Page 5 of Roses are Royal

As I survey our seating options, I spot a booth on the right side of the diner near the windows that I know Luc would pick if it were up to him. I casually stroll over and slide all the way in toward the window, leaving plenty of space for him to join me. I hold my breath and avert my eyes as he walks up, stands in front of the table, and hesitates. He hesitates! My heart pounds in my ears, and my fingers are tingling with the anticipation of how this reconciliation will go. For a second, my heart lifts as it seems like he is going to slide in next to me, but instead, it feels like I’ve been punched in the chest when he chooses to sit across from me. I’m trying to play it cool, but I’m sure my emotions are written all over my face. Any hope I had that I finally had my Luc back is gone. Now I need to find out who this Luca is and if there is room for me in his life.

“Hey folks, welcome in. Are you ordering food tonight or just something to drink?” the server, Shirley, as it reads on her faded plastic name tag, delivers in the least enthusiastic way possible as she briefly makes eye contact with me. She clearly wasn’t in the mood to serve anyone tonight, judging by her attitude toward me. That is, until she turns and gets her first good look at the (now) stranger across from me. Luc always could turn heads, even when we were young. And now that he has fifteen years of maturity and experience and probably fifty pounds of muscle added to his build, it’s not surprising that he still has that effect on people.

Before I can make a comment that I would definitely regret and broadcast my growing jealousy, Luc responds.

“Just coffee, black, for me and an iced coffee with cream, sugar, and a drizzle of caramel syrup if you have it for her.” He gestures over expectantly at me as if I’m going to follow his lead and give him an easy out with a short chat over coffee. Well, he’s got another thing coming.

“I’d actually love a food menu. I’ve had a long day, and I am starving. I’ll also take the iced coffee as well, though.” I give my sweetest and probably slightly condescending smile to Shirley as she continues to avoid eye contact with me and heads back to the counter to grab a menu and our coffees. “I’m surprised you remembered how I like my coffee,” I say to reengage Luc before he bolts like he clearly wants to.

“Of course I remember. You have had the same coffee order every day since the moment I met you. I honestly don’t think you would’ve made it through your first class of the day without your caffeine fix. I also remember how grumpy you were before your coffee, so I usually brought a backup in case you weren’t able to grab one before school and kept it in the teacher’s lounge fridge so that we didn’t have a repeat performance of evil Ro...” he continues casually.

The look of surprise and confusion on my face cuts Luc off mid-sentence. I’m speechless, which never happens…except today I guess—0 for 2 on intelligent words for attractive men.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asks with confusion.

“I didn’t know you did that. I honestly thought I was just lucky on the days I didn’t have time or money to get a coffee. How long did you do that?” My heart is a puddle of goo as I rack my brain to remember the days he offered me “his coffee” because he didn’t want it anymore, and it just so happened to be the exact way I took my coffee. How did I not know this?

“It was nothing, Ro. I grabbed it when I would get my coffee. It really wasn’t a big deal, and I knew it made you happy.”

“Why didn’t you ever say something? Or ask me to pay you back? Or tell me to deal with it? Or a million other things that would make more sense than buying an extra coffee every day for four years, just in case I forgot mine?” I’m now realizing that Luc can and has lied to me in the past. It’s hard to reconcile the lie with the obviously generous act, but my head and heart don’t know what to think.

Shirley’s timing couldn’t have been better when she comes back to drop the menus off and deliver Luc’s mug of black coffee. No iced coffee in sight, though. Instead, Shirley produces a second mug of hot black coffee and a small ceramic bowl of half-and-half creamer pods. I’m not sure who she expects to drink that hot bean water, but it won’t be me. Coffee should only be consumed iced with too much cream and sugar or in a martini glass with liquor and three coffee beans floating on top… and anyone who disagrees can fight me.

“Sorry, doll, no iced coffee here. Hope this will do,” Shirley responds with a mock frown and no sympathy, yet she still won’t meet my eye.

Before I can open my mouth to respond, Luc cuts in, “Thank you so much. Could we also get a glass of ice? I’d really appreciate it.”

