by Maise, Ella
She took a deep breath with closed eyes, let it out softly, and then opened them. “You kill me sometimes, Jack Hawthorne. How did it go? I didn’t mess anything up, did I? At least not too badly? I sorta don’t want to apologize for the…thing I had with Samantha. She was pushing me, and I had to say something. I don’t like people like her, all the fake smiling when they’re actually insulting you and believing they’re the sharpest tool in the shed while you’re just few fries short of a Happy Meal. I’m a little bit sorry if I went too far with the I know him better than you stuff and He is only like this with me crap, though.”
“Are you sorry or not?”
Another deep breath. “Fine, not really.”
“If you’re not sorry, you don’t need to apologize. I didn’t mind it. She deserved more.”
“How old is she anyway?”
“Thirty-seven.”
“Well, she acted like a teenager,” she mumbled as she stared out the window.
I couldn’t argue with that so I didn’t. I awakened my phone and started scrolling down, double-checking my schedule. “You need to relax more. Next time, try to look more interested in me.”
“I—what do you mean?”
I sighed and put my phone down. “Every time I touched you, you either jumped up or flinched.”
“I know, but you didn’t warn me.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “I was supposed to warn my wife before I touched her?”
“Not in there, of course, but before, when we were in the car. We should’ve talked more, gone over a few things. We were unprepared, and I don’t want to say I told you so, but I did tell you. They asked all the questions.”
“If I remember correctly, you fell asleep in the car, and what’s the big deal? We answered them.” I carefully considered my next words. “You were warmer to Fred.”
I looked at her when only silence followed my words. Her eyes were slightly widened. “I was…trying to be nice to your friends. You didn’t think that I…that I would—that I was flirting with him or anything—”
I frowned at her. “What are you talking about? Of course not. Why would I think that?”
“You just said—”
“I said you were warmer to him. You smiled and talked to him more than you talked or smiled to me. That’s all I meant. Also, again, they’re not my friends—”
“Just partners, I know. I got it.” She released a longer sigh and massaged her temple. “If we want to keep up this charade, we desperately need to communicate more, Jack. You have to talk to me.”
I looked out the window and stayed quiet for the rest of the way back to the apartment. How was I supposed to explain that I was actually trying my best to talk to her as little as possible? That I had to do so?
Once we were in the building, the doorman stood up. “Mr. Hawthorne, Mrs. Hawthorne. Welcome.”
“Good evening, Steve,” Rose said, smiling at the older man. To my surprise, she stopped next to his station as I called down the elevator. “How are you feeling today? Your migraine is gone, I hope?”
“Much better. Thank you for asking, Mrs. Hawthorne.”
“I told you before, you can just call me Rose. Has it been a busy night?”
The doorman’s eyes darted my way. “Erm, just the usual.”
With my hands in my pockets, I watched their interaction with interest.
Steve’s eyes cut to me then back to Rose again before he quickly added, “Mrs. Hawthorne.”
The elevator doors pinged open and she looked toward me. “Looks like our ride is here. Have a good night, Steve. I’ll see you in the morning?”
“Yes, Mrs. Hawthorne. I’ll be here.”
I held the doors open as she quickened her steps and got in the elevator. I stepped in after her. We only managed to go up two floors in silence before my curiosity got the better of me. “You know the doorman?”
“Yes. I met him the first morning I was leaving for work. We chat a bit in the mornings. Why?”
“You’ve only been here for two weeks.”
“So?”
“I didn’t know his name,” I admitted uncomfortably.
She hugged my jacket tighter around herself. “You never asked?”
“I—no.” I didn’t want to admit that I hadn’t deemed it necessary, because I didn’t like how that made me sound.
A moment later, I couldn’t stop myself from asking what had been on my mind for days now. “Do you still talk to Joshua, your ex-fiancé?” I blurted out at the same time the elevator doors opened, surprising both of us.
Rose froze and gave me a startled look. I cursed myself for bringing it up, but after the dinner, I was too curious to ignore the idea completely.
“No, I don’t talk to him. Haven’t talked to him or seen him since we broke up and I’m not planning to do it in the future either. Why would you ask that?” she finally asked, walking out of the elevator before I could answer. I followed her to our door.
“I thought maybe you weren’t over him yet and that was why tonight was more difficult.”
“Trust me, I’m over him. I got over him pretty quickly, considering. Tonight wasn’t difficult, Jack. I’m not a stranger to awkward dinners. Tonight was…just a first. That’s all. It was our first dinner, too, and I actually think we did a pretty good job, don’t you agree? Still, I think we should work on getting to know each other a little bit, just talk about random stuff. The next one should go down better. Also, I thought you’d be distant when we were around other people—that’s why I was surprised when you touched me…so much.” She peered at the door. “Aren’t you gonna open it?”
She still had my jacket on. “The key is in your right pocket,” I replied, reaching for it before she could do it herself. She froze when my hand slid into the pocket and inadvertently touched her body through the lining. I stopped when my fingers touched the keys and met her startled eyes. We stood exactly like that as I slowly pulled the keys out. Her throat moved as she swallowed, and she looked away first, laughing awkwardly.
