Unexpectedly Home

by Emma Woods

  Matt was behind the counter, a rag in hand, when I stormed in. He put up his hands as though to calm the raging fury and hurried around to where I stood, fists on my hips, red-faced.

  “Gus is in the back, sweeping,” he explained hastily. “Come back to my office and I’ll tell you what happened.”

  I followed him, both glad that I hadn’t found Gus in a frightened ball in the corner and angry that I hadn’t been informed of any of this.

  Matt led me into an office plastered with old band posters and vintage coffee advertisements. It was cluttered, but in an I-do-real-work-back-here kind of way that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. I took the chair he indicated while Matt closed the door and then sat in a cracked leather chair on the business side of the desk.

  “Gus called me about four hours ago,” he explained without preamble.

  “He called you?” I spat. “Why didn’t he call me?”

  Matt put up his hand again. “Just hear me out, Corinne. I think he made the right choice.”

  I sat back in a huff and folded my arms across my chest. My anger was slowly morphing into curiosity. If Gus had thought to call Matt, this would be an interesting story.

  “Gus called the coffee shop and told me that things weren’t working out with Mrs. Gunn. He said he was bored and all she did was watch TV. Apparently, she gave him an old granola bar for a snack and he thought it tasted funny.” Matt’s eye twinkled and, though I did appreciate the humor of my brother telling Matt this detail, I wasn’t ready to smile yet. He went on, “Gus said he didn’t want to stay with her and that he wanted to try working here in the shop. I walked over to get him and brought him here. He’s been working hard all day long and having a really good time.”

  I pursed my lips, conflicted. As much as I wanted Gus to feel useful and mature, there were just so many difficulties that could come from his working at a place like this. Sure, Matt seemed like a very understanding boss, and I had high hopes for Emily, but things could get difficult fast. Besides, no one had called to tell me that anything had happened, and that rankled.

  Matt waited while I processed all of this. Then he gently said, “I think Gus wants to work here, and I think you should let him.”

  “You don’t know the whole story of my brother,” I argued. “There are times when he gets really overwhelmed or frustrated and he lets it out in loud ways. He can’t always control his feelings, and it might reflect badly on your business.”

  Matt appeared to absorb my words, giving them appropriate contemplation. “I know that he won’t be like our other employees in some ways. We’ll make sure that we keep an eye on him. But, Corinne, this is my business, and I think that ninety-five percent of the time, Gus’s work here will reflect well on it.”

  “Maybe, but that other five percent can leave a far more lasting impression on your customers.”

  “Gus wants to work here. Your other option just ran out. I don’t know that you have a choice anyway,” he pointed out.

  I sighed heavily. “Okay. You win. But I’m going to give you my phone number, and I’m going to check in on him, at least for the first few weeks.”

  Matt grinned. “It’s a deal.”

  6

  On Tuesday, I spent the entire day at work alternating between trying to remember everything Heather had told me during my training and worrying about Gus. I’d dropped him off at the Beanery when I headed to the ranch that morning, and Emily had been there to set him right to work. He’d waved me off cheerfully and I had no choice but to drive away, and then proceed to obsess about him. True to my word, I texted Matt throughout the day, but his responses were all positive.

  When I finally arrived at the coffee shop that afternoon, I saw that my worries were wasted. Gus had a fabulous day. He gushed about his work on the ride home. I listened and grew more and more impressed by what I heard. Emily and Matt had clearly thought through how they would use my brother on the job. Not only had they found jobs that Gus could master, but they had put him to work at things that actually mattered. He wasn’t just being given busywork, he was improving the function of the shop.

  As the week went by, I found myself less and less preoccupied with what was happening at Birch Springs Beanery. In fact, I began to really enjoy my job on the ranch. Heather was usually on hand to answer any questions I might have, and we were able to chat a bit. I genuinely liked her. She had high expectations for how things were supposed to work, which was how I operated, too. Ty was perennially friendly and even came out to ask my opinion on some ideas he had for a new marketing campaign. Luke was always running around, incredibly busy, but he usually had an encouraging word for me when he paused to ask me to do some new task.

