Her eyes were wide. “Oh yeah? Did you get it all out?”
I squinted at her, and then squealed in delight when the clicking noise in the machine sounded behind me. The heavenly brew was done.
After filling my cup and topping it with a pinch of cinnamon, I held it up to my nose and inhaled deeply. Notes of bitter dark chocolate with a bright orange floral flavor for balance.
This was a gift given to us by the Gods.
I almost forgot Cherry was standing there. Almost.
“God, you’re weird sometimes.”
I smiled, pleased. “Why thank you. I strive for it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Back to Charlie.”
I groaned. “Why? Why back to Charlie? Can’t I just drink this and then get out of your hair?”
She folded her arms. “No. You’re already here, in my way, so this is the price you have to pay.”
I waited, took a small sip, relishing in the way the caffeine seemed to grow arms and legs and spread throughout every one of my limbs from the moment it slid down my throat.
“What’s the fuss? Honestly. What’s wrong with having a little fun? You do it all the time.”
But he isn’t like the other guys I’ve hung out with, I admitted to myself, repressing a sad sigh.
“You don’t have to marry him, Charlotte. But the tension between you two… it’s annoyingly obvious. Maybe if you just do the deed…”
“No,” I said, putting my foot down.
“Why?”
“Because!”
“That’s not an answer,” she said, unrelenting.
“It is. It’s my answer,” I bantered back.
She stared at me.
I stared at her.
And then, I blinked.
I was never good at staring contests.
“Gosh, fine! Okay? I like him. Like… the same way Allie liked Noah. I think…”
“Who?”
“From The Notebook?” She didn’t respond. “Never mind. I just… there’s something about him. He’s the total opposite of who I’m typically attracted to. He’s almost… not a fit, but that’s what fits, because if I were a puzzle, I’d be that puzzle missing pieces you’d never find because the cat decided to play with them and one got stuck—”
“Charlotte,” she said, shaking her head. “You do know you’re not making sense, right?”
I stopped short, and then my shoulders slumped.
“Typical symptom of falling in love,” Cherry said, dusting her hands as if she had me all figured out.
“I’m not in love,” I said quickly, recoiling from the word.
“I didn’t say you were actually in love. Sheesh. I said falling,” she pointed out, drawing the word in the air with her finger.
I stared her down over the rim of my mug as I took a big sip, and then looked to my feet. “I can’t fall for him, Cherry. I won’t give this place up. I won’t do it. I’m not Hannah.”
“No one said you had to,” Cherry said, her tone a bit softer.
I looked up at her through a blur. “I’m scared, and I’ve never been scared when it concerned a guy before. I don’t know what to think.”
“Then don’t think, just do,” she said simply.
“That isn’t smart.”
“Who says? Look, you don’t know the answer to how things will turn out. All you know is who you are, Charlotte. You’re a catch. He has to know that. If things don’t work out, well, at least you had fun. At least you don’t have to look back and wonder.”
I looked down at my empty mug, staring at the dark ring left around the inside. Maybe she was right. I didn’t know. I didn’t want to decide. Not yet at least.
“Look, let me help you set up. I need to work a few things out in my head. I swear I’ll leave by nine. Okay?”
She threw her arm over my shoulder and pulled me into a hug. “You’re the boss, remember?”
I COULD ALWAYS COUNT ON seeing my customers as a way to brighten my day. I loved watching them gush over the latest products I kept stocked. It was like one big fan party every single day.
Who wouldn’t want that?
But I promised Cherry I’d leave so she could do her job in peace, and I never went back on a promise.
Well, except for that one time in the sixth grade when I promised my friend Sarah I’d let her keep one of the My Little Ponies my grandma had given me. Which was huge for me. I had always had a collector’s spirit, or so my grandpa would say, and My Little Ponies were it for me.
Most kids said, “Step on a crack, break your mamma’s back.”
Yeah. My go-to was, “Mistreat a treasure, you’ll be hexed forever.”
Sarah had my treasure for about a week, and then brought it to school, per my request. I had to check up on it. That was when I saw the matted horsetail and the scratches on the side. Like it had been given to the dog to play with. As if it were nothing more than a… a… a toy.
I couldn’t let her keep it. I couldn’t deal with knowing something I cherished so deeply was being so mistreated. So I took it from her book bag when she wasn’t looking and pretended I didn’t know what happened to it when she asked me.
It wasn’t my most glorious moment, but I still have that pony and the tail is as smooth and shiny as the day my grandma gave it to me.
Because that was what collectors did. We cherished, loved, and nurtured the things we collected.
“Charlotte,” Cherry said, snapping her fingers in my face.
I shook my head and looked up at her.
“Did you not hear me the first ten times I said your name?” She stopped and pointed behind her to the front of the store.
Charlie was limping toward the front doors as a cab pulled away.
“Looks like lover boy missed you,” she said with an impish grin. “And it’s ten past nine.”
“Sorry. I’m going,” I said as I took my apron off and headed out from behind the bar.
The doors swung open just as I rounded the stairs and headed up to my office. I shut the door behind me and turned to the mirror. I hadn’t changed the night before. I hadn’t even messed with my hair.