Unlocking the door, I stood back so she could enter. Inside, after taking off her shoes, she slid my jacket from her shoulders and handed it back to me. “Thank you.” She avoided my eyes, and I realized I didn’t like it.
“You’re welcome.” I took it off her hands and neither one of us walked away from each other.
I thought she looked beautiful with her hair down and a little messy, her lips bare and her eyes still sparkling. I was heading straight for trouble if I was noticing the details.
She smiled a little. “Well, do you think we should—”
My phone started ringing in my hand and she paused mid-sentence. Dragging my eyes away from her lips as her smile slowly faded, I looked down at the screen and my entire body tightened. Ignoring the call, I looked up at Rose. “I need to take this. It’s about work and I might need to drop by the office for a bit.”
“Now? At this hour?”
I clenched my jaw. “I’m afraid so.”
“Okay then. I hope it’s not something too important.”
“We’ll see. If I don’t see you around when I come back… Goodnight, Rose.”
Riding the elevator down, I put my jacket back on and tried not to lose it. When I was back in the lobby, the doorman rose again.
“Good evening,” I said, trying my best not to sound angry.
He looked startled for a second, making me feel even worse, but then gave me a quick smile and nodded. “Good evening, sir.”
Before I could step out of the building, my phone started to go off again. Anger surged through my body and my fingers tightened around the phone. I had known I would eventually hear from him, but hadn’t thought it would happen so soon.
Finding the cold bite of the air refreshing, I took a deep breath and caught a whiff of Rose’s scent from my jacket. With her smell surrounding me, cursing myself, I answered the call.
“What the hell do you want?”
“How nice of you to ask. I think we
need to have a talk, Jack. I imagine we have a lot of things to say to each other.”
I gritted my teeth. “When?”
“How about now? Do you think you can get away from your beautiful bride for a late-night drink?”
“Tell me where.”
He was just a few blocks away from us, the son of a bitch also known as Joshua Landon. Rose’s ex-fiancé. Had he watched Rose and I as we returned from dinner? Livid, as soon as I ended the call, I headed toward the bar where he was waiting.
Chapter Eight
Rose
I had known the last few days leading up to Monday, my opening day, would be hectic and maybe not so easy, and I wasn’t wrong. If Jack hadn’t been dropping by to pick me up, I would’ve probably ended up sleeping on the floor inside the coffee shop just so I could make sure everything was ready. But, Jack…he had been…Jack was…a whole other subject.
I had deemed Friday the second biggest day next to the opening day. It was the day the coffee shop’s sign was going to go up and all the people of New York would be able to see it.
The black and white striped awnings had been installed around noon, and the sign was up only a few hours after that. I might have shed a few happy tears looking up at that thing.
Around the Corner Coffee Shop.
I knew I was officially freaking out about the opening when I started making lists for everything I could think of: what kind of freshly made sandwiches I would prepare, the first week’s pastry menu, the first day’s pastry menu…the lists just went on and on. While I was happily busy with all of that, a slow drizzle of rain had started, a pretty soundtrack in the background. As much as some people hated winter in New York, I loved it.
Jack showed up earlier than his usual time. I wasn’t surprised to see him when he showed up anymore, and it felt normal to have him in the space. I was looking forward to it even. It was the first time I’d realized I was starting to enjoy his grumpy company. It’d been three weeks since he had returned from London and started to come around every night. That was a lot of help I hadn’t expected to have, and I thought somewhere along the way something had changed between us.
This time, before he could ask me, I asked for his help as soon as he stepped over the threshold.
“Good, you’re here. Can you help me put the custom decals up on the windows?”
He hesitated only for a moment, as if he was surprised. “Sure. Why not? I’m here anyway,” he said at last, as if he wasn’t there specifically to help me. As he took off his coat and then suit jacket, I settled in for my daily show: the sleeve roll-up. And what a show it was, every single night. You’d think it would get repetitive, but no. Just no.
“Slow day at work?” I asked after wiping the invisible drool from the side of my mouth. He took the word Around from my waiting hands and climbed up the ladder until he could reach the top left corner of the window facing north.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re here early.”
“I was in the neighborhood, had a quick meeting with an old client, so I thought I’d drop by.”
I smiled up at him, but he wasn’t looking at me. “You seem to have so many meetings around here. There was another one the other day, right?” He frowned down at me, but before he could say anything, I pushed forward. “Anyway, as I keep saying every time you’re here, I appreciate the help.”
“I can see that.” He opened his palm, waiting for me to give him the next decal.
I sighed. “I marked where that’s gonna go.”
He didn’t reply or even acknowledge that I’d spoken, but placed the exactly where I’d marked for it to go.
I took a deep breath. “So, how are you, Rose?” I started. “I’ve been pretty busy with work these last few days, and so have you. How are you? Did you manage to get a good night’s sleep last night? Are you excited about the opening?”
Then I answered myself. “Aww, thank you so much for asking, Jack. I have a killer headache right now, but I can’t complain too much. I did manage to sleep the entire night last night, thank you very much for asking. It was one of the very few good sleeps I’ve had since moving in with you. I guess you went back to your office again last night—how late did you get in? I think I was fast asleep. Also, did you have a good day at work today?”
