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Suddenly, he felt even more guilty for not reaching out to Roni sooner. “I really thought she would have been married with a kid or two by now.”
“No, I get that too.” His mom shook her head. "Running your own business is an all-consuming job.”
“I guess so.” Was that what it would be like if he opened his own gallery? Did he want to take that on?
“That’s why I’ve been working so hard at your dad’s coffee shop. I want to make sure when he’s ready to go back to work, he’ll have a business to return to.”
“I understand, and so does Roni. We had dinner tonight with Owen and Brianna.”
“Really? How is Owen?”
“Good. Really good. He and Brianna married. They run an B&B now.”
“Married? Wow.” Her lips turned down, but she didn’t say anything more.
He smiled gently. “You know, Mom, at one time Roni was really important to me. I always thought we’d get married too.”
She scoffed and threw her dish towel down on the counter. “You were kids. How serious could you have been? Besides, I remember that night she broke your heart. You were devastated. That’s the way it always is with your first love and why you don’t marry them.”
Is she right?
No, she wasn’t. Roni had been his first and only love. Even all these years later.
He looked at his mom and cocked an eyebrow. “Wasn’t Dad your first love?”
Her lips pressed tightly together. “Your dad and I are different, and those were different times.” She quickly turned her back to him to wipe the already clean counter.
“Anyway,” he continued, wanting to get to the point. “Because our event is interfering with their Caroling Kickoff—”
“We are not,” she interrupted quickly. “We’re allowed to have Christmas events too.”
“Anyway,” he continued. “Since our event is cutting into theirs, which happens to be the biggest fundraising event of the year for her sister’s rescue foundation, I agreed to help her raise money for them.”
She stiffened, placing both hands on the counter in front of him. “What does that mean exactly?”
“I made a little wager tonight.” Jimmy smiled at the look of horror on her face.
“Don’t worry. It won’t affect Frankie’s at all. I bet Roni that I could raise more funds for her sister’s foundation than she could before the Caroling Kickoff. So I’m going to run a few extra events at the coffee shop at night this week.”
His mother’s eyes widened. “What kind of events?”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I need help coming up with ideas to draw people into the shop.”
“You mean other than live music Fridays, which is what we do now.”
“Yes. I have to raise as much money as I can by Friday.”
She took a deep breath and sat on the barstool next to him. “All right, when I was at her shop, I saw that Roni is making ornaments one night and wreaths another.”
“Okay, what about a gingerbread house making contest?” he asked, trying to think of Christmassy things, which was not something he usually thought about. Ever.
She shrugged. “You could do that, but you’d have to bring all the supplies needed for that, and I just don’t see you spending hours in the kitchen baking gingerbread squares,” she said with a wry grin.
“Yeah, okay, you’re right.”
“Maybe you could have a painting workshop? People love those, and it would be super easy for you to do.”
“True. I like that. I could also take Santa pictures with their animals. That would tie into the rescue theme. Everyone could bring their dogs to the coffee shop for a Christmas pic.”
