Riley looked at her as though she was crazy, but slid the piece of paper into her pocket anyway.
“You’d better get back to work,” she said, raising her eyebrow as she looked over Ally’s shoulder. “Before my dad cracks the whip.”
Ally turned to see what Riley was staring at, and sure enough, Nate was watching them both from where he stood at the counter. Ally couldn’t quite fathom the expression on his face.
“Yeah I had,” Ally agreed, standing up and grabbing what was left of her drink. “But I meant what I said. Call me if you need a friend. Day or night.”
“Yo no entiendo,” Riley said, offering her a ghost of a smile.
“Your Spanish is better than your spinning,” Ally said, shooting her a grin. And for the first time, Riley smiled back.
7
“Hey big brother. How’s it going?” Nate’s sister, Kirsten asked. Nate balanced his phone between his shoulder and his ear and glanced at his watch. It was almost seven in the morning – which made it ten in Boston, where Kirsten was studying for her law degree. “Is the new addition to your empire looking good?”
He smiled and leaned on the counter. The coffee shop was due to open in twenty minutes. From the corner of his eye, he could see an old tattered box one of the subcontractors found at the back of the kitchen in one of the cupboards they hadn’t remodeled. He’d put it to the side and forgotten about it until now. He’d been about to throw it away when a photograph had fallen out and he’d recognized those familiar blue eyes staring back at him.
“It’s early days, but it’s going well so far.”
“And how about you?” Kirsten asked. “Are you enjoying the Californian lifestyle? Have you taken up surfing yet?”
“Not quite. I’m too busy working in the coffee shop for that.”
“I thought you had a manager. Weren’t you planning on working from home as much as you could?” Kirsten sounded confused. “You know, to spend more time with Riley?”
“Yeah, but I’m helping out too. Plus Riley seems to like it here.” After that first day of frowning from the moment she’d walked through the door, Riley had stopped complaining about having to come to Déjà Brew every day after school. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying it.
And she’d been spending a lot of time with Ally, he’d noticed.
Nate liked it here, too. He enjoyed sitting at a corner table with his laptop. Liked the atmosphere, the sound of the waves as they crashed against the shore.
And, yeah, he might have liked watching a certain manageress as she served the customers.
“Don’t the staff find it intimidating having you there all the time?” Kirsten asked him.
Nate frowned. “Why would they?”
“Because you own the company. They must feel like they have to be constantly on their best behavior.”
“You think so?” He wasn’t sure what to make of that. “I really don’t think I’m that scary.”
He frowned, thinking for a minute. The staff always seemed happy to see him. Brad had called him over when he came in yesterday to show him his new latte art, grinning like crazy when Nate had complimented him on it.
And Ally didn’t seem to mind at all that he came in every afternoon. She was all smiles whenever he walked into the shop, and he had to admit he liked that a lot.
Here in Angel Sands he felt like another member of the team. That made him feel welcome. He couldn’t remember the last time people had treated him like a friend rather than a boss.
“It depends how grumpy you are with them,” Kirsten teased. “Hopefully not too much. Talking of which, how’s Riley settling in?”
“Not too bad,” Nate admitted. “I think she only screamed at me four times last week.” And that was a massive improvement on the week before. “She’s made a few friends at her new school, too.” Another reason why he liked dropping into the shop. He’d pretend to be busy behind the counter, but seeing his daughter smile as she spoke to Ally made his heart swell about three sizes bigger.
Riley had the prettiest smile when she remembered to use it. He could barely recall the last time he’d seen it, but now she was cracking it out every day.
“Wow. Maybe California is good for the both of you. There’s something about that sea air.”
As much as he hated to admit it, there was definitely something about Angel Sands. He smiled to himself when he remembered Lorne’s words of wisdom back on his first day renovating the shop. What was it he’d said?
Once this place has its hooks in you, you’ll never want to leave.