The Fourteen Day Soul Detox, Volume Two

by Rita Stradling

  “Yeah?” he said.

  “Did you see that guy who came in here earlier?” I asked.

  “You’re going to have to be a little more specific than ‘that guy’,” Chris said as he returned to the espresso station.

  “Never mind,” I said, taking another sip of my tea latte. “So, I was thinking about calling this lady who made the offer this afternoon, what do you think? I mean—Cameron said he knew a property lawyer, so maybe I should wait until I talk to that guy but… I don’t know, I’m kind of terrified. I kind of want to get it over with, and at the same time I don’t really want to do it.”

  “Wait and talk to the lawyer,” Chris said.

  “You’re right,” I said, nodding before I took another sip.

  “It’ll be fine,” Chris said then he looked up. “You have a big group incoming.” The bell over the door chimed as a group of about thirty cyclists walked into the shop.

  Chris and I worked through the orders, running out of pastries entirely too soon after the bicyclist group.

  A regular came up in the line right after the last pastry was taken from the display case.

  “Hey Pat, I saved you a muffin if you want it,” I said in greeting.

  “Thanks Jamie, I’d love it.” His striking blue eyes sparkled, contrasting strongly with his trim white beard. He gave me a dimpled grin that would have made me melt if I was a few decades older. “You ran out early,” he said looking at the empty display case.

  “This morning was hopping. That’s the first time in a long time that we ran out of pastries entirely before noon.”

  “Double cappuccino dry,” Chris said, holding the drink over the register to Pat.

  “I didn’t even get a chance to order,” Pat said with another grin.

  “I saw you coming up in the line,” Chris said as he returned to his station.

  I grabbed the muffin bag I had set aside for him and handed it over to him.

  “Oh, I meant to tell you happy belated birthday. Chris told me that was why you were out last Friday,” he said.

  “That’s so nice, thank you,” I said as I rang him up.

  After helping the last few customers in line, I glanced up at the clock. “Oops, Chris, it’s eleven thirty-five.”

  “Oh, good, I am feeling it this morning,” Chris said, folding down his apron. He crossed over to the tip bucket. “Look at this thing,” he whispered, lifting it up. “And I know Charlie put a twenty in here too.”

  I looked down at money, seeing that same wad of cash just visible under a layer of loose tips. “You keep it all today,” I said to Chris.

  “You serious? Nah, you have to be kidding me,” his voice went a little high when he said it. “There has to be like two hundred or more in here.”

  “You always work half your shift with no one here and no tips, and I work my whole shift every time with tips. That doesn’t even come close to evening things out,” I said.

  “Ah, Jamie, you’re so sweet.” He gave me a one-armed hug. “I’m not going to say no. Melissa’s birthday is next week so I’m in definite need of money.”

  “Oh, shoot, I forgot… What day is her birthday?”

  “Next Thursday. She wanted me to invite you out with us, but I know you can’t because of work,” he said.

  “Oh, that’s sweet. Are you guys going out downtown?”

  “Probably,” he said.

  I threw out my hands. “Come by the bar, first round is on me.”

  Chris grinned. “I’ll run it by her.”

  “I want to get her something, what does she want?”

  “I’ll get back to you on that one. I kind of need to get out of here, Jamie, I’m wiped,” he said.

  “Yeah, just take all the tips and don’t worry about doing anything else, okay?” I patted him on his arm.

  “Text me if anything happens today with selling the shop?”

  “Of course,” I said. Grabbing a piece of paper, I wrote, ‘Shop closes at noon today, sorry for the inconvenience.’ Taking a few pieces of tape from the back, I taped the sign under the ‘Open’ sign.

  I cleared the recently vacated tables, wiping each down in turn. The moment the clock struck twelve, I walked back to the front and turned over the ‘Open’ sign to closed.

  “You’re closing?” one of the only lingering customers asked.

  “Yeah, we’re closing early today. If you want anything on the espresso machine, I can get something before I shut it down.