I rushed over to my purse and dug through, trying to find my body spray. “Why do I have all this shit?” I said as I gave up and dumped it on the couch. I finally found it just as Cherry opened the door, mid-sentence with Charlie.
“…hiding from you for sure,” she said as her eyes locked on mine.
I scowled and dropped the body spray.
IT ALWAYS AMAZED ME—THE things that came out of a woman’s purse.
I often wondered if all women’s purses resembled that of Mary Poppins’ carpet bag. Secretly, I hoped one of these days I’d bear witness to a lamp being hauled out of a handbag.
The item she’d held in her hand when Cherry let us into her office fell into the clutter piled on the couch as Charlotte scowled at me. “What are you doing here?” she asked, fidgeting with her hair. “I left you a note. I told you I’d be back at nine. How did you even find this place?”
I couldn’t understand her anger, or maybe it was frustration.
Turning to Cherry, I looked to take my cue from her, but there wasn’t even a hint of sympathy on her face.
I grimaced. The day hadn’t even really begun and I was already down one strike. “I… ahh…”
“He came to visit. Said he thought he’d check the place out and give us a hand if we were busy,” Cherry supplied, her words seemingly pushing me toward Charlotte.
“Help?” Charlotte asked, frowning.
Cherry huffed. “You two should just get it out of your system and be done with it.”
I bit my lip, clearly understanding exactly what she meant. Charlotte must have too because she blushed a very becoming shade of hot pink.
“Well, as much as I’d like to say I’m up for it, I’m not. Charlotte might just finish me off in my condition,” I said, joking to lighten the mood.
Cherry turned to me. A smirk curled up her lips as
she flashed a hint of pearly whites. “Isn’t that what you’d be going for? Finishing each other off? I mean, it’s been a long time since I’ve done the deed with a man, but the concept is still sort of the same. Might just be what the doctor ordered for you both. Then maybe you’ll stop pussy footin’ around. Then again…” she paused before continuing, maybe for dramatic effect, and then finished, “maybe you should take that little escapade somewhere else so the friction you two let off doesn’t burn the shop down.”
“Cherry, that’s it!” Charlotte hooked her arm through Cherry’s and frog marched her out of the office. I heard the sound of her words hissing past her lips, but I couldn’t make out what she said. If I could imagine it, and I could, it was probably a good telling off. Cherry had shoved our little problem right up in our faces where it would permanently be the unavoidable elephant in the room.
Suddenly, being alone with Charlotte in her office didn’t seem like such a good idea. Which made no sense to me at all. Leaving would be the exact opposite of my normal behavior. Why? What was it about her that made me always change my thinking?
There was a couch and a pillow. The walls weren’t very thick, but that wouldn’t really matter, considering her office was upstairs. If there were any noises, it could be played off as moving furniture around, or dropping a book, or… I gingerly turned back around, zoning in on what I had clearly overlooked.
Why was there a pillow on the couch? And why did it look as if she’d slept there recently?
“Hey, hot stuff.” At the sound of Cherry’s voice, I turned, finding her in the open doorway.
“Did she sleep here last night?” I asked, eyebrows scrunched together.
Cherry nodded.
I plowed my hand through my hair. “Why?” I didn’t understand why she’d seek out a couch when there was another perfectly good bed at the cottage.
Cherry shrugged. “Who knows why women do the things they do.”
I closed my eyes and sighed deeply before opening them. Had I done something while under the heavy cloak of morphine Cherry told me she’d shot me up with? The only one who could answer that was Charlotte.
“Where is she?” I asked as Cherry backed up a few steps to let me out of the office.
She crossed her arms and pursed her lips before answering. “Probably hiding… Look, Charlie, I’m sorry for what I said earlier. Your sex life is none of my business.”
It was as if she’d recited what she said from a script. As if the words tasted funny. She covered her mouth and shook her head.
“That bad, huh?” I asked, knowing those words, in no way, were hers. They were Charlotte’s, and, by the sound of it, she wasn’t very happy.
Cherry let her hand fall and stepped to the side to look down the short hallway leading to the stairs. Guessing it was all clear, she stepped close. “I don’t know what it is about you that makes her so crazy, but crazy she is. So do me a favor…”
I whispered to match her, “And what favor might that be?”
Her hand snaked out, finger and thumb clamping down on my nipple as she gave it a slight twist. “It’s more like a demand.”
I hissed in response.
“Have your attention now, do I?”
I nodded because, if not, I would have shouted for her to let me go. Charlotte would have heard the outburst and probably come running. Neither of us needed her to be even more angry with us.
“Don’t think I don’t know how to hurt a man. And I will hurt you if you play around with her heart and leave her wondering what she did wrong while you skip along to your next conquest.”
“I won’t—” I gasped as she twisted the already-sensitive nipple a bit further.
“Yes, you will. There’s no helping the heartache that will follow when you leave. I’ve already witnessed the first one because of you. She deserves more than that. Don’t be a douche bag. Be honest with her and with yourself.”