  The best part of the job was that I stayed busy. I hated to have time on my hands when I was at work. I noticed that the conference room needed some organizing and took care of that while I was setting it up for a group. The kitchenette’s cupboards needed a good going-over, and I fit that in between phone calls. There were a number of little things that I found I could do to make things more efficient or look better. My efforts were always appreciated, and I gained confidence in my ability to contribute something of real value to the ranch.

  By the time I left Friday afternoon, I was in high spirits. Gus seemed to be flourishing at the Beanery. I was officially in the honeymoon period of my job. And though the sky was gray and snow flurries kept spitting periodically, I marveled at the beauty of the land around me as I drove to pick up my brother.

  I parked in front of the coffee shop and headed inside. It would have been more efficient to wait outside for Gus to come out, but this was becoming part of my end-of-day routine. Stepping out of the cold and into the warm, fragrant shop was a delight to the senses. Between the friendly creaks of the floorboards and the welcoming hisses and clanks up at the coffee bar, I felt my tiredness ease away. I could never leave this shop without having my spirits lifted.

  Sophie was leaning over the shoulder of a high-school aged boy who I happened to know was newly hired. His name was Cory, and he was cute in a nerdy sort of way. But by the way that Sophie snapped her gum and laughed at everything he said, I knew she found him very attractive. I had to hide a smile when I waved my hello to them and headed toward the back offices.

  I found Gus coming out of the storeroom, which smelled absolutely heavenly. Even though I am no coffee lover, I can certainly appreciate how good it smells. Matt, I’d learned, roasted his own beans, and there were times when the back of the store was saturated with delicious aromas.

  “Hi, Corinne,” he grunted, arms full of boxes. “I have to go and restock up front.”

  “Okay, no rush,” I replied lightly and smiled as he scuttled toward the front of the store.

  “Hey,” called Matt’s voice from his office.

  I walked to the door and poked my head around. “Hey. How are you doing?”

  He leaned back in his chair and stretched his muscular arms over his head. As he did so, I couldn’t help but appreciate how his shirt tightened, giving evidence to all the hours he must have put in lifting weights. He rested his hands on the back of his head and gave me a tired smile.

  “I think I’ve been sitting too long,” Matt admitted. “Want to have a seat while Gus finishes up?”

  “Sure,” I said, trying for a casual tone.

  I wasn’t quite sure what sort of relationship we had. I hadn’t been very nice to him when we first met, then we’d disagreed over Gus working here. Matt was never anything but kind. Still, we weren’t exactly friends. All week, we’d exchanged texts and had pleasant exchanges when I dropped Gus off or picked him up. Matt was my brother’s boss and my boss’s brother. It was all tangled and complicated.

  And, to be very honest, there was the fact that he was extremely attractive. Matt wasn’t my type, of course, but he was tall and muscled and had those intense gray eyes. Even his tattoos and beard were growing on me very slowly. I found myself flustered sometimes when I caught myself noticing his
good looks or wondering if he thought I looked nice.

  “How was your first week at the ranch? Has Heather driven you crazy yet?”

  I shook my head. “I like Heather a lot. I think we are similar in our expectations for a job well done.”

  Matt gave me a crooked grin. “That’s good news. Rosemarie filled in at the reception desk for a few weeks and found it a bit tougher. But she and Heather are pretty different.”

  I nodded, not sure what else to say on the topic. When the silence stretched, I brought up how well Gus seemed to be doing.

  “I’m really happy with his work, too,” Matt agreed. “Like I said, there are so many little things around here that we never seem to have time to get done. Gus is really keeping things running better.”

  I relaxed a bit. “I’ve been very impressed with how you and Emily are treating him. He comes home in a great mood every day. I think he’s very good at telling when people are being condescending with him. Everyone here lets him be an adult doing a regular job. He’s proud of himself, and that means the world to me.”

