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Well he might not have a choice about leaving – he had a business to run after all. But right now he was happy to be here. And happy wasn’t something he’d felt in a long time.
* * *
It was one of those rare California early mornings when there seemed to be more white cloud than blue sky. The lack of sun had turned the air cool enough for the weather forecasters to be muttering about rain, something that was uncommon enough here in Angel Sands for it to cause an outcry. On her way into work, Ally had noticed that Deenie Russell hadn’t put her usual stands of books outside her shop on Main Street, and Lorne had only put a few of his brightly colored surfboards out on the boardwalk, leaving most of them below the tattered awning that hung from his shop.
“Hey!” she called through the door. She eventually located him in the far corner of the shop, scowling at a dispatch note. “You doing okay?”
“As good as it gets when you get to my age,” he said, looking up from the sheet of paper he was holding. “They need to make WD40 for humans.”
Ally laughed. “I’ll bring you a coffee, since it’s pretty much the same thing,” she offered. “Milk, two sugars, the way you like it.”
“No need. I already had me a latte this morning,” Lorne replied, grinning. “It was all prettied up. Did you know they can draw a leaf in the foam?”
“Oh.” She tried to knock the expression of disappointment from her face. She’d been bringing Lorne coffee ever since she was a teenager, but that didn’t mean he had to wait for her to turn up like some kind of coffee fairy. “Is the shop open early?”
“Nope. Still shut. But Nate knows exactly how I like it.” Lorne nodded his head approvingly. “He’s managed to sweeten us all up with his drinks. Even Frank Megassey’s succumbed to him. I saw him accept a cappuccino with extra sprinkles yesterday. All the chocolate and foam clinging to his moustache.” Lorne raised his eyebrows. “He should act his age sometimes.”
In spite of her long run that morning, she felt her muscles tighten as though they wanted to do it all over again. She took a deep breath, inhaling the salty air as it rose up from the shoreline.
So what if the locals were accepting Déjà Brew? That was a good thing, after all. They’d point customers their way, as well as being customers themselves. Nate was doing the right thing in courting them.
Even if it made her feel a little bit forgotten, along with the old Beach Café.
“Well, if you want another coffee later, give me a shout,” she told him, smiling in spite of the tightness in her chest.
“I will. As long as you can make a latte as good as this one.” He widened his eyes and took another sip, smacking his lips together with pleasure.
Lorne had gone over to the dark side. Who would have thought it?
Just as he’d told her, the door to the coffee shop was still locked. She pulled out her keys and let herself in, locking it up again until it was time to open in twenty minutes. When she turned around something caught her eye and she tipped her head to the side, her brow dipping as she looked at the counter.
There was an old battered box on there, the corners bashed in, the lid barely able to close thanks to whatever was stuffed inside. She frowned at how familiar it looked. Biting her bottom lip, she took a step forward, wanting to look inside.
“It’s your day off.”
She turned to see Nate walking through the kitchen door.
“I just had two weeks off,” she told him, taking another glance at the box from the corner of her eye. “I thought I should probably make up the time.” She was getting used to the way her heart galloped every time she saw her boss.
“Yeah, but that wasn’t your choice,” he said, that half-smile still crinkling the skin around his eyes. “You’re an employee now. You don’t have to keep this place running single handed. You can have a life too.”
His words hit her like a slap in the face. She blinked, trying not to show her reaction. Maybe she should start wearing a ski mask every day. It had to be easier than forcing her facial muscles into expressions they didn’t really feel.
Did he know that she was crushing on him? Oh God, please don’t let that be true. Just the thought of it made her want to run again. Run and never stop.
She looked at the box for a third time, and this time Nate followed her gaze. “I found it in the store cupboard,” he told her. “I think it must belong to you.” He cleared his throat. “If you don’t want it I can throw it away, but I thought it’d be best to ask you first.”
Ally reached for the lid and pulled it off, looking at the mass of photographs stuffed into the box. She recognized them instantly, though it must have been years since she’d seen them. Her throat tightened as her gaze fell on the top one.
“That’s my mom,” she said.
“I thought it was you at first.”
Ally glanced up at him, wondering if he was joking, but his expression was completely serious. “You think I look like her?”
He looked back down at the photograph. “Yeah. She was very pretty.”
Ally wondered if he’d realized what he’d said. She felt her face flush at his compliment.
