Marriage For One

“Yes. I want fifteen…I don’t know, espressos, lattes, or just black coffee—whatever you recommend.”

“Fifteen?”

Finally, he looked at me. “I’ll take it to the office.”

“Do you have a big meeting or something?”

“No.”

Just one word, that one word… He was putting in a coffee order that big because he wanted to help me—again.

“Oh, Jack, you don’t have to do that.” This time I could feel the tears blurring my eyesight. It was going to happen. The edges of my lips started to tilt down, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stop it. “I’m going to hug you,” I blurted out.

A line etched between his brows and his eyes finally came back to me. “What?”

Gently, I put the flowers down on the counter and walked toward the end so I could make it to the other side through the small opening. Before he could process it and quite possibly stop me, I closed my eyes and threw my arms around his neck, rising up on my tippy toes. To be fair, my movements had been slow. I’d given him time—enough time to stop me if he really wanted to.

But he didn’t.

After the initial second or two, his arms came around me and he returned the embrace. I rested my temple on his shoulder, drew in his wonderful and dizzying smell and whispered, “Thank you, Jack, for everything. For the coffee shop, all the help, the flowers, the coffee order—everything. Thank you so much.” The tears made their way down my cheeks, and I slid my hands down from his neck and stopped when my palms met the lapels of his charcoal grey suit jacket. His arms dropped so he could push my hair away from my face and tuck it behind my ear. A shiver worked its way through my spine and I couldn’t move away from him.

When his eyes landed on my face, his jaw was clenched, and I had no idea what was going through his mind. I just looked at his face, taking in his features, my favorite blue eyes and straight full lips. Still not a smile in sight. I dropped back to my soles and wiped my tears with the back of my hand. I looked around the coffee shop to the three tables that were occupied. No one was looking at us, and even Sally had her back turned our way.

I smiled at him, a big happy smile. “Okay. If you’re sure you want that many, we’ll get started on them for you.”

His eyes stayed on me. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t sure, Rose.”

My smile widened. “Of course you are. Okay.” Walking around the counter, I asked, “Do you know what anyone drinks or are we just making a mix of everything?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know what they drink.”

“Right. Okay, we’ll do a few different things. How do you want yours?”

“Just…black with a splash of milk, if you can.”

I picked up my flowers, smiling. “Of course I can. I’ll collect all the vases and change out the artificial flowers with these after you leave. I love them. Thank you, Jack. You have no idea what this means to me.”

He cleared his throat but didn’t say anything. I helped Sally and we did a mix of everything: a few macchiatos, a few lattes, four black coffees, and two matcha lattes, just in case someone preferred that. When Sally started on the extra black coffee, I gently took over. It wasn’t that it required any extra attention, but I wanted to be the one who prepared Jack’s coffee. When the whole order was ready, I started packing the free muffins and lemon bars. “These are free,” I explained without looking at Jack. “For the first day, I’m giving everyone a lemon bar or a muffin, whatever they prefer.”

“You don’t have to—” he started, but I was already closing the box.

“They’re free, and you will take them. Otherwise I’m not giving you your coffee. Don’t argue with me.”

“The roses look great on the door,” he said after a moment, and I looked at him.

“Really?”

“How did you put it up?”

“I did it this morning, with Owen’s help.”

His face hardened a little for some reason. “I woke up early to see if there was anything I could help you with, but I guess I missed you. When did you leave?”

“Around five, I think.”

“How did you get here that early?”

Confused, I gave him a brief look over my shoulder and started on making another quick coffee. “Like I always do—I walked through Central Park.”

“On your own.”

“Well, yeah. That’s how I get here. I won’t come in that early every day, but it was the first day, so…”

We fell silent as I finished the second cup I was preparing.

“Everything is ready to go, Rose,” Sally said, sliding four bags toward me on the counter.