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“Don’t give me the knowing eyes. It wasn’t a big deal. A run-in at a club.” Leighton paused. “She wasn’t thrilled to see me.” Leighton put up a brave front, but saying the words made her wilt inside. Jamie was a tough subject for her. She’d always wonder about what might have been if their circumstances had been different. Maybe that was one of the reasons she frequented Puzzles. She tried to learn from the mistakesshe’d made, but also didn’t allow herself to reminisce too often, having learned to keep her fingers off the bruise. It wasn’t meant to be between them. That was that.
“She’s the one who got away?” Stevie asked, as she placed napkins in front of two new arrivals down the bar.
“You could say that,” Leighton said, reflective, her gaze brushing the bar and the swirl of its gray marble. The cool stone beneath her fingertips helped ground her.
Jessica held up a finger. “But I believe in fate. I’ve seen it at work. Hear me out.”
“No.”
“Maybe running into Jamie was fate’s way of tapping you on the shoulder.”
Leighton laughed. “I highly doubt it. I tried to fix things with Jamie once. It didn’t work.”
“Once.” Jessica scoffed. “If I’d given up after a single defeat, my life would be very different today. Just ask Brooklyn.”
“I wish I had your fortitude, your killer instinct. The truth is that I’m a softie, and if Jamie says to go away, I’m going to respect her wishes.”
“We don’t know what they are now, though.”
Leighton scrunched one eye closed. “We kind of do after last night.”
Jessica glanced over her shoulder. “Bordeauxnuts is just a few blocks from here. You could swing by for a cup of coffee.”
Leighton sighed. “I dream about those little doughnuts.”
“I had them last week.”
Leighton swiveled. “What? You didn’t tell me.”
“I stop by now and then. Too good not to. I don’t mention it because Jamie is an understandably delicate topic, and I don’t like watching the sad little storm cloud appear over your head.” She sipped her wine. “She’s looking really great lately.”
Leighton closed her eyes, flashing on the memory of Jamie at the club. Her hair was longer now. Still dark, thick, and beautiful. And the red top she’d been wearing? Yeah, well, an impression had been made. “Trust me. I know.”
“And you’re still not interested in testing the waters? Time has passed. It all worked out for Bordeauxnuts.”
Leighton stared at the wine rack that stretched its way to the ceiling on the far wall. The servers had to climb the rolling ladder to retrieve the more expensive bottles. “Part of my job used to be risk assessment, and I think I’m pretty good at it. My chances with Jamie Tolliver make the endeavor nonadvisable.”
“Before meeting Brooklyn, I think I would have understood that ideology.” She shrugged. “But she changed me. The least I can do is pass on this advice because it’s worth it. All the trouble, stress, grief, and heartache are worth it in the end. Brooklyn says it better with an ice cream/brain freeze analogy, but it’s all the same.”
Leighton allowed the words to settle over her. She valued Jessica’s wisdom, and so she tucked the advice into her back pocket in case she ever needed it. But this wasn’t the time to act. “I hear you, but there’s a boundary in place between me and Jamie, and my plan is to respect it. Unless she asks me not to someday. That would be different.”
Jessica turned to her with a gleam in her eye. “I like that last part. I’m hoping it happens.”
Leighton lifted the glass to her lips and let it hover just shy. “Yeah, well. You’d probably have better odds of winning the New York Lottery.”
Jessica smiled and watched Leighton, wheels turning. “I’m not so sure about that.”
Chapter Nine
“What do you think I should do?” Jamie asked. The first hint of daylight shimmied its way in through Bordeauxnuts’ street-facing picture window. Summer was cheerful—the sunshine joined them earlier these days. “I want your honest opinion. This is too important for unwavering support.”
She stood across from Leo, her arms crossed, leaning back against the counter in the empty coffee bar fifteen minutes before opening. She had a decision looming and hadn’t slept well, knowing the meeting with this Michael Stoneking guy was scheduled that afternoon. Her thoughts were all over the place about his offer, and she needed input and a clear direction and fast.
Leo, mirroring her position against the opposite counter, nodded. He’d been her right hand since the early days when she’d first opened. He knew Jamie. He knew the business, and what was more, she trusted him. “Well.” He sighed, contemplating the question. “You’ve been wanting this second location for as long as I can remember. You talk about it all the time. Scout properties, neighborhoods. It’s your vision for this place.”
“That part is true.” The reality was that she simply couldn’t afford to open a second bar just yet. Every time she had a little money put away for that particular pipe dream, the price of milk would inch up, or her wine distributor would inform her of a nationwide shortage. Bordeauxnuts was profitable, just not enough to fund the new venture. At least, not yet.
“This is one way to make it happen,” Leo said, meeting her gazehead-on. “You can’t discard that just because it wouldn’t be yours.” He shrugged. “You’d pull in a nice fee, though.”