Finished with the second decal, he glanced down at me with that look of superiority featuring the arched eyebrow he had probably perfected in a meeting room or wherever. It wasn’t helping that he was literally standing over me.
“What are you doing?” he asked, his hand open, waiting for the last one.
I placed Corner in his palm.
“Just having a conversation,” I answered, shrugging.
“With yourself?”
“With you. Since you don’t find me interesting enough to talk to, I’m making it easier for both of us and just doing it by myself. This way you won’t have to trouble yourself with asking random questions and making small talk. Plus, you’re up there, which means you can’t run away from me. So…win-win.”
For a long time, we stared at each other, and I did my best to look innocent. Then he just sighed and shook his head as if I’d lost my mind and he was astonished with himself because he’d married this weird person willingly. He turned back to the window.
“It’s not about not finding you interesting to talk to, Rose. You are probably the most interesting person I’ve ever met. I just don’t think we should get—nevermind I’ve had a long day, too—a long week, actually. That’s all.”
And didn’t that made me feel like a jerk.
“Oh,” I mumbled, shifting in place. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. Anything you want to share?”
“No need to apologize. It’s nothing specific, just lots of meetings and phone calls.”
“I baked some brownies to test out a recipe for opening day. Would you like some? Brownies always make me happy.”
“Maybe after we finish this. Why Around the Corner?”
I tried my best to keep my grin to a minimum but wasn’t sure if I quite managed it. “As Tom Hanks would say, the entrance is Around the Corner.”
“Tom Hanks?”
“I’m a big fan of the movie You’ve Got Mail. I love Meg Ryan’s character and her bookshop was called Around the Corner in the movie. It’s also simple, elegant, and sweet, not just because of the movie, but on its own. I like it. You’ve seen that movie, right? It’s a classic.”
“Can’t say I have.”
“No, Jack. Just no. No husband of mine can answer that question with a no. You have to watch it. Maybe we can watch it together one day when you’re free.”
“Maybe.” He paused, and I thought that would be the extent of our conversation. “It’s good,” he muttered.
“What?” I asked absently, looking out the window as people passed by with their umbrellas. The rain was starting to pick up.
“The name—it’s good for a coffee shop.”
That had my eyebrows rising and my attention going back to Jack. “Really? You think so?”
“Yes, it suits you for some reason, and it sounds like it has a good memory attached to it. You did a really good job around here, Rose. You should be proud.” He looked down. “This is it?” I nodded and he got down. “Good enough?” he asked, looking up at the decals.
I backed up and stood next to him. “It’s more than good enough. It’s perfect. Thank you. Can we do the same for the window at the front?”
Instead of making up an excuse like any other guy would have and leaving when I kept coming up with stuff I could use his help with, like arranging some of the tables and chairs—multiple times—he stayed put, and he complimented my brownies. When we were ready to leave, it had gotten dark out and the rain had started to fall harder. I still had the biggest smile on my face. Partly because of Jack, partly because of everything else. Like magic, Raymond was already waiting at the curb when we locked everything up, and we headed to Jack’s apartment.
On Saturday, I met up with Owen. Sally wasn’t coming in so I couldn’t introduce them, but it was Owen’s first time at the coffee shop with all the furniture set up nicely. I basically held my breath the entire time he was looking around and let out the longest sigh when he finally said he thought it looked amazing. We spent hours talking about what we wanted to do for the first month and created our menu together.
After Owen left, I sat down in the middle of the coffee shop and started working on the shopfront flower installation, which I hoped would be rather striking. I’d seen it in several shops in New York and in cities like Paris—thanks to Pinterest—and I’d fallen completely in love with the look and the way it transformed a space. Since we were living in a social media age, I wanted to do everything in my power and budget to make my coffee shop eye-catching, comfy, cozy, and beautiful.
Of course, this was all rooted in the hope that I would get actual living customers on opening day, and every day after that.
When Jack knocked on the door, I’d been waiting for him to show up for at least an hour. I had a big smile on my face when I opened the door for him, and he had a bewildered expression on his own.
“Hi. Hey. You’re late. Where were you?”
Those thick and prominent eyebrows drew together, but it still didn’t dampen my enthusiasm. This was Jack—frowning was like his version of saying hello.
“I’m late?”
“You always come around earlier. So…you’re late.”
“You were waiting for me?”
“Jack, I wait for you every day. It’s been almost three weeks.” I shrugged, not even realizing what I had just blurted out. “Come in, come in, it’s cold outside.” I opened the door wider and grabbed his arm, pulling him in since he was too busy staring at me.
“What do you mea—what is this?”
I came up behind him and bounced on my feet. He gave me another look, one that said he thought I was being weird. I ignored it completely. “It’s the flower installation that’s going to go outside. It’ll start on the ground and arch over the door. I’ll also add the group of flowers that’s over there to the back of the door so from the inside, it will look as if the flowers kinda went through the glass and bloomed on the wall inside.”