  “Oh, no, I’m fine. I’ll just pack up here.”

  “No rush,” I said, waving a hand through the air.

  Going back behind the counter, I cleaned out the display case and the bagel stations completely. Next I shut down the espresso machine. Chris had already cleaned it. I started on the dishes and only glanced up when I heard the bell ringing over the door. Each time I saw someone exiting rather than entering, so I returned my attention to the dishes. After each dish was on the drying rack, I returned to cleaning the main part of the shop. When I saw no one was inside the shop, I locked the front door.

  I was turning the chairs over onto the tables when someone knocked on my front door.

  Turning, I looked through the window and up into Cameron’s beautiful face.

  A grin fought its way across my face and I had to force my feet to move slowly across the floor to let him in.

  “Hey,” I said when I managed to get the door open.

  “Hey, baby,” he said, grinning down at me.

  I stepped back to let him in and locked the door behind him.

  He stepped past me, his fingers grazing my hip as he passed. He peered around the shop. “Anything I can do to help?” he asked.

  “No, I’m almost done. Actually… That property lawyer you’re friends with, do you think it would be possible for me to talk to him?”

  “I talked to him. That’s why I’m here,” he said.

  “Oh—okay…”

  “That’s not the only reason I’m here.” He brought his hand up to my face. His thumb brushed back and forth over my cheek. “I also want to talk about us,” he said.

  “There’s still an us?” I asked, my voice quiet.

  “There’s always an us,” he said.

  “Okay,” I said. “So let’s do that part first, otherwise the stress will kill me.”

  He huffed out a laugh. “Well—I thought a lot about what you said last night. I don’t agree with a lot of it, but one thing you definitely got right.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We’re still dragging our past around with us. And not just our past, we’re dragging around Vanessa and Logan too. If we keep going on this way, they’ll always be part of us and that’s not what I want. I want us to start over, from scratch. I want it to be as if I had asked you out after I kissed you at the Ultimate Sunshine Tour concert, like I wanted to.”

  “How do we do that, from scratch?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure yet, but I was thinking maybe we could take a step back. Instead of acting like we’re pretty much already married, we could try dating.”

  “No sex?” I asked, a small smile on my lips.

  “People still have sex when their just dating,” he said.

  I tapped my chin. “I don’t think they do.”

  He leaned in and gave me the lightest kiss on my lips. “They definitely do,” he growled.

  “I need to—someone asked me on a date,” I said, meeting his gaze and biting my lower lip.

  “What did you say?” he asked.

  “I told him that I was sort of with someone, though not officially. And I said that until we’d figured out what we were doing, I couldn’t start something new.”

  “But you didn’t say no?” he said.

  I shook my head.

  “Did you want to say no?”

  I looked at him for a few seconds, then shook my head again.

  “Are you going to go out with him?” he asked.

  “Maybe, I don’t know—I was curious,
I can’t even remember what a date is like. And, he’s a really nice guy.”

  “Are you going to sleep with him after your date?” he asked, his gaze intent on mine.

  “Probably not,” I said.

  “Would you tell me if you do?”

  “Do you want me to tell you?” I asked, cocking my head.

  “Yes, I’d want you to tell me before you planned to do it,” he said.

  “Why?” I asked.

  His hand came up to rest on my shoulders. “I heard what you said two nights ago… but where I’m coming from is different. I don’t just want to be with you, Jamie, I want to end up with you. I want to move in together, get married, maybe even make Sarah a brother or sister together. If that means we need to take a step back and date other people to figure out if we want to be with each other, I can handle that. But I don’t think I could get over you sleeping with someone else. If you want to do that, it’ll be over between us. And, if I find out after, it will hurt me a hell of a lot more.”

  I reached up to touch his hand covering my shoulder, running my thumb over his knuckles. “Thank you for being so honest with me.”

  “I think that’s what we need—a fuckload of honesty between us,” he said.

  “A fuckload? How much is that in shit-tons?” I grinned.