  “I’m glad. I did a study last year with my men’s Bible study about what it meant to be a godly man. One of the things we learned was that men are designed to work, and without it, we struggle in a lot of different ways.” Matt caught me off guard, as he always did, when he so casually mentioned the Bible or God.

  I had to put that aside and concentrate on his words. “Yes, I think that makes sense.”

  Matt leaned forward, elbows on his desk, his expression serious. “I want to ask you something, Corinne, but I don’t want to make things weird.”

  Alarm bells went off and my walls of safety erected themselves instantaneously. “Okay, shoot,” I said nervously.

  “I was hoping you’d go on a date with me sometime,” he said, and then waited for my reply.

  I just sat and blinked at him. What in the world? Matt Donovan had just asked me on a date. Just like that. There was no flirting, no testing the waters, no acting as if he had other motives. If I wasn’t so stunned, I might have appreciated his directness. But I didn’t really know him. I’d never dated much before. And he had all those tattoos.

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” I demurred.

  Most men would have made a joke to cut the awkward tension, or gotten angry, or had some sort of normal reaction. Matt, however, nodded and pressed, “Why not?”

  My eyes widened. I’d never dealt with someone who played no games. I didn’t have any idea how else to respond other than to be honest. “I don’t know you very well,” I began, picking the least offensive reason. “I’ve just arrived, and I don’t know if I want to jump into a romantic relationship right away. And, to be honest,” I took a deep breath, “I don’t know if you’re my type.”

  To my surprise, the corner of Matt’s mouth curved up. “Well, I think I can work with all that.”

  I sat and blinked at him some more. Who was this guy?

  He went on, “I certainly respect your desire to know me more before you date me. I think that’s pretty smart. And I get wanting to settle in more, too. But what about me isn’t your ‘type’?”

  I shrugged and blushed. It would be so incredibly rude to announce that I didn’t like beards and tattoos. I liked men who dressed in sharply pressed slacks and wore designer wristwatches and used cologne. Matt was handsome in a rugged, hipster, I-can-roast-my-own-coffee-beans-and-wield-an-ax kind of way. It worked out here, but it wasn’t for me.

  Apparently, he read a lot more into my silence than I would have liked. Matt nodded thoughtfully and leaned back in his seat.

  “How about we work on becoming friends first?” he asked gently.

  His tone warmed my heart. We’d had a very honest conversation in which I’d essentially rejected his suit, and he had taken it gracefully. If ever there was someone with great friend potential, it was this Goliath sitting across from me.

  “I’d like to be friends,” I agreed with a relieved smile and got to my feet, reaching for my purse.

  When I got to the door, Matt called, “Corinne?”

  I turned back to him and froze momentarily at the intensity of his eyes.

  “Just know that I will be asking you out again.”

  My heart began to race, and I gave him a small smile and scurried out of there. Gus was ready to go when I got to the front, and I was all too glad to get in my cold car and escape. I was overwhelmed by all the emotions I’d felt in that moment and I needed time to dissect them.

  We changed clothes, and then hurried to Bumblebee House. It was my turn to help Danielle with supper, and Gus joined Jill in the family room to watch some TV. I didn’t say anything about Matt as we prepared the meal, but he was never far from my thoughts.

  I even watched Rosemarie carefully during supper. Ty had come to join us, and the two were very sweet together. Rosemarie was different than both of her brothers. She was shy and gentle, though she did share a thoughtfulness with Matt that I couldn’t deny.

  Once the dishes were cleared away, people scattered. Mae was going to the movies with friends. Danielle and Rosa had a book club meeting in town. Emily and Nate were planning to go for a late-night run. Ty was going to hang out with Luke, his best friend and his girlfriend’s oldest brother.

  When the house settled down, Rosemarie turned to Jill and said, “Okay, it’s time.”

  Jill wrinkled her nose. “Ugh. Do we have to?”

  “Have you seen what you are wearing?” Rosemarie pointed at the small blonde’s too-short PJ pants and stained sweatshirt.

