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It hadn’t been all her fault. He had been the one who left. Who went to Denver to study art on a scholarship. He’d hoped she’d go with him, but she couldn’t. She had to stay behind to help her mom in the shop after the death of her grandmother.
They didn’t have a chance.
Not then and not now.
Besides, she wouldn’t want to have anything to do with him once she discovered he was the Scrooge who was there to take over her biggest competition until his dad could get back on his feet.
Yeah, she’d never talk to him again.
He could’t say he blamed her.
But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to help his parents turn their dream into a success the best way he could.
He looked at his work—another boring landscape. Defeat closed over him as he put his paint supplies away. Maybe he should throw in the towel and resign himself to selling coffee for the rest of his life.
He’d get a good night’s sleep and try to think up a way to save his career tomorrow. He wasn’t giving up this easily. All he had to do was focus on his work, find a way to make it more commercial, and help his parents. He couldn’t deal with Roni and her problems right now; he needed to focus his energy on his own issues.
He’d have to put Roni out of his mind once more.
He’d done it before; he could do it again.
It was time to let Roni go. For good.
CHAPTER3
Roni tossed and turned all night, thinking about every conversation she’d had with Jimmy through the last few months, and at no point was there ever anything said that would explain his behavior last night. He was in town, and he didn’t tell her.
Worse, he came to her shop and would have left again without saying a word. Why? There was no reason that she could think of except he took one look at her and changed his mind.
Had she changed that much?
No. She would not get down on herself over his rude behavior. The last time he hurt her, she put him solidly in her rearview mirror, and back then, the hurt was much worse. She would do it again now.
When she finally came to that conclusion, she drifted off to sleep, only to wake up a few hours later to open her shop. People liked their coffee bright and early in the morning. Especially on a workday. It didn’t matter how much sleep she got.
She took a quick shower and went downstairs to open for business. Jessica came in soon after. Usually, the college student helped out in the evenings after her classes, but this morning she had agreed to come early and cover for Roni.
“Thanks so much for coming in during your holiday,” Roni told her as she thrust a bright-red stocking hat onto her head. The large yarn ball on top of the hat bounced as she wrapped a matching red cable-knit scarf around her neck and glossed her lips with bright-red lipstick.
Jessica watched her, looking a little confused. “Not a problem, I can use the extra funds. But what are you up to?”
Roni put on a pair of plastic white-framed sunglasses. “A little reconnaissance mission at that new coffee shop down at the Riverwalk.”
“Frankie’s?” Jessica asked with a grin as she watched her.
Roni turned to her and scowled. “You’ve heard of it?”
“Yeah, a lot of kids like to do their homework there. They have lots of outlets for their computers and strong Wi-Fi.”
“Ugh,” Roni exploded as Melanie walked in the door. She quickly scanned the bottom of the walls, counting her outlets. Maybe she needed some power strips.
Melanie took one look at Roni’s outfit and slapped her hand over her mouth.
Roni gave her a pointed look. “What, too much?”
Melanie smacked her lips, then pushed them together. “I’m not saying a word. Not a word.”
Of course, she wasn’t. She didn’t have to. She was wearing her beautiful Burberry coat. Roni leaned toward her. “This is supposed to be a covert mission,” she said in a whisper. “I’m going incognito. I need to check out my competition, and the last thing I want is for someone to recognize me.”
