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I shut the car door without acknowledging him further. Even if he senses something is up, he won’t pry. He will leave it alone and not push me anymore on the matter, even if his curiosity is piqued even more.
• • •
A few days later, I walk into the coffee shop, the aroma of the roasting coffee beans overpowers my senses. Man, I love that smell. Glancing around the busy room, I roam over the faces of each patron, looking for that one familiar face. I spot a small group sitting together laughing. Another guy sits alone, typing furiously on his laptop. Finally, my gaze lands on one I recognize, Abbey. I know I said we should start over on a friendly note, but I can’t help the jolt of excitement that sparks within me when I see her. I take the opportunity to watch her without her noticing. I admire her profile. The way her nose slightly turns up at the end and how her cheeks bones are pronounced. She’s striking, and a longing to touch her settles right in the center of my chest.
“Hey, big brother,” a voice pulls me from my thoughts.
When I look to my left, Drew and Rosie are there, bright smiles on their faces. I return their greeting with a smile of my own. Rosie leans in for a quick, tight hug, and I reciprocate without hesitation. She has become like a little sister to me. “Hey, guys. I just got here, too,” I tell them.
“I saw Abbey across the room when we walked in,” Rosie says as she points in the direction, I was just looking. At that moment, Abbey chooses to look up. Spotting us, she lifts her hand in a small wave. Our eyes lock, and even from this distance, I can see a light shade of pink creep over her cheeks. I give her a small smile, and the three of us wind our way through the tables to reach her. When we get to Abbey, she stands up, hugging Rosie and Drew. She turns to me and gives me a bright, timid smile before sitting back down.
“I can’t believe I got here before all of you. I’m never the first one,” Abbey brags as she sits back down. I take a seat in a chair across from her. She doesn’t make eye contact with me at first. In fact, she seems to be avoiding me altogether, which allows me to watch her. While she is doing her best to pretend she doesn’t notice me, I can see a different story written on her face, the way her cheeks are flushed pink and her eyes are darting every which way.
Rosie laughs at Abbey, nodding her head in agreement. “Yeah, well, you had an advantage today. I have another first for you.” Rosie pauses, glancing sideways at Drew before continuing. Now she has my attention. “I screwed up.”
Abbey raises her eyebrows. “You, Rosie Fisher…screwed up?”
Rosie frowns while Drew is wearing a slight grin on his face. “Yes, I freaking double booked us today!” Drew rests his hand over Rosie’s to soothe her apparent panic. “It’s totally fixable,” Drew chimes in. “We just need help from the two of you.”
“I can’t answer for Abbey, but whatever you guys need, I’m down,” I reassure them.
“Same goes for me,” Abbey glances at me for the first time since we sat down.
“See, babe? I told you we had nothing to worry about,” Drew turns and smiles at Rosie.
“Perfect, because we need you to go cake tasting for us. You guys know what we like, so we trust whatever you decide,” Rosie tells us.
“You want us to do the cake tasting together?” Abbey asks in a slightly shocked tone. “Without the two of you?”
Rosie reaches over and gently pats Abbey on the hand. With a soft, teasing tone, she says, “It will be fine. I promise to love any flavor you choose, even if I don’t love it.”
Abbey rolls her eyes, “Sure you will. Just like that time they were out of Chunky Monkey at the corner market, and I brought you Cherry Garcia instead because you insisted I could choose whatever I felt was an acceptable replacement.”
Rosie rolls her eyes, “Now that’s an unfair example of my ability to go with the flow. I only felt that Fish Food would have been a more similar replacement choice. This is different. I have no expectations.”
I look over at Drew, and he shrugs, so I speak up. “We can handle this, no problem.” I feel Abbey’s eyes bore into me. Glancing over to her, I state again, “We’ve got it.” Our gaze holds for a moment, then she rolls her eyes before looking back at Rosie and Drew.
“Apparently, we’ve got this handled.” Putting her hand up and wagging her pointer finger, Abbey aims her words directly at Rosie. “I don’t want to hear a single complaint from you about what flavors we choose.” Rosie throws her hands up in a defensive motion with a huge grin on her face. Drew looks over at Rosie, a smirk on his face, slightly shaking his head. “Gah, fine, I will gladly eat cake for you,” Abbey states before taking a sip of her latte.
Laughing, I gently slap my hand on the table. “Then it’s settled. Abbey and I are going to a cake tasting.” Drew and Rosie laugh, too, as Abbey releases a small sigh. When I glance her way, her eyes are on Rosie and Drew, a tiny smile playing at her lips. My God, she really is beautiful.
Nine
PARKER
I’m watching her mouth as she opens it to taste a bite of the raspberry lemon chiffon cake, or was the flavor raspberry lime? I can’t even remember what flavor they called it because I’m so infatuated with Abbey’s tongue darting out, swiping across her lips, removing a bit of whipped cream filling.
“Earth to Parker,” her sweet voice brings me back to reality. I stare at her, trying to gain some composure.Was she saying something?I think to myself as I blink back at her, trying to focus on something other than her skillful mouth. “Are you okay?” she continues when I still don’t respond.
“Uh—yeah, I’m good. Sorry, what did you say?” I respond, finally getting a grip on myself.
She scrunches her pert little nose at me, rolling her eyes at the same time, before saying, “I said, I think Rosie and Drew would like the raspberry lemon chiffon for the bride’s cake and something chocolate for the groom’s cake. What are your thoughts?”
She waits for me to answer. I love how I can already see on her face that she is expecting me to disagree with her. I think about doing just that but decide instead to throw her for a loop.
“Yeah, I agree completely.” Abbey doesn’t say anything and watches as I take my fork and stab into another oversized bite of cake. Her eyes widen as I give her a smirk with cheeks full of the raspberry lemon goodness.
Looking away from me to Tish, the young woman helping us, Abbey gives her our order for both cakes. Tish smiles, “You’ve made a fantastic choice.”
