Okay, so maybe she did. He was glad she didn’t say more than that. One by one, the others left, and Nate decided it was also time for him to go. He didn’t want to push anything too soon. All he could do, as the guys had said, was be there for Tamara. Not give up.
“Nate,” Tamara called as he was opening the door. “Got a minute?”
Nate paused, turning back to her.
“Come through to the back room for a moment,” she said. “I need to talk to you.”
Nate’s mind raced with the possibilities, instantly imagining all the things two people could do in a stock room if they were so inclined. This time, though, he didn’t instantly push the thoughts to one side, because maybe, just maybe…
“Sure,” Nate said, trying to play it cool as he followed her into the storeroom. What would it be like to date Tamara? He’d promised himself not to consider that thought since they’d agreed it wasn’t something they could allow to happen. But the connection between them this evening persuaded him otherwise.
Maybe Tamara was feeling the same. There had definitely been sparks between them after the photograph, and even though she’d pulled back, maybe it had made her realize that it didn’t have to be that way.
In the storeroom, Nate held his breath until Tamara simply reached down for a large box. It was filled with five-pound bags of coffee beans. For several seconds, Nate didn’t get it. What was she doing?
“For the wedding?” Tamara prompted.
“What? Oh, oh, yes.” Nate was flustered, and he knew it. “That’s great. I guess I wasn’t expecting you to be able to do this so quickly.”
“I talked to some of the importers when I was down at the docks this morning getting flowers for the party,” Tamara said. “They’d just received a shipment of some amazing beans from Jamaica and were sampling them. The second I tasted the coffee, I knew it was special. They only had a few hundred pounds, so I snapped some up right away. The coffee is fantastic, and I’m sure your clients will be pleased. I’ve written down the details—Jamaican Blue Mountain, with just the right mix of part roasted and fully roasted.”
She passed over a detailed list with the box of beans. Nate took it and tried to fix his expression to show the level of gratitude he knew he should be feeling. Tamara had just managed to solve one of the major problems for the wedding as easily as Nate might have written a basic search-and-retrieval program for the word coffee.
“Thanks,” he said. “This is really great. You’ve helped us out immensely.”
“What are friends for?” Tamara said.
Friends. Yes, they were friends. Any other time, Nate would have been grateful for their friendship. Yet disappointment was all he could feel. Disappointment that none of this was going the way he’d dared to dream about.
Chapter Eight
Nate’s phone woke him from a deep sleep. He’d tossed and turned all night and had finally drifted off just as dawn was breaking. He’d been having a weird dream about weddings, and somehow his ringtone was taking the place of church bells. He fumbled around for his phone and answered the call just before it went to voicemail.
“Nate. Did I wake you up? I’m so sorry. Shall I call back?” It was Liz, and she was firing questions at him. What time was it? Why was she calling?
“Uh, yeah. No problem, I’m awake.” Nate did his best to sound coherent and halfway intelligent. It was Friday morning, and Liz never called like this, so it must be about something important. “Are you okay? Can I help you with something?”
“You’re not going to believe this,” she began, “but Jason sprained his ankle this morning. We’re on our way to the clinic to get it X-rayed now.” Barely stopping for breath, Liz continued, “Zach and Yuriko are coming in this morning to have one of our last meetings before the wedding. Their schedules are so tight I can’t ask to reschedule. I was hoping, since you already made such a good impression on Zach, that you could look after them until I get there.”
Nate was fully awake now. “Sure, no problem. I know he wants to talk about the technical side of things, so I can take care of that first.”
“Perfect, that’s what I was thinking. Maybe you could show them around and keep them busy until we’re finished at the clinic. I should be there by elevenish at the latest.”
“I’m on it. Don’t worry. We’ll see you later.”
As Nate got ready for work, he thought about all the things he needed to do today, including calling his brother to get last-minute instructions about his wedding this weekend. He’d been so busy this week, he hadn’t had time to even think about it—except, of course, when he was daydreaming about spending more time with Tamara. Then there was his to-do list for the Married in Malibu wedding, which now included meeting Zach and his fiancée and managing their questions about its progress. And underneath everything were his growing feelings for Tamara. No wonder he hadn’t slept well.
Before driving in, he checked his messages and saw a short email from Zach. The message was exactly the way someone like Zach would have done it, asking if it would be okay to drop by to discuss wedding details. Oh, yeah. It would be more than okay!
Nate found himself feeling very grateful for the box of coffee beans he had in the trunk of his car. Thanks to Tamara, those carefully curated and blended coffee beans were already in his care. He’d be able to surprise Zach and Yuriko and let them sample the coffee this morning. He was eager to try it himself.
Married in Malibu was surprisingly quiet when he arrived, and there were only a couple of cars in the parking lot, one of which was Meg’s. In the wake of Kate’s party, everyone must be taking their time, and, of course, Liz was at the medical clinic. He hoped Jason’s sprain was nothing serious.
Travis was also already working. Nate told him that Liz would be late, explaining about Jason’s ankle, and asked him to let everyone know that she’d be in around eleven a.m. He also asked Travis to keep an eye out for Zach and Yuriko, who would be arriving soon.
Nate went up to his office with the box of coffee and got to work on the wedding files for Zach. A short time later, he looked out the window and saw a Tesla sports car pulling into parking lot. Nate went down to meet them just as Travis called to say Zach and Yuriko had arrived.
Zach looked much the way he had on the video call, but in person, he seemed smaller somehow, and more personable.
