Lost and Found (books 1-3): Small-Town Romantic Comedy

by Elizabeth Lynx

  “I guess your father’s right. We should get back to what we planned to do,” Mica said with a wink.

  I nodded. “You are right. Goodbye, Dad.”

  I waved, but he didn’t even lift his head to notice. It broke my heart that even after standing up to him, making him see what he had in me, his own daughter, he went right back to the way he was—selfish and cold.

  Once we left his office, I pulled Mica into the kitchen.

  “Doesn’t Love Foods have an office building or is it all run from your home?” Mica gazed around our kitchen with the black marble counters and white cabinets.

  I was surprised Sarah, the chef, wasn’t here whipping something up.

  “Love Foods does have an office building in Maryland, but my father had a heart attack last year. He’s worked from home ever since. I work here too some days.”

  “But not anymore.” Mica turned and pinned me with his eyes.

  “You meant that?”

  I had no idea if Mica was saying that to get at my father or he really meant for me to come work for him.

  “Every word. Though, I held some things back. Your father was there, and it would have been weird if I said everything.”

  Warmth ran up to my cheeks and straight back down between my legs. “And what were those things?” I stepped closer until he reached for me, pulling me into him.

  “Let’s see if I can remember . . . I know I wanted to comment how firm your ass was and how I missed squeezing it. It is perfect and the way it shakes as I fuck you . . . I don’t think I could live without that,” he whispered in my ear as his fingers drew a line down my side, over my hip, and then grasped my ass to squeeze.

  I yelped, and then my clit twitched. “What else?”

  “Everything,” he said and pulled back a step. “I made a mistake. I should have listened to what you were going to say. Instead, I assumed the worst and threw you out. That wasn’t right.”

  I shook my head. “No, you were right to be angry. I didn’t mean to only have a fling. It was because I was scared. I have never been in love before, and I was worried I’d fuck up—”

  “In love?” he asked as he searched my eyes.

  “Yes, I know you may not feel the same, but if getting kicked out of your house and thinking I’d never see you again taught me anything, it’s that being honest with myself and others is the only way to be. I shouldn’t have pretended to only want a weekend fling. I still wanted to be with you and your family, but I didn’t know any other way to be. I was used to things that looked nice but had no depth, relationships included. You and your family are beautiful because of who you are, not the superficial things you have.”

  “And I love you because you’re beautiful and funny and clever and so much more. I feel like the luckiest man that you came to my house looking to sell my coffee. Even more lucky that you never take no for an answer and kept coming back. Now it’s my turn to invade your home. Make you go on a trip with me, so we can make coffee together.”

  That last part felt more like a question than a statement. I was surprised he couldn’t tell how I felt.

  “Yes. I’d love to move up to Maine. I’d be closer to my sister and my upcoming niece or nephew. I’d be the best-dressed woman in town.”

  “We do have a movie star that lives in the town,” he mentioned.

  “Okay, you do have a lot to learn. First off, when a woman says she’s the best-dressed woman, you nod your head.”

  He nodded. “I mean, she’s a movie star, but you’re a way better dresser.” He lifted his brow, waiting for approval.

  “Better, but we’ll still need to work on that.”

  “Then that means you’re coming? If you want to take it slow and just work together for a while to see how things go—”

  I cut him off with a kiss. And I used tongue. There was only one way I wanted him to perceive my intentions. I was going to defile this man, and he was going to love it.

  Once I pulled back, I said, “Do you still think I want to take it slow?”

  “No, thank God.” He grabbed the back of my head and pulled me close to start the kiss back up.

  The kiss turned weird as we both began to laugh. Maybe this love thing didn’t suck so badly after all.

  TWENTY-SIX

  Mica

  “The nut feels loose. Can you grab it?” I asked as I stretched on the floor.

  Carter grunted. “Not quite. Wait. I got it. My fingers are barely fondling it.”

  “There should be two of them. Two nuts.” I sat up, rolling my neck from side to side.

  Hopping up from the barn floor, I clapped my hands together to get rid of dust and coffee chaff.

  Carter was helping me put together a new, bigger coffee roaster. With demand increasing at The Blue Spot, now that they’re open for business, and Carter’s honeymoon cabins filling up due to October being a big wedding season, I needed more roasters.

  It was great having a friend I could depend on for help and talk about life. Seven months ago, I never knew who Carter was. I had seen him in town a few times but never spoke to him. But, before Bea entered my life, I rarely spoke to anyone except Chloe and Debbie.

  I walked over to the other side of the roaster. Carter was half underneath, tightening the bolts.

  “Any luck?” I asked.

  “Got it,” he said and slid out from underneath. “I think she’s done. We should test her out.”

  I smirked. He just wanted an excuse to hang around a little longer. He married Olivia over the summer when she began to show, and it was a great wedding. Everyone seemed happy. But, according to Carter, now that Olivia’s nearing her due date, she had turned into a terror.

  I couldn’t believe it when he told me. I had met Olivia many times. She was always so kind. I would never tell Bea this, but Olivia was sweeter than her sister. I loved Bea and her feistiness, but her sister was much more easygoing.

