Page 59

The pretty bistro tables and matching chairs I’d been hunting down ever since I’d caught sight of one on an online marketplace had finally arrived, each requiring a different kind of fix to make it usable. Art had been flat on his back, tightening bolts and generally making sure the marble tabletops wouldn’t fall off and shatter or, worse, break a customer’s foot. Meanwhile, I’d been checking all the chair legs so that the same customers wouldn’t suddenly find themselves on the ground while enjoying their tea and cookies.

“Ye ken that special shipment I’ve been raving about all week?” Shona asked, arching an eyebrow and glancing back and forth between us.

Art picked up the remaining cup and tipped it at her in a gesture that I took to mean both “thank you for the coffee” and “yep, I remember.”

I simply nodded as I took my first sip and let out an appreciative groan. “How is it always so good?”

“Because I only order the best beans!” Shona exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation. “Sorry, love.” She scrunched up her face apologetically and slumped against her chair’s backrest with a dramatic sigh when I flinched. “That wasn’t directed at you.”

I put down my cup and focused on the pretty coffee-shop owner who usually radiated confidence and positivity. Her large green eyes, which typically shone bright with delight, flashed with a different sort of intensity, and the waves of energy pouring off her were jumpy and jagged where they were usually warm and soothing.

“The shipment hasn’t been delivered?” I asked, leaning forward so I could give her hand a comforting squeeze. It was the obvious assumption given how upset she was and how she’d opened the conversation, but I knew I was right without needing her to confirm it.

“Yes!” she cried, looking a little surprised. “Or rather, no. They promised it would be here first thing today, but it’s after eleven and nothing!”

“And you need the beans for…” I paused, the answer just on the edge of my consciousness. “A meeting? With people in suits?” I asked, frowning as the image took shape in my head.

Shona sat up straighter and narrowed her eyes at me. “How’d ye ken?”

I shrugged, squirming slightly in my seat as Art’s questioning gaze added itself to her suspicious stare. Shrugging it off felt like the only possible solution, but I was pretty sure it satisfied neither of them. “Never mind that. How can we help?”

Throwing her head back, Shona rubbed her face, giving her eyes an extra pass before running her hands down and around her neck. “Ye got any high-grade coffee beans I could roast in a hurry so I can impress the suits coming tae decide if they want tae invest in my coffee cart?”

“No,” I said, grimacing apologetically. “But what a fabulous idea!”

Shona brightened slightly. “Och, aye! It was me mam’s idea. A wee coffee cart to take Hame & Away… away!” A waterfall of laughter bubbled out of her, restoring a hint of her trademark joyful glimmer in her eyes, which faded again as she remembered why she’d been upset in the first place. “I wanted it tae be just perfect. Ye ken?” She sighed and took a deep swallow of her coffee before plunking the cup back on the table with a disappointed grimace. Glaring at the offending drink, her eyes lost their focus as her thoughts turned inward.

“It will be,” I blurted.

“What?” Shona asked, startled out of her dark musings.

“As you all love to say, dinna fash yerself. It’ll all be fine,” I said, closing my eyes as the image crystallized. “The van is just on the other side of the bridge, stuck behind a stalled car. As soon as that clears up, which will be any minute, they’ll be through and here shortly after. Your investors are in the same traffic, but way behind them. You’ll have plenty of time to roast the beans before they arrive.”

I finished describing the scene I could see so perfectly in my head, then blinked to clear my vision and froze. Shona and Art were staring at me, eyes wide and jaws slightly slack.

“I mean, that could be what’s happening, right? You know how the bridge gets backed up so easily,” I finished faintly as Shona’s phone chimed with an incoming text.

She read the message quickly, then looked up at me, her eyes shining with wonder. “I dinna ken how ye knew that, but ye’re a marvel, Meg MacIntosh. I could kiss ye right noo. The investors are stuck in traffic. They’ll be thirty minutes late, and the delivery van just pulled up.”

Jumping to her feet, Shona cried, “Och! Do ye mebbe have some of yer wee biscuits on hand?”

“I do, actually! And the to-go packaging just arrived, so you’re in luck,” I said, also jumping to my feet. “I have coos, sheep, and some adorable tartan kilts I’ve been testing out. Do you have a preference?”

Shona rolled her eyes affectionately. “I’ll take a dozen, whichever ye can spare. But I’m beggin’ ye, on behalf of every local here, can ye please make some of yer wee biscuits a wee bit less… touristy?” She made the last word sound like such an offense, I had to laugh.

“Will do,” I said, adding two bonus cookies to the box before closing it. As she grabbed the box I held out, my hand tightened on my side. “Don’t take their offer,” I blurted out.

“What?” Shona’s eyebrows jumped. “I’m gonna take the offer if they make one. That’s why I invited them.”

“Just…” I said. “Please, think it over carefully before you sign anything. That’s all. I have a bad feeling about this.” I released the box. “Trust your gut,” I added with an encouraging smile that earned me a baffled look.

“Ye were right! Again!” Shona cried, barging into the shop, eyes flashing with anger.

“I was?” In the hours since she’d left carrying the box of cookies as if they were precious treasures, I’d convinced myself that I’d spouted nonsense born from an overactive imagination triggered by concern for my new friend.

“Aye! Would ye believe they wanted half! Half my business in exchange for investing in my wee coffee-cart idea?”

I almost felt pity for the men who’d tried to get one up on her.