  “They’re the same thing,” he said, pulling me into him for a kiss. “Hey, Jamie,” he said against my lips.

  “Yeah?” I murmured.

  “I dare you to go on a date with me this friday.” He leaned back a little to grin down.

  “Look at that grin! You’re so sure I’m going to accept?” I asked, grabbing his biceps.

  “I know you. You never turn down a dare,” he said.

  “You fight dirty,” I said.

  “Hmm, dirty.” He gave me a heated look and moved his hands down my sides, gripping my hips.

  He glanced over my shoulder. “Here, come over here,” he said, nodding toward the back of the shop.

  I glanced back over my shoulder to see a couple pass by the shop. “It’s fine, it’s really hard to see in when the sun is reflecting against the windows like that,” I said, but when Cameron grabbed my hand, I followed him back to my office.

  Once inside, he shut the door behind us.

  My breaths came faster when his hands came back to my hips. “I know what you’re thinking and we—probably should…” I trailed off.

  Cameron grinned down at me. “Probably should or probably shouldn’t?” he asked.

  I ran my hand up under his shirt over the muscles of his stomach. “What if it’s like a health code violation?”

  “It’s not a health code violation. It’s not like I’m bending you over your bagel bar,” he said.

  “Bagel station,” I breathed.

  He chuckled as his lips came down onto mine. His kiss was a slow caress, a wet glide over my lips. His tongue just barely moved against mine before he pulled his mouth away. “But I’m not going to fuck you right now,” he said.

  “You’re not?” I asked as I blinked up into his gaze.

  He kissed me lightly once. “Nope, I’m taking a step back, remember?”

  “How far a step?” I asked.

  “Far enough so that we can actually see each other again, and not just in the relationship we’ve thrown ourselves into,” he said.

  “So, if I go on a date with you, I get sex?” I asked.

  “What do you take me for, a sure thing?” he asked, pressing his hips into mine and telling me in the most carnal way possible how much he wanted me.

  “Um, no. But I just might be,” I said.

  “And I love that about you,” he said, grinning down.

  “Yeah, I bet.” I rolled my eyes. “So, this means you’re not going to sleep with anyone else too, unless you tell me?”

  “That’s exactly what this means,” he said.

  “But you might date other people?” I asked.

  “Would you have a problem with it if I did?” he asked.

  “That’s a complicated question.” I shook my head, and looked away. “Of course I wouldn’t be jumping for joy, but I want things to be fair and…” I sighed. “We probably both need a little perspective, you know?” I met his gaze. “But I don’t want to know about it—actually I do…” I shook my head again. “Nope, I don’t.”

  He laughed, pulling me to him and wrapping his arms tightly around me.

  “I’ll check and see if Sarah can spend the night with my dad and Sharon this Friday. Maybe we can spend the night at your place?”

  “You’re making a lot of assumptions,” he said.

  “I shouldn’t get a babysitter?” I asked.

  “No, definitely get a babysitter. Do you mind if I plan our first date?”

  “Not at all,” I whispered.

  “Thank you, baby,” he said. Then he stepped back to pull his phone from his pocket. “And the other thing. The property lawyer said you can call him at twelve thirty-five, and that’s in about five minutes.”

  “Oh awesome,” I said, taking his phone. “I’m just going to grab that offer…” I looked through my desk, first finding the offer I had turned down a couple months ago, then pulling out the second, much more recent offer from the same company.

  I pulled them both out, glancing over the numbers once more.

  “How much was the judgment lien on this place?” Cameron asked, looking over my shoulder at the numbers.

  “Two million, fixed,” I said.

  “How much do you still owe?” he asked.

  “One million eight hundred thousand and change,” I said.

  “You made that kind of profit in one year even after you cut your hours in half?” Cameron asked.

  “Yeah, Chris and I got it up to twenty-five percent. Loyal customers, Chris’s amazing food, low labor cost and very little waste,” I said.

