Not until I smelled the coffee.
Not until I heard the soft scrape of his boots and the unmistakable warmth in his voice: “I bring peace offerings. Plural.”
My head snapped up.
He was grinning — a little sheepish, a little tired — with two coffees in hand and a manila envelope tucked beneath one arm. He’d used the same kind for the first donation.
“Oh no,” I said instantly. “What did you do?”
“Hey sweetheart,” he said, like it was the easiest thing in the world. Like he hadn’t gone toe to toe with a venomous director yesterday. Like he hadn’t caught me crying in his arms after.
I stood up, rounding the counter. “What did you do, Ansel?”
“I made an executive decision.”
“Ansel.”
He handed me one coffee. Then — slowly — offered the envelope. “I think we deserve a vacation.”
I blinked. “What?”
“I want to take you away for a few days.”
I blinked. “Away.”
“Yeah.” His voice had gone softer. “Somewhere quiet.”
“Where?”
Another pause. His eyes were steady. “Oregon.”
My stomach flipped. “You want to go see your mom.”
“I’m overdue. She’s been asking about me…” He paused, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. “About you.”
I stared. “So go.”
He smiled at that — it was the kind of smile that meant he was bracing for me to push him away. “I don’t want to go alone.”
My throat closed.
“I’d like you to meet her.”
The room went very still. Even the chime on the door swayed once, then settled. “I know it’s fast,” he said quietly. “And I know you’re still… deciding what this is. But she’s important to me.You’reimportant to me. And she already knows your name, Juniper. She’s been asking about you for weeks.”
I looked down at the envelope. He’d scrawled his name in the top corner. “This is for the shop?”
“Two weeks,” he said. “If you want them.”
I couldn’t speak.
“I’m not asking for anything more than time together,” he added. “I’m just asking if you’d come with me. If you’d let me, I’d like to show you where I came from. Who I come from.”
My hand curled tighter around the coffee cup. “And what if she hates me?”
“She won’t.”
“But what if she does?”