“Anything for you, hun.” Shirley turns to Luc with a genuine smile as she responds before heading back behind the counter.

“Well, that was rude.” I begin to argue, knowing it was a long shot for this diner to have iced coffee and caramel sauce anyway, but still, I could’ve done without the attitude. “A simple ‘we don’t have that’ would have sufficed.” I can see Luc trying to bite back a smile, which instantly calms my emotions.

“I’m just saying, she could have been nicer about it. Instead, she’s busy giving you googly eyes and batting her eyelashes as if she would have half a chance with you.” I snort to punctuate my response, which only makes Luc smile wider.

“Hmm, are you jealous? The Ro I knew would never show weakness or broadcast her emotions. Let alone act jealous. That Ro is jealous over a server in a diner I haven’t spent more than three seconds looking at?” Luc can’t contain his excitement at my outburst, and I don’t love that I gave away a bit too much. It’s time to get back on track.

“I’m not jealous. I’m clearly just hungry and caffeine-deprived. Which you would recognize if you hadn’t disappeared from my life for over a decade.” I couldn’t stop myself, and I know I just turned a lighthearted conversation into serious territory. I wanted to ease into it, but that’s just not my style, and I’m hurt that I seem to be the only one mourning the loss of our friendship.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said it like that. I’m just…struggling to understand how we could go from inseparable to not seeing or speaking for fifteen years to now sitting across the table at a booth in a random diner in the middle of nowhere, acting like glorified coworkers at best, strangers at worst. You promised me answers, Luc, and I think for us to work together on this project, I need you to be honest with me so we can move forward. I’m not even asking for friendship at this point, just closure.”

Luc clearly caught my tone when I mentioned sitting across from each other and is about to respond when Shirley, with her impeccable timing, appears again, setting the glass of ice on the table in front of Luc.

“What can I get you two to eat? The kitchen is closing soon.” It’s delivered with less snark than expected.

“Nothing for me,” Luc responds with a glance at Shirley.

“I’ll take a cheeseburger, no onions, extra pickles, and tater tots on the side, thanks. Oh, and a side of ranch.” I beam up at Shirley with my most pleasant and definitely not fake smile. I really am hungry and would rather not have “something extra” added to my burger.

As Shirley walks away to put in my order with the kitchen, Luc has already started transferring my mug of black coffee into the cup of ice, adding two packets of sugar and three creamers in an attempt to make it drinkable. I don’t even think he realizes that he didn’t ask and just automatically fell back into the role of my Luc from all those years ago. I’m not going to call it out. Instead, I’ll use this momentary peace to ask some easy questions and get the conversation back into neutral territory.

“I’d love to hear more about your company, Precision Builders. The house you and your team built for Dante is breathtaking. It almost reminds me of some sketches I did years ago of my dream home.” There, that seems like a safe topic to start with. Well done, Ro.

Luc pauses a little longer than normal for such a basic question before responding. “I thought you said it was...how did you put it...‘a good starting point’?” He can’t contain his smile, as if he knows I was enamored with the house from the beginning.

“Luc, you know the house is beautiful. I have to remain professional and unbiased with clients, that’s all. But seriously, I want to know how you got into that line of work.”

“Well, you know how I always loved drawing in high school. I ended up taking some architectural courses after graduation to see if I’d be interested in that, and it turns out, I was a natural. But it also ended up being a lot more work than I initially expected. I worked as an apprentice with a distant family friend out of state who helped show me the ropes and ultimately helped me start my own company. He even invested some money to aid with startup costs, materials, and hiring a crew. I was able to get some smaller projects through networking and word of mouth, but I really had a breakthrough when a wealthy friend of his asked me to design and build his custom winter home in Aspen. I had never done anything like that but couldn’t pass up the opportunity, so I took it, and I guess the rest is history, as they say. Once that project was complete and the client started showing off his home to his friends, I had an influx of custom luxury home requests. I was able to pick the projects I wanted to work on. Architectural Digest magazine even did a spread on the house once it was finished.”

“Is that how Dante found you? He doesn’t seem like the type to mix and mingle with the rich and famous in a ski town in Colorado.”