“Could you add a black coffee? Not for me, obviously.” For some reason, I glanced behind me, but no one was there. My eyes caught on the display case to the right, which boasted an entire shelf of donuts. “How much are those?” I murmured, mouth watering.
“Don’t worry about it,” Rachel replied, setting the cash in the register and closing it with her hip.
Before I could protest, she spun away toward the espresso machine. Sometimes it felt like a contest of who could take careof the other better—to be fair, she often won. One day I would pay her back for it all.
When Rachel returned and handed me the drinks and a paper bag, she was on the other side of the bar.
“I’m coming with you,” she said in a no-nonsense tone.
My eyebrows shot up. “Rachel, you have ajob.”
In response, she rolled her eyes and shouted, “Cam! Get out here!”
Lorenzo clucked his tongue at the disturbance, and she dismissed him with a playful flick of her hand.
From behind the curtain at the back of the cafe, a lanky boy appeared, dark coils bouncing as he approached. His face broke into a wide smile, his familiar honey-colored eyes sparkling. “Hey, Georgie,” he greeted and dipped his chin.
“Cameron!” I replied, clapping my hands together and earning a clear of the throat from Lorenzo. “When did you get taller than me?”
He shrugged, a deep blush blooming warm against the bronze of his skin.
“Cam, you’re in charge.” Rachel pointed at him with a mock-stern look. “Don’t disappoint me.”
In response, he swallowed and grabbed the rag from his apron, blindly wiping the counter below. Rachel and I poured out onto the sidewalk, and after I took a much-needed sip of my drink, I flicked her shoulder.
“Hey! What?”
“You scared Cameron,” I said, peering in the paper bag as we crossed the street. “That poor kid isn’t going to stop moving until you come back.”
“Yeah, trust me,that poor kidwas more terrified that you spoke to him.” Rachel snorted, plucked a donut from the bag, and shoved it in her mouth. “Cam’s been in love with you since he could walk,” she added, words muffled by a piece of donut.
I scoffed. “That’s ridiculous. And when did you hire Wes’s little brother, anyway?”
She began to respond, but it died in her throat with a squeak as we stepped through the doorway at Marigold’s.
It looked worse in the daylight. The pipe water had retreated, but it left rings of water stains on the floor, a faint smell like wet cardboard, and windows fogged with dried splatters and drips. I braced myself for the worst.
Rhett was kneeling by the baseboards with a crowbar, sleeves shoved up, shoulders bent forward in concentration.
He noticed us and scowled. “You’re late.”
“Good morning to you too,” I shot back. “Forgive me for not waking up at the crack of dawn to— whatareyou doing?”
“The pipes,” he said, as if that was an explanation and not a very short sentence. “Figured I should keep the shop from falling apart, or I might get a bad review.”
Was that a… joke?
“Well, that’s why I’m here,” I huffed, stepping around a stack of drywall. “To help.”
Rhett grunted in a way that said he very much doubted I could help with anything heavier than a piece of paper.
I planted my hands on my hips as he shifted to me. “Listen, I appreciate your help, but I’m not completely useless. I swear. I can mop. Or organize. Or—” I glanced around helplessly at the floral coolers that had been moved to the middle of the shop, the massive garbage bins, and some extremely large power tools. “—supervise,” I finished weakly.
That earned me the faintest twitch at the corner of his mouth. Almost a smile.Almost.
“AndI got you coffee.” I beamed and held it out for him.
Rhett accepted my peace offering, eyes appearing to soften. “Thank you,” he replied gently and set it on the floor beside him to continue his work.