  “No wonder this lady wants to buy it so much. Is this offer over market?” he asked.

  “Yeah, two million is still the estimated value. Okay, I’m dialing him now,” I said as I pressed the phone button on Cameron’s screen.

  “Mark Hamm’s office,” a man’s voice answered.

  “Hello, my name Jamie Scott—”

  “I’ll patch you through, he only has a minute,” the man said before there was a ring on the other line.

  “You’ve reached Mark Hamm,” a more masculine voice said.

  “Hello, my name is Jamie Scott, I—”

  “Cameron’s friend, I’ve been expecting to hear from you. Look Jamie, a client needed to come in during my lunch break, so I only have a second, but if you can set up a meeting with the buyer’s broker tomorrow morning before nine-thirty, I’ll be able to go with you.”

  “Um, I can definitely try. Do I need to sign a contract or something with you?” I asked.

  “No, I’m going to be doing this as a favor to Cam.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to—”

  “I won’t hear it, Jamie.” His tone was all business. “But it’s important that I note that I’m not your attorney, I’ll just be going in an advisory capacity, is that okay with you?”

  “Yeah sure, I—”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s all you’ll be needing, but if you need to hire me on as an attorney, we’ll talk about that if it comes to it. Do you have a fax machine handy?”

  “Yep,” I said.

  “Okay, write down this fax number,” he said, before reading out a fax number to me. “Okay, I want you to send me every scrap of paper you have related to the offer, the judgment lien and the shop’s worth as soon as you possibly can.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  “Great. My client just arrived, so I’m going to have to let you go. Leave me a message with my assistant as soon as you get a meeting time with the buyer.”

  “I will. Thank you so much, Mr. Hamm.”

  “You’re welcome, talk to you soon.” He hung up.

  “Wow,” I said as I handed back Cameron’s phone.


  “Yeah, he’s definitely got a take-charge personality,” Cameron said, chuckling. “Great guy, though. And he has 2014 Benz black series.” He looked off at nothing with a small grin on his face. “I love that machine.”

  “Well, thank you for setting this up,” I said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

  He wrapped one hand around the back of my neck and pulled me in closer to him. Our lips met, as if they were the opposite poles of two magnets, meant to join. He opened my mouth with his, deepening the kiss as his fingers threaded through my hair.

  The length of his body pressed into mine and I couldn’t stop the small moan that came from my lips. He echoed my moan.

  I pulled back to whisper, “Are you still not going to fuck me?”

  “Oh, I’m going to fuck you. I’m just not going to fuck you right now,” he said, grinding his body further into mine.

  “Tease,” I whispered.

  He laughed. “Aren’t you supposed to be faxing papers?”

  “I would be if you weren’t here distracting me,” I replied, grabbing his waist.

  “Well, I need to leave anyway, lunch is over,” he said.

  “Oh, no, you didn’t get anything to eat! I shouldn’t have closed the shop… Let me go make you a bagel or something.”

  “You really think I’d rather have a bagel than this?” he asked, leaning down for a kiss again. “I’ll just stop by the burger place on the way out of here.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Definitely,” he said, giving me on last quick kiss before his hand squeezed my butt cheek.

  “You,” I said smacking his butt once as he left my office chuckling. After a second, I rushed out of my office after him. “Ha, sorry, I forgot, I have to let you out.” Unlocking the door, I gave Cameron one more quick kiss before he left.

  Right after I locked the door, Mitch walked up, giving me a big smile and pulling on the door handle.

  “Sorry,” I mouthed to him through the window while I pointed to the sign.

  The smiling expression on his face fell.

  “Wait,” I said, holding up one finger. Rushing back to the coffee counter, I lifted the carafes and found them all hot and full. I filled up a to-go cup and brought it back to the door.

  After unlocking the door, I held out the cup to Mitch.

  “Oh, hey Jamie, so, um, is that for me? Because I was just sort of wanting to come inside for a minute, but I don’t really have the money for a cup of coffee right now.”