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A quirk of amusement pulled at his lips. “And she won’t have a problem with us?”
To show him how silly those concerns were, I went on my tiptoes and planted a healthy kiss on his coffee-flavored lips. “Are you kidding?” I returned. “My mom thinks you’re awesome. She’s so happy I found someone with a real job.”
He chuckled at that comment, as I’d hoped he would, and we went on with drinking our coffee and then rustling some breakfast together. The whole time, I couldn’t help thinking of Archie, who was probably having a fit of the sulks in the laundry room, but I knew the best thing to do was to leave him alone for the time being. He was the sort of person who needed space to work through his problems, and I definitely didn’t want to irritate him further by getting all up in his business before he was ready to face me.
All the same, I hoped we could work this out. Archie had suffered enough blows in his long, long life, and I didn’t want to be the source of further trouble for him.
* * *
Calvin headed back to his house after I went to work, which I’d expected. I knew I would be busy all day, and he wanted to visit his sister and his brand-new niece while he had some much-needed time off. But he promised he’d be back for dinner, and gave me a long, passionate kiss before we went our separate ways.
Good thing Archie was still hiding in the laundry room.
Because I got to the shop about fifteen minutes before it was due to open at ten, I hid in the storeroom and called my mother. Yes, it was a little early, but I knew I probably wouldn’t get another chance until late in the day, and I really didn’t want to wait that long.
To my relief, she picked up after the second ring. “Selena!” she said, sounding surprised. “Is everything okay?”
“More than okay,” I assured her. “I just wanted to let you know that Calvin and I got engaged last night.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” she exclaimed. “Tom and I were both hoping you’d get to that point sooner rather than later. Have you set a date?”
I explained that we were considering late May or early June, but we hadn’t quite figured it out yet. “And we were thinking it might be nice to have the wedding at the mansion…if you don’t mind.”
Any worries on that subject were immediately allayed, because she said, “That’s a wonderful idea! The gardens should be beautiful at that time of year. We’ll have to start planning when Tom and I are in Globe next week.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” I replied.
“I’m so happy for you,” my mother said. “And I wish I could talk more, but I was just about to head out and meet Linda for some last-minute shopping.”
“It’s fine,” I assured her. “I need to open everything up. But I wanted to tell you the news.”
“Tell Calvin we’re looking forward to having him as part of the family,” she said. “And we’ll talk on Christmas.”
We said our goodbyes, and I headed out to the store, feeling much lighter of heart. At least my own family was on board, and I had to hope that Calvin’s father would come around eventually. In the meantime, though, I knew I had a busy day ahead of me.
* * *
With only two shopping days left before Christmas, the store was packed that morning. I helped people with their selections, answered questions, and gift-wrapped enough presents to fill Santa’s sleigh — or at least, that was what it felt like.
A growling stomach made me look at the clock and realize it was almost two, and I hadn’t eaten anything since seven-thirty that morning. I took advantage of a temporary lull in the excitement to turn around the “be back at” sign in the window and hurry down the street toward Cloud Coffee. I’d left food for Archie, and a couple of treats on the rug where his bowls resided, and hoped that would be enough. Not to mollify him, of course — I knew better than that — but at least to show him I was trying to make sure he didn’t want for anything.
And I knew I was too darn tired to go upstairs and nuke something. No, a sandwich and an iced tea from Cloud Coffee seemed like just the pick-me-up I needed.
Once again, the skies lowered overhead, but there hadn’t been a whisper of snow, or any kind of precipitation at all. Still, a cold wind blew from the northwest, and I was glad I’d shrugged on my jacket before I headed outside. The thin wrap sweater I was wearing wouldn’t have provided much protection from that icy blast.
Even though it was well past the normal time for lunch, Cloud Coffee proved to be fairly crowded, mostly with people who looked as though they were there to get a seasonal latte or maybe just a plain old cup of Joe before they continued with their afternoon’s shopping. I got in line behind a man — well, a boy, really, since he didn’t look much more than eighteen or nineteen, with sandy hair and a sharp, elegant profile that struck a chord of familiarity, even though I was pretty sure I’d never seen him before.
Since he was facing forward and there wasn’t much chance of our making eye contact, I let myself stare at the back of his head, my brow furrowing as I tried to figure out why he didn’t seem to be a complete stranger. Had he come into my shop sometime over the past few days? It had been busy enough that I knew I hadn’t been keeping track of my customers the way I usually did.
As my eyes bored into the back of his head, his aura shimmered into visibility all around him, spiking with the muddy orange of guilt and wariness, almost hiding the sage green that I guessed was his aura’s usual hue.
Just as quickly as it had come, the aura vanished again, but I’d seen enough. Or rather, I’d seen enough to tell me something odd was going on here.
The line moved forward, and the stranger placed his order — a peppermint latte and two sugar cookies. Nothing out of the ordinary there, especially considering the time of year. Still….
Kris, one of the owners of Cloud Coffee, handed the strange young man his order, and he stepped out of the way as I moved forward. Before I could crane my head to see whether he’d sat down at one of the tables in the café or headed out the door, Kris said, “Hey, Selena. What can I get you?”
I snapped my focus back to him and managed a smile. As much as I wanted to ask him if he knew the guy who’d been in line ahead of me, I knew making those sorts of inquiries would be way too obvious. Instead, I placed my order of an iced tea and a chicken ciabatta sandwich, then waited for Kris to tell me the total.
