AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mom was at Tillie’s Seaside Brews often after work, helping with decor plans and advertising. Dad was there frequently, too, overseeing construction and making sure no one was taking advantage; the lawyer in him didn’t rest. Grace always popped in to help when she was home for the weekend from college. Tino’s was a thing of her past, as the next summer, she’d have a coffee shop to work at. And Dorothy stopped by with Fred on her arm frequently. I could always count on her to sneak mimosas in her purse to help me take the edge off.
I was exhausted and sweaty, but I was also enlivened and impassioned. Things were coming together for a spring launch. And even though starting over was terrifying, things were different this time, too, because I was different. I’d learned and grown from the first Tillie’s. And here, there was a sense of community. The sign had gone up a few days earlier, and people were already buzzing. Perhaps that, too, what had been missing during my first venture.
Community. People I could really count on. My hometown.
My phone was buzzing as well—with calls from Leo. I’d answered the first few times, just to make sure he was okay. He was. He sounded good, even. Tired but, like me, alive again. It hurt. He told me he missed me. I didn’t say it back. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t pretend we could make it work when we couldn’t. So, I stopped answering his calls altogether, which made me feel both guilty and sad. I told myself, though, I needed to stay strong and focused. Voicemail after voicemail after voicemail stayed on my phone untouched. He’d gone, and I was left behind. I’d have to move on, and so would he. It was best for both of us.
I didn’t blame him. He had a life, a dream, a passion to chase on his own that certainly wasn’t in Ocean City. I’d known from the moment I heard his voice that falling for him was a terrible idea—and my mother was right, even though I’d never say that out loud. Still, the summer of connection and adventure, of picking myself up had convinced me things could work. But a coffee shop owner in a beach town and a London boy with millions screaming his name—how would that ever be possible?
I wasn’t good enough for him, just as I’d feared. I could never be good enough for him. I was a regular girl, and he was the superstar. We weren’t meant to be.
I’d cried a lot those first few weeks. The emptiness without him made me realize how much I’d come to depend on him, lean on him, and love him. I’d loved him. As ridiculous as it was, in a summer, I’d fallen in love like the movie cliché. But he was gone, I had a business to run, and I didn’t have time for heartbreak. So, I’d vowed to shut things off with him, to ignore his calls, and to move on. Once Tillie’s Seaside Brews got up and running, I’d pay back the loan I owed him, and that would be that. Case closed. Leo Turner would be just a summer song that was fun to sing but was a one-hit wonder.
Still, when you’re getting over a popstar, it’s never quite easy. I’d be in the grocery store line and see him on the cover of magazines. I’d turn on the television, and there he was, singing on the morning show. He was everywhere. On the nights when sheer exhaustion from painting, decorating, and ordering coffee supplies didn’t wipe me out immediately, I’d stare at my childhood bedroom ceiling wondering if any of it really happened, if I’d just dreamed it all up.
And on those nights, I’d let myself cry just a few tears, thinking about the soft, kind man who had opened my heart up to love and to chasing my dreams again. The truth was, no matter how much I wanted him to just be a summer song, a blip on my radar, he would always be more than that. He’d be the man who helped me find myself again. And how do you just move on from that?
Chapter Forty-Seven
The worst thing about opening a new business? The exhaustion. The sheer, unquantifiable exhaustion from the stress and decisions you must make.
The best thing for me about opening Tillie’s Seaside Brews? The exhaustion made it almost impossible to think about Leo. Almost.
He still called every now and then. I still didn’t respond. Better to rip off the band-aid and not think about it. It was better for us both to move on. Still, it wasn’t easy. I missed him. My heart ached to talk to him or to go to one of the little places that had become our haunts—the places that haunted me when I passed by them. I longed to see if he was okay.
But the stubborn streak in me stayed strong. He’d left. I needed to focus on my business, something I hadn’t done with Brad. I needed to keep my focus where it belonged.
With the biting winds of fall and winter moving in and the boardwalk closed for the season, I hunkered down in my business and worked on all sorts of finishing touches to prepare for opening day. We planned a soft launch for after the holiday season, hoping to attract the locals for a business base and to put last touches on some of our processes. I was spending every waking minute in the renovated building, pouring my heart and soul into the business. It felt great.
I leaned on the counter observing everything I’d accomplished when the bells rang on the front door. I turned, expecting to see Dorothy with mimosas hidden in her purse; she stopped by frequently to keep me company and to offer a hand. I’d even offered her a part-time position a few days a week helping at the coffee bar. She’d accepted, saying she was happy to have somewhere to wear her red lipstick to.
But when I turned to ask Dorothy how her breakfast date with Fred had been, I froze. Because just like the first time I’d seen him standing in the doorway at Tino’s, confusion ravaged my brain as I took in the sight of a mysterious, strange man. This one, however, didn’t have the beard, and his hair wasn’t entrapped by a hat. He was Leo Turner, in the flesh. And he was staring at me with a look in his eyes I realized I’d missed.
I didn’t move. In fact, I didn’t say anything. I just kept wiping the counter, not exactly starstruck—after all, I’d spent the entire summer with him. I kissed him. I’d fallen for him. It was more of a shock in general that he was there, in my business. That he’d come back.
He walked closer to me, looking at the place. “You did it,” he said. “You really did it.”