  Jill looked down and frowned. “Things are getting desperate. You’re right.” She turned to where Gus and I sat on stools at the counter, watching the exchange as the two girls washed the dishes. “Any chance the two of you wouldn’t mind helping me with my laundry?”

  My eyebrows lifted, and I glanced between Jill and Rosemarie.

  “Jill hates doing laundry. So, when she runs out of clothes, we spend the entire evening washing just about everything she owns. We put on music and eat snacks and try to make it fun,” Rosemarie explained.

  “We don’t have anything better to do,” Gus shrugged.

  I gave my brother a sidelong look. He wasn’t much of a one for folding clothes, but if he was game, so was I. “Okay,” I answered.

  The rest of the evening flew by. We ended up having a very good time dancing, singing along to oldies, eating ice cream, and helping Jill with her laundry. By the time we folded the last item and Rosemarie took Jill up to put it all away, Gus and I headed home, hearts light and still laughing.

  7

  I was wearing comfy sweats and sipping from a steaming mug when there was a knock at our front door the next morning. I couldn’t imagine who might be up and about before ten a.m. on a Saturday. My only guess was that maybe Rosa was dropping by. As our aunt, she probably felt some compunction to check in on us.

  So, I padded over and flung open the door, then froze. It wasn’t Rosa. It was Matt. I mentally assessed my appearance, from my messy bun to my fluffy pink slippers, and groaned. I didn’t even have on deodorant, let alone makeup. This was absolutely not how I wanted an attractive man who had recently asked me out to see me.

  “Morning, Corinne,” he said with a friendly smile. “I hope I’m not too early. Mind if I come in?”

  I shuffled backwards, opening the door wider. The damage was already done, and it was possible that he was here on Rosa’s orders. Maybe he would be struck in the head later and develop amnesia and not remember seeing me like this. I could hope.

  He shrugged out of his coat and hung it on a peg. “Do you want me to take my shoes off?”

  “Are you staying long?” was all I could think to say.

  Matt considered that. “It depends on Gus.”

  My eyebrows lifted. So, this wasn’t a home repair call.

  “I’ll go get him,” I said and crossed the living room to Gus’s door. I knocked and called, “Matt’s here to see you!”

&n
bsp; Then I turned back and found Matt filling up the living room. My mouth went dry, but I remembered to say, “Have a seat.” He did and I returned to my recliner, though I only perched on the edge and watched Matt, trying to think of some polite topic of conversation. For some reason, my brain kept focusing on how handsome he looked with his hair still wet from a shower. He always smelled delicious, too. It really wasn’t fair.

  “Gus was just taking a shower,” I explained. “He’ll be out in a minute.”

  Matt was totally relaxed on our couch, one arm spread across the back, the other resting on the arm. “Do you two have plans for today?”

  I bit my lip. If I said no, was he going to ask us to do something with him? I wasn’t opposed to the idea, but I was really looking forward to spending some time resting and relaxing today. Matt struck me as the sort of fellow who liked to go hiking or fishing on his day off, and that didn’t sound like something I wanted to do.

  “I’m hoping to get some reading done,” I finally informed him. “Sundays are always busy with church and getting ready for the week. Saturdays are my only real day of rest.”

  “It’s smart of you to make time for resting,” Matt affirmed me. “I think it’s easy to get caught up in busyness and suddenly find you’ve run out of steam.”

  “How do you find time off when you own the coffee shop?” I wondered.

  “For the first few months, it was really tough. We’re always closed on Sundays, but back then I could only keep the place open for a few hours. So, I opened from six to ten in the morning and then from four to eight at night. Once I could afford to hire help, I started stretching that out a bit more. I had a full-time guy working who handled things from eight to five, and that really let us be open as much as we needed to be. Now, with Emily and Sophie, it’s much easier. Emily runs things from opening at six until two or three in the afternoon. I come in around noon and work until closing at ten. Sometimes one of us is there when we’re scheduled to be off, just to keep up with paperwork or to mess around with new drink ideas. Though we have stretches where we’re both switching shifts around, covering for each other so much that the usual schedule gets thrown out.”