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"You should, it's great. I was just going to make some coffee; do you want some?"
My eyes were shutting, but I didn't want to crawl into bed just yet, I was too amped from actually breaking my dry spell. "Coffee sounds fantastic."
I followed Constance as she headed toward the kitchen. She knew exactly where she was going, lifting a bag of coffee beans from where they sat next to the coffee maker.
"Got it," she said, waving it in front of me. "Now let's head back to my place before Sebastian finds out I stole his coffee."
I pointed to the coffee bag. "You're just going to take that?"
"I gave birth to Seb. I get full access to his coffee."
I shrugged. "Sounds fair."
"Let's hurry back to my cottage. Just because I can steal his coffee doesn't mean he's going to be happy about it. I'll make you a coffee and feed you some of the cinnamon rolls I whipped up this morning."
My stomach growled. "That sounds like heaven." We exited the kitchen and followed the path behind the house.
I could see Constance's cottage from here. It was painted barn-red and looked like the perfect place to rent as an Airbnb for the weekend. There were large windows that framed the front of the house, complete with flowers in the window boxes.
There was even space for a spring garden, although given the time of year, the planter boxes were empty.
"Great house," I admired.
She glanced over her shoulder. "Isn't my Seb the best?" she said, her voice full of motherly pride.
I felt an invisible punch to the gut. It made me stumble on the path, that kind of affection. Grief was like that for me. Sneaky and creeping up at unexpected times.
I hoped Sebastian knew how lucky he was to have his mother around. There was a cruel loneliness of knowing you'd never speak to your mother again.
I shook my head, trying to be present with the woman in front of me. Constance held the door open, and I followed her inside.
The space was a miniature version of the main house, decked out with all the amenities one could need.
"Take a seat, I'll just get this started," Constance said, pointing to a small round table in the kitchen. She set about brewing the coffee and plating the cinnamon rolls.
"How long have you lived here?" I asked her when she sat across from me.
She spooned some sugar into her mug. "It's been about five years now. Sebastian bought it and basically forced me to move here."
I waved at the room around me. "I'm sure it didn't take much convincing."
Her smile faltered. "Sebastian can be a little, how do I put this? Serious."
I went wide eyed, a smile playing on my lips. "Serious? Sebastian, no. I can't see it."
She chuckled. "Well, he's always been a determined boy and as soon as he started making money he became a determined man who thought he could boss me around."
I leaned over the table. "No, he didn't."
"I assure you, he did," she said before blowing on her coffee. "He wanted me to stop working. As if my work hadn't kept food on the table for the past twenty years of his life."
I wrapped my hands around my mug. "That's kind of sweet."
She lifted a brow. "Except he was still in college and could barely grow a mustache back then."
I bit the inside of my cheek. "So he was a bossy adolescent."
"He sure was. And I knew he was investing what little money he had and making more of it from that Bitcoin thing." She shook her head. "I still don't understand it no matter how many times Seb explains it to me."