  Then Bea and I went over there last week for dinner, and I saw for myself how bad it was for Carter.

  “You know if you want to come inside and watch the game, we can—”

  The barn door flew opened, and Bea stood there with wide eyes, breathing heavily.

  “It’s time,” she said in between breaths.

  Did Chloe bake a pie? She had started a small baking business. I invested some of the money I got from The Blue Spot to help Chloe and bought a commercial-sized oven. In fact, there had been a lot of work done to the house. The kitchen was expanded to help Chloe, and we turned a tiny, unused bedroom into a playroom for Shelby. We also bought some equipment to help with her physical therapy.

  I wasn’t much of a designer, so Bea and Chloe took over, making that happen.

  “Time for what?” Carter asked.

  Bea threw her arms up in frustration. “Time for your wife to give birth. She’s already at the hospital. She was at work when she went into labor, so Tyler took her.”

  Tyler was the local veterinarian and the guy who somehow married a Hollywood movie star. I had no idea how that happened, but it made all the local papers.

  Carter grew pale and didn’t move.

  I turned to him and grabbed his shoulders. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded, and a goofy grin appeared. “I’m about to become a father.”

  Carter still wasn’t moving, so both Bea and I helped him walk. We took him to Bea’s car and asked Ed to get him to the hospital.

  We told him we’d take his truck and meet him there.

  Bea ran toward his truck and looked back. “Come on. What are you waiting for?”

  I glanced toward the house. “I just want to lock up first.”

  She groaned but nodded her head. I had become a little paranoid about making sure the barn and house were secure at all times. What happened this past spring still had me on edge.

  But that wasn’t the real reason I was heading inside. I ran into the house and grabbed what it was that I wanted. Then I went and locked up before heading to the truck.
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br />   “I don’t think anyone’s going to break into the house in the few hours we’re gone,” Bea said as I drove.

  “What if your sister’s in labor for twelve hours or more? Then we’d be there for a long time.”

  She shook her head. “The women in our family give birth like torpedoes. My mother was in labor for only three hours with us. Her mother gave birth on the way to the hospital. And my mother swears that her grandmother felt a twinge of pain, went to use the bathroom, and out popped a baby. The weird thing was, she didn’t realize she was pregnant. Corsets could hide anything.”

  I chuckled. “That doesn’t sound true.”

  She raised her hand. “I swear on my four-inchers.”

  I gazed over at Bea. My heart still did a happy flip every time I laid eyes on her. She could always make me laugh. I knew I’d spend the rest of my life with her being amused and adamantly in love. I just hoped she felt the same.

  Bea was busy calling her brother, Konrad. He had moved up here a little over five months ago but wouldn’t tell anyone where he lived. It was like he went into hiding. Bea got the occasional text but nothing else. I wondered if working for their father broke him and he was now living as a hermit.

  “I left a message for Konrad. Maybe he’ll come out of hiding to see Olivia’s baby,” Bea said with a frown.

  I reached over and rubbed circles over Bea’s back. She was worried about him. And as much as I didn’t like how Konrad looked at my sister, I knew what it was like to worry over a sibling.

  It took about a half hour to get to the hospital. And as we walked up to the entrance, Bea’s phone rang. We stopped as she answered, “Hello?”

  “It’s a boy!” I could hear Carter yell through the phone.

  Bea pulled the phone from her ear, but after a moment, she brought it back. “We’re here. We’ll be right there. Congratulations!”

  She put the phone back in her purse and smiled up at me. “I’m an aunt. An official aunt. A blood aunt. They can’t take that title away. The boy’s been born.”

  I wrapped my arms around the woman I loved and whispered, “Congratulations, Aunt Bea.”

  She stiffened and stepped back. “Does that mean I need to take up baking? Isn’t that what aunts do?”

  I shook my head. “No, I think that’s more grandmother territory. But if you want to start baking, I know Chloe would like the—”

  “No. No. Baking and cooking hold no interest for me. I know, I’ll be the cool aunt. The one that takes him to Europe where anything goes.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “He’s not even a day old. Let’s focus on helping Olivia and Carter first.”

  She tapped me on my arm, and we walked into the hospital. “You’re right. First things first, I need to buy out the gift shop and fill Olivia’s room with teddy bears and flower baskets that say get well. And don’t let me forget to make a custom line of my baby bags just for Olivia.”

  I started to laugh again but it soon died as Bea turned to the gift shop. After twenty minutes and a thousand dollars later, Bea followed through on her plan. Our hands were filled with bags of gift shop items, and the shopkeeper said the rest would be sent up to her sister’s room.

  Once we got there, we walked in to find Olivia in bed holding her son and Carter—who was still a bit dazed, but color had returned to his cheeks—hovering over them.

  “Oh my God, Olivia, he’s so freaking cute.” Bea dropped the gifts in the corner and ran over to her sister’s side.

  “Meet Lorne Quincy Howard Fitzwilliam.” Olivia pulled back the blanket by the baby’s face that he was swaddled in.

  I smiled and went over to slap Carter on the back. “Congratulations, he’s a keeper.”

