“Nonsense. You’re helping me with this car. The least I can do is cook you a meal.”
“Which you should be doing,” Maddie says with a pointed look.
Ed flashes her a smile that has color returning to her cheeks again. “Yes, ma’am.” With a wink my way, he slips back into the kitchen.
A familiar ache blooms in my chest, so I run the heel of my palm against it. A love like Maddie’s and Ed’s is what I’ve always wanted. That kind of endless love. Where you get old and grey together, surviving through life and clinging to what you have on the hard days.
Yet, here I sit, completely and utterly alone.
All because the one woman I want is totally off-limits.
Chapter 2
Anastasia
“Back!” I announce as I breeze into my coffee shop. Katelyn Holt raises her head from the coffee she’s making and smiles at me. Her blonde hair is a few shades darker than mine and is currently braided back away from her face.
She’s three months pregnant with her second child—her first with her husband, Garrison—and is absolutely glowing.
“Gonna tell me what you were doing?”
“Not a chance.” I stick my tongue out at her, then shove the baby shower planning details beneath the counter where they’ll remain out of view. I know it’s a little early to start planning, but after everything she went through when she was pregnant with her son, Thomas, I want to give her all the things she missed out on.
The baby showers, the mommy-pamper days, anything and everything.
After putting on my apron, I wash my hands then step up to the register to check any pending orders. “What are you working on?” I question once I’ve run down the list.
“A vanilla latte with cinnamon.” She tops it with whip, then puts a lid on it and sets the paper cup on top of the pickup counter. “Here you go, honey,” she says to the young woman waiting for it.
“Thanks so much, Mrs. Holt.”
“You’re welcome, Polly. Enjoy.”
As Polly leaves, I turn toward Katelyn. “Mrs. Holt. Does it ever get old hearing that?”
Her smile widens. “Not in the least.” Katelyn became one of my closest friends shortly after she saved the life of a man I consider a brother. Garrison had been attacked in his apartment and left for dead…until Katelyn rescued him. Not long after, the two of them became inseparable before marrying four months ago in a small ceremony.
And now I’m planning her baby shower.
How wonderful it is when pieces of God’s plan become clear. Neither one of them had been looking for what they found, yet now they’re going to be together forever.
Forever.
My gaze drifts around the shop, then out the window of the back door that leads to a small parking lot. There aren’t a lot of cars outside. Just a few patrons who couldn’t find curbside parking, as well as mine and Katelyn’s cars.
At least on my half.
Unfortunately, I share the other half of the lot with his shop.
Sawyer Maddox.
Ridiculously handsome.
Completely charming.
My former best friend.
That is, until he decided he wanted nothing to do with me once I was no longer single. As it so often does, my gaze travels to the table he used to occupy whenever he’d get a break at the shop. Which, with Drew to help with the workload, was fairly often.
