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“You chose very well,” she told him, patting his arm with a big smile on her face. “Ana, let’s wrap those up for him.”
The two women chatted as they headed up to the register, where Ana carefully removed the tags and her mom wrapped each item in tissue paper then slipped them into a paper bag with the Pura Vida store logo.
“You’re all set, young man,” Ana’s mom told him fondly, handing it over.
He pulled out his wallet.
“No, no,” she said firmly. “Your money is no good here.”
“I couldn’t,” he said, stunned.
“Please, consider it a small gesture of thanks,” Ana said softly. “It meant the world to us that you came to my rescue the other night.”
He felt a burst of pride that she saw it that way. He’d only been doing his job, but there was something to what she said, because he wanted to rescue her. He wanted to be the one she called whenever she needed something—anything at all.
He looked from Ana to her mom once more, and could see that he wasn’t going to get anywhere by arguing with them, so he put his wallet away.
“See you Monday,” he told Ana. “I’ll be by around two?”
“Perfect,” she said.
Her mother turned to her, looking surprised and delighted.
But Rory was sure there was sadness in Ana’s eyes again, just like before.
She’s disappointed just to have to sit in a café with me.
How did I read everything so wrong?
6
ANA
Monday afternoon, Ana watched a plate of leftovers spin in the microwave and tried not to let her thoughts spin too.
She had been in turmoil about her coffee date with Rory ever since she suggested it—both because she longed to spend more time with Rory, and because she dreaded setting him up with someone else.
Now the time had come, and she felt no more ready to do it than she had when he brought up the idea of seeing her outside of work in the first place.
How dare you feel sorry for yourself, she scolded herself inwardly. Poor Mal just found out Declan Hawkins proposed to Julie Rodman and she’s doing fine.
The news had broken this morning that Mal’s longtime crush was engaged. Of course Ana and Valerie had gone straight to the café to make sure Mal was okay.
Mal had been at work, pretending everything was fine. She even defended her brother’s best friend when Ana and Valerie raged at the idea that he had never seen the obvious—that Mal cared for him.
Even when a glowing Julie Rodman appeared at the bakery out of the blue with her sparkly new engagement ring, Mal was kind and generous with her.
And the crowning moment was when Julie asked Mal to make her wedding cake, and Mal calmly agreed.
She had only collapsed into Ana’s arms and let herself cry when Julie was gone. Ana swore she could still feel Mal’s shoulders shaking with her sobs.
But then the morning had taken an unexpected turn.
Ana smiled as she thought about the tall, dark, and handsome cowboy who stepped into the bakery immediately afterward, like Prince Charming in a movie, asking for Mal.
He certainly didn’t look like the elderly widower Mal had been chatting with online.
Maybe things work out for a reason, Ana told herself as she took the plate out of the microwave and grabbed a napkin and silverware for her mom. Maybe if I do the right thing now, then when the time is right, I’ll find someone too.