When she let go of my nipple, I crossed my arms, covering both of them. Protecting them. She rolled her eyes down, stopping at the fly of my jeans, and then rolled her eyes back up to mine. “You can’t cover everything at once. Better remember that.”
“What happened to the girl who said we should just jump each other’s bones and get it out of our systems?” I asked, turning slightly in case she came true on her words and grabbed a handful of the family jewels.
“I just spent the last ten minutes getting my ass ripped by Charlotte about you. That’s what happened. Girl don’t make no sense sometimes. She didn’t this time either, but I’m smart enough to read between the lines,” Cherry said, giving me the stink eye.
I had no idea what the hell she even meant. Except for the obvious. Hurt Charlotte and lose my balls… or my nipples. Nodding at her seemed like the best option, so I did. And, just like that, Cherry gave me a smile, and it was as if she switched out her devil horns with a halo.
“Come on, you can check out the coffee while I put up the new mugs.”
I checked behind me, just to make sure her sudden niceness was directed toward me.
She lightly shoved my shoulder. “We cool now. Come on.”
Coffee sounded delicious. Coffee I could sip on while I waited for Charlotte to come out of hiding. Wait for her to come to me so I could apologize for anything untoward I might have done last night.
Cherry took me in hand, showing me the workings of the coffee bar, and then left me to it. I was grateful for the distraction. Keeping busy helped keep my mind off more than one thing. For starters, I could ignore the throbbing pain in my backside if I kept my hands busy. And with the assortments of hot beverages, pursuing the recipe book kept my mind occupied.
After an hour of watching the ebb and flow of Charlotte’s shop, aptly named The Raven’s Den, I realized I was getting a peek inside of her head. Everything in the store reflected her in some way or another. From the Poe poems framed and hung without much uniformity, save that it looked like it belonged there, to the faux brick wall with the small 9 3/4 platform marker. The Bronte books and themed drinks all showed me a side of her I’d never seen before. But the one thing that made me chuckle was the peg closest to the register where two rows of rubber unicorn heads hung neatly in a line.
“Excuse me…”
I jerked, hissing between my teeth as I pasted a fake smile on my face.
“How can I help ye?” I asked, watching the man rub his fingertip above his brow.
Classic guy move. When a man had no idea how to ask a question, touching that spot showed another of the same gender that he was in a right state.
“Looking for something, but you’re not sure just what?” I asked.
He smiled with a relieved sigh, asking, “London?”
“Get that a lot here, mate, but no, I’m from Rochester. Run a pub there as a matter a’fact,” I answered, gesturing for him to take a seat as if he were in my pub.
He sat, crossing his arms along the bar top before looking up to check out the drink menu. I watched his lips move as he read each one. The frown returned. “What is in an Emerald City?”
I smiled, nodding in understanding. “Just learned that myself today. Now let’s see,” I said, drumming my fingers on the counter as the recipe floated across my mind. “Kona coffee with Irish Cream. One of the more simple drinks here.”
“I like simple, but I don’t care much for Irish Cream. Got anything, I don’t know… plain?” he asked, returning my smile.
I looked around to make sure Cherry and Charlotte where nowhere about. With the coast clear, I set about making him a regular coffee. Cream and sugar, hold the frou-frou.
“Now, what brings ye in to The Raven’s Den today?” I asked after he’d taken his first sip.
“My daughter lives in Florida. Her birthday is coming up, and all she can talk about is some shirt she saw on Facebook about winter. I have no idea what the hell she’s talking about, but she really wants that shirt,” he answered, lifting his mug. “This is really good, by the way.”
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br /> “Thanks. Winter, is it? Hmm, I think I know what shirt you’re talking about. Let me just pop over to Cherry and ask about it for ye,” I said, coming out from behind the bar before he could protest.
Cherry knew exactly what I was talking about, but, unfortunately, that particular shirt wasn’t one they kept stocked.
“Is there nothing we can do to help him? Seems like a nice enough gent, just trying to do something special for his daughter,” I asked.
“Grab the tablet from under the cash register and bring it up online. The most we can do is show him where to order it,” Cherry answered before scuttling off to help a customer.
I found the tablet and commenced to helping my customer secure his purchase.
“I can’t thank you enough. My daughter is going to be over-the-moon happy. I usually screw up everything she asks for. Not this time though. Thanks for your help! I’ll be sure to make mention of this in my column.”
“Your column?” Was I missing something?
“Newspaper. Well, more like the local gazette. I write about things to do here in The Hamptons. Places to see. Does the owner do anything special the community should know about?” he asked, pulling out a small notepad from his pocket.
Cherry had mentioned a lot of different things Charlotte scheduled throughout the week, but I couldn’t remember dates or performers for the life of me. So I asked him if he would mind waiting until Cherry was done helping her customer, so she could give him the rundown on The Raven’s Den.
CHERRY BUBBLED WITH EXCITEMENT WHEN the gentleman left. Beaming from ear to ear, she shouted for Charlotte, startling a young man perusing the small comic book area.
Charlotte popped out of the side door that lead to the receiving dock looking a tad startled. “What… what’s wrong?”
When Two Hearts Collide (Game of Hearts Novels Book 3) Page 7