2
Cole came out of his room early in the morning dressed for work. Ava’s door was still closed along with Kelly’s bedroom door, where Ruby was staying. He had heard the girls up a few times during the night as Ruby was getting sick. He wanted to help, but knew Ava wouldn’t accept it. Instead, he would try to help during the day by bringing lunch to the house.
He drove the short distance to his family’s bookstore, Storyville’s Stories. The bookstore was small when his parents first opened it, but they had since expanded it with a cafe. They sold coffee and pastries there, along with some sandwiches, soups, and salads around lunchtime. His sister, Katie, ran that portion of the store.
His brother, Eli, was the general manager and handled inventory and product placement. His twin, Kelly, used to run the events in the store, but when she moved to Montana, their sister Michelle took over. Their parents now spent most of their time traveling, but would come back occasionally and help when needed.
Cole stepped inside the store and stopped at the cafe counter where Katie was standing. “Hey, sis.”
“Hey, your usual?” Katie asked.
“Yeah. Can you make one for Ava, too? With some vanilla. She was up a lot last night with Ruby.”
“Ruby staying with you again?”
“Yeah. She’s got a stomach bug,” Cole said.
Katie smiled sympathetically. “Poor kiddo. Do you want yours in a to-go cup or a mug?”
“To-go cup, please.”
Katie made up the drinks and passed them across the counter. He picked them up and thanked her before leaving the bookstore. He drove back to the house and left his coffee in the cupholder as he walked up to the front door and let himself inside.
Ava stood at the counter wearing long-sleeved purple pajamas with matching pants and with her hair in a messy bun on the top of her head. She looked up at him with a frown on her face.
She used to be excited to see him and always had warm greetings, but ever since he put a stop to them randomly hooking up five months prior, things had been strained. He had thought he was doing the right thing by putting an end to something that should have taken place when they were completely sober. But he was wrong. Apparently he had offended her, but had no idea how. But five months had been long enough, and he needed to figure out how to repair a friendship he didn’t want to give up.
“I brought you a vanilla latte. Katie made it,” Cole said.
She frowned at him and stared at it when he set it down on the countertop. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. How are you feeling?”
She shrugged. “Fine.”
He waited a moment to see if she’d add anything else. When she didn’t and she still hadn’t moved to taste the coffee, he backed toward the door.
“Okay. Well, I need to get to work. Let me know if you need anything.”
She didn’t reply, so he left with a small wave. At least she hadn’t dumped the coffee out as soon as he set it down. Not that she would, but that was progress as far as he was concerned.
He drove back to the bookstore and took his coffee with him into the back office. He had a setup in the corner of the room where he did all the accounting for the bookstore. Cole even did Ava’s accounting for her photography business, but she hadn’t given him anything since their falling out. Part of him wondered what she would do now that tax season was upon them. She would need to get her accounting caught up in order to do her tax return. Perhaps him reminding her would be what he needed to get more than one-word answers.
He put his head down and went through the daily reports over the last few days, getting them all entered and then going through the inventory lists Eli had given him for ordering. When lunch rolled around, he went back to the front and grabbed a sandwich for himself and Ava and a bowl of soup to go for Ruby.
When he let himself inside the house, both Ava and Ruby were sitting on the couch watching a movie. Ava still wore the same pajamas he had seen her in that morning.
“Cole!” Ruby said.
“Hey, sweet girl. I brought you some soup,” Cole said.
Ruby got up and walked to the table, where he set the soup down with a spoon. “This smells good.”
“How are you feeling?”
“A little better,” she said.
He walked over to the couch, where Ava still sat. “I brought you a sandwich.”
