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Laughing, I poke her in the belly. “Well, you know how I’ve never been good at making a cup of coffee?”
“You’re not very good at making anything in the kitchen,” she replies far too quickly.
“Hey, that’s mean!” I tease, although she’s 100 percent right. “Anyway,” I say when her giggles die down, “your dad owned a coffee shop.”
Chloe sits up against the headboard and burrows into my side. She has no idea how much comfort she brings me. Just her proximity allows me to settle into the memories with a fondness I haven’t felt in years.
“Like I said, I didn’t know how to make a cup of coffee, but my friend asked me to watch over the coffee shop while she went to run an errand. While she was gone, a line a mile deep formed.”
Chloe giggles. “A mile deep?Right.”
I smile down at her and tug her closer. “Work with me here. So there was this big line, and this really aggravated girl who kept tapping her fingers against the counter. The guy at the front of the line was starting to get loud too. And it felt like every person in the shop was giving me attitude.”
Chloe grins and shifts so she’s looking at me.
“Yes, it was deserved, because I had no business being there. But still, I was freaking out.”
“Until you saw my dad?” she chirps. Somehow, my girl is imagining my first run-in with Jay as a romance novel–worthy meet-cute.
“Um, no, I was still freaking out when I saw him, but he had this look.” I pause, trying to put my finger on it, trying to remember precisely what I thought the moment I saw him all those years ago. Wondering if I knew even then that the moment would become such a turning point in my life.
“He was entranced,” I say when the full memory takes shape in my mind. “Even though I was a disaster and had no idea what I was doing, he looked at me like my every move and my every word were charming.”
“I love this story,” Chloe says with a yawn. “So then what happened?”
“He asked for my name and number.” I chuckle. “And I told him no.”
Chloe’s eyes go wide, and her mouth drops open. “Why?”
“Told him he had to earn it.” I shrug. I can’t help but grin when I remember his shocked expression. It matches the look on our daughter’s face right now. God, she really does remind me of him. Those intelligent, soulful eyes light up, as if she’s just as enchanted by me as her father was.
And it’s in that moment that I know. There is no way I was revenge. The truth behind Jay’s pleading is right there in my daughter’s gaze.
Our story began that day. When a boy walked into a coffee shop and what he saw stole his attention. Reminded him that life was about more than revenge. The day a girl stood at the counter and locked eyes with her future. When she met a man who made her question so much while also giving her the space to find the answers herself.
Our parents had nothing to do with how we were brought together. No, that was the stars. And if I allow our parents to tear us apart, if I allow their tortured history to destroy what that couple from the coffee shop fought so hard for, then I’ll be fighting against the stars.
45
LOVE ME AGAIN BY JOHN NEWMAN
Jay
Irun my hands through my hair and groan as I look over the numbers again. Something doesn’t add up. After the merger with the Jameses, I volunteered to go through the financials, since I’m familiar with both companies.
But I can’t find any evidence of the things Theo was supposed to put in place or the plans we made. Either Cash has run this company into the ground in mere months, or we have a much bigger problem.
The truth, though, is that I’m using this as a distraction. I’ve been waiting for Cat to call me and tell me how her conversation went with Chloe. Will my daughter want to meet me? Will she allow me to get to know her?
I don’t even know how to talk to a kid, let alone one who likely hates me.
Cat hasn’t spoken to me since we left Grace’s office. I told her I’d let her stay in her apartment if she allowed security to monitor her building. I didn’t tell her that I’m the security. I sit outside with my security guard every night, just waiting for the moment she finally gives in. My neck hurts from sleeping in the car. Hopefully, she comes around sooner rather than later.
“Mr. Hanson,” Elyse says through the intercom.
“Yes,” I reply, thankful for the interruption. My thoughts are spiraling again.
“Ms. James is here to see you. Shall I send her in?”