  Carter nodded. I had been hanging around the guy for long enough that he didn’t like gushing or talking or much of anything besides work and bacon and my coffee.

  Bea wasn’t like that at all. She couldn’t stop going on how perfect and how handsome he was. That he looked so much like Carter.

  After a while, and after we both got to hold little Lorne, I nudged Bea out of the room.

  Once we stepped into the hall, I said, “They need some alone time. Why don’t we get something to eat?”

  I could tell she wanted to go back and be with her sister, but Bea understood. We headed toward the cafeteria.

  I was thankful Shelby’s grandparents were watching her today. It would have been too difficult to have her here in her new walker, helping her guide the hallways while trying to spend time with the new baby.

  Her bright red medical walker had recently been made. It had been prescribed by her physical medicine doctor and now she was starting to walk with its help. Shelby was still getting the hang of walking in a straight line, but her father’s family was so excited, they wanted to drive to the mall with her a few towns over to let her explore. I knew she’d love that.

  We grabbed a tray of food at the cafeteria and settled at a table by the window. Since it was well after lunch, the place wasn’t that busy. As I watched Bea dig into her grilled chicken, I thought back to when I first met her seven months ago and how I wanted nothing to do with her. And now, I couldn’t imagine my life without her. How she helped out with the coffee business and started her own line of baby bags and accessories for new moms.

  It was because of her that my house was no longer falling apart, my sister was following her dreams, and Shelby knew and was loved by her father’s family.

  I wondered if I should do it now. Give her the item I grabbed at home.

  As much as I wanted the place to be special, I knew I had put it off long enough. Pushing back in the chair, I got down on one knee, dug into my jacket pocket, and pulled out the black velvet ring box.

  “Oh, my Gud,” she mumbled as she tried to quickly chew what was in her mouth.

  I opened the box to present her with my mother’s engagement ring—a small diamond on a simple gold band. It wasn’t much, and I was sure she owned jewelry that cost ten times the amount of this ring.

  “This may not be much,” I waved around the room and noticed the few people there were watching us, “and this may not be the best location. I had planned something a little more romantic involving coffee beans . . .”

  She snorted. “Figures you’d think romance involved coffee beans.”

  “Let me finish.” I cleared my throat. “But I wanted to do this for the past month and have been too nervous. But seeing you fawn over your sister and watching what Carter and Olivia have, I want that, too. I want that with you. This ring may not be much, but it’s the one thing I have left from my mother. And I wanted the woman I loved, the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, to have it.”

  I took the ring out of the box and held it up to her. Tears were streaming down her beautiful face, and I hoped that one day our baby would have her gorgeous eyes.

  “Will you marry me, Beatrice Christina Lotus Love?”

  She didn’t make me wait. Bea hopped up, almost knocking me back and helped me up from the floor.

  “Yes. I love it. It’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. I hate that you made me cry, but I love you too much to stay mad.”

  There were claps the cheers from the people in the room.

  She held out her hand, and I slipped on the ring. I had taken it to the jewelers over a month ago with one of her rings to have it sized correctly.

  My head dipped to her neck as we embraced each other. I thought I might tumble over from all the happiness I felt. Bea was my light. The woman who shone every morning, enticing me to rise. She got me to stop living in the past and realize the best thing for me, for my family, was to open my heart to people.

  She helped grow our family and my business. But the best part, she was willing to be a part of my world. Every day I felt grateful to have her at my side.

  “I can’t wait to marry you,” I said.

  “And you know what I can’t wait for?” she asked but didn’t wait for me to answer. “The honeymoon!
” Bea waved her hands in the air and did a little dance.

  God, I loved this woman.

  EPILOGUE

  Bea

  11 Months Later

  “Have you set the wedding date?” Tyler asked as his plate of Atlantic salmon with saffron risotto was placed in front of him by the server I hired.

  My eyes slid to Mica. He was frowning. Would he spill the beans? I hoped not.

  It was our first dinner party since the redesign, and I wanted it to run smoothly.

  “We’re still deciding. It will be spring or summer. Or maybe autumn.” I pointed toward the French doors that led to our new deck.

  It wasn’t autumn, but the evenings were cooling.

  “We had a spring wedding and it was lovely.” Iona said with a smile and placed her hand on Tyler’s.

  “Ours was also in the spring but it rained a lot.” Olivia smiled at Carter, who was staring at his plate as if the fish was about to come alive.

  “I remember. Since it was right out in the barn.” I said to my twin. “It took some convincing, but Mica caved.”

  My lips curved as I remember how I talked him into allowing my sister to get married in the coffee roasting barn. Mica coughed and reached for his glass of water. I guess he recalled it too.

  What everyone at this table didn’t know, besides Mica and me, was we were already married.

  Legally, it was a grey area and I didn’t believe the priestess who performed the ceremony was ordained. The Church of Those of Raffia Bits sounded fake as hell.

  But Mica and I had been drinking that night. Celebrating one of the rare nights we had away from the house and Chloe volunteering to watch Shelby. We may have gone a little too far.

  When I woke up the next morning, I thought it was a dream until I saw the raffia ring on my finger. Mica had one, too.