic type; he was a whole different type of his own. Sure, he was my husband, but that was all just an act, nothing more, and the erection…well, I thought it was pretty much involuntary when kissing someone. He didn’t have a special erection for me. It wasn’t a special erection.

There was a hard knock on the glass door that jolted me out of my thoughts and I turned to find a young guy, maybe in his early twenties, looking inside the coffee shop with a huge bouquet of roses in his arms.

With a big grin blooming across my face, I rushed to the door and unlocked it, the cold air hitting my cheeks a refreshing welcome after all my thoughts of Jack Hawthorne and his not-so-special erection.

“Rose Hawthorne?” the guy asked. He was bundled in a blue jacket and was jumping in place, presumably to keep warm.

“Yes, that’s me.” I could barely keep my hands to myself as he checked something on his notepad then finally handed me the flowers wrapped in brown paper, but there was no note. “Who are they from?”

“It says Jack Hawthorne.”

The grin still going strong on my face, I hugged them to my chest then signed where he was pointing at.

“Have a good day,” he offered before running back to the white van that was apparently waiting for him.

“You too!” I shouted, waving even though he wasn’t looking back.

I pushed the door closed with my hip and locked it back up, my eyes on the roses as I made my way back toward the kitchen and Sally appeared in the doorway.

“Did I hear a kno—oh, Rose! Look at them!”

I was. I was looking and trying to contain the smile on my face while also trying to ignore the lightness I was feeling in my heart.

“They are gorgeous,” I mumbled, almost to myself, as I touched a few rosebuds. This week there were pinkish purple and white roses.

“Okay, I’m officially in love with your husband. He is too cute.”

I laughed, feeling all happy from head to toe. “He doesn’t like it when people think he is cute, but yeah, I wholeheartedly agree.” Still smiling, I looked around the coffee shop. Some of the roses he had brought in the previous week were still going strong, but I had switched the ones that had started fading with fake ones just half an hour earlier. I was going to switch them all out for the fresh ones.

“Do you want me to help?” Sally asked, leaning in to smell the roses.

I didn’t know why I was feeling protective, but I wanted to handle the roses myself and only barely stopped myself from snatching them away from her nose. As stupid as it sounded, I tried not to think about it too much. They were all mine.

“No, I got it, but can you gather the fake ones and bring the mini vases to the back so I can change them all out?”

“Of course.”

It took me ten minutes to have them all out on the tables, and the remaining twelve were set on the counter next to the cash register so I could constantly see them and maybe put a little smile on the faces of my customers too. Placing the last one on the table in front of the bookshelf, I reached for my back pocket and took out my phone. We still had eight minutes before I would unlock the doors and welcome our first customers.

Not wanting to wait any longer, I quickly typed a text.