“I’m not doing it for you.”
“You keep telling yourself that. You’re hating it all the way, but you’re starting to get used to me.” When his steady gaze became too unsettling to return, I gave him a weird wave, mumbled something like, “Have a good day at work,” then rushed back into the coffee shop.
My cheeks slightly flushed—maybe from the cold outside, or maybe because of Jack’s gaze on me—I made it back to Sally’s side. When the thing that was fluttering wildly inside my chest became too much to ignore, I looked back outside to see Jack standing on the curb and looking inside.
Had I really just kissed him and lingered? And then run away like a school girl?
I thought my cheeks flushed even more, so to forget all about it, I started to collect all the little vases on the tables, took my roses into the kitchen, and started on making my coffee shop even more lively and beautiful with a big, permanent smile on my face.
When the clock hit seven PM, I was drained. I was happy, but the excitement had gotten to me. Owen had left right after lunch when he was done with his work, and Sally had left just half an hour ago. We had sold well over fifty cups of coffee, crushing my goals. It’d been just a bit over the one hundred mark, actually.
A knock on the door made me stop what I was doing, which was getting the last few bits of baked goods into containers and then in the fridge. I’d dimmed the lights in the coffee shop right after Sally left and had flipped the open sign to closed, as well as locking up. Holding the doorframe, I peeked toward the door. When I saw Jack standing in the rain, I put the brownie plate down and ran to the front of the coffee shop.
“Jack, what are you doing here?” I asked as soon as I opened the door. “It’s raining.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
I took a deep breath to keep myself from rolling my eyes at him. “You should’ve called from the car so I could open the door for you.”
“I did, actually, but you didn’t answer.”
I winced and just stood in front of him, not sure what to do now that he was standing right in front of me and we were alone. “I’m sorry, it’s in my bag. I haven’t checked it the entire day. But, still, I didn’t expect to see you here.” I watched him as he ran his hand through his wet hair, somehow making it look like the rain had styled it for him—whereas the minute I stepped out into that rain, I knew I was going to look like a drowned rat.
“Right, because it’s not like I’m here every night,” he said before looking around the shop. Apparently that was all the explanation he was ready to give. “Are you going to let me in, or do you want me to stay out in the cold?”
“Oh, shoot, come in. Sorry.” I opened the door wider and he stepped in. “Since you came in this morning, I thought maybe you’d skip the pickup today.” I smiled as he brushed off the rain from the arms of his coat.
“Looks like I didn’t.” I just stared at him. “Ready to leave?” he asked, eyes coming back to me.
“You’re really gonna make me ask?”
Distractedly, he kept brushing rain off of his coat as his forehead creased. “Ask me what?”
I raised my brows. “The coffee, the lemon bar? Did everyone like it? More importantly, did you even eat it? Did you like it?”
I waited with bated breath, which was stupid. Almost all the customers had commented on how much they’d loved everything—the space, the coffee, the food, the roses outside. Even so, hearing what Jack thought felt important. I cared.
He finally stopped messing with his coat and took a good look at me. “Everyone loved it.”
“That’s all you’re going to give me? Are you being serious?”
The creases on his forehead got deeper. “I’m always being serious.”
I laughed. “Yes, yes you are. I think you loved it, but you’re just too proud to say it out loud.” I didn’t give him an opportunity to answer. “Do you mind sitting and waiting for a few minutes? I need to do a few more things in the kitchen, but after that we can leave. I can make you a coffee for while you wait?” My eyes still on him, I started backing away toward the kitchen.
With his coat still on, he pulled up the closest chair and sat down, his eyes on me. “I’m good. You go take care of whatever you need to take care of.”
I gave him another overly bright smile and disappeared through the doorway. Grabbing the brownie plate from the counter, I raised my voice so he could hear me.