Marriage For One

by Maise, Ella

  When his eyes landed on my face, his jaw was clenched, and I had no idea what was going through his mind. I just looked at his face, taking in his features, my favorite blue eyes and straight full lips. Still not a smile in sight. I dropped back to my soles and wiped my tears with the back of my hand. I looked around the coffee shop to the three tables that were occupied. No one was looking at us, and even Sally had her back turned our way.

  I smiled at him, a big happy smile. “Okay. If you’re sure you want that many, we’ll get started on them for you.”

  His eyes stayed on me. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t sure, Rose.”

  My smile widened. “Of course you are. Okay.” Walking around the counter, I asked, “Do you know what anyone drinks or are we just making a mix of everything?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know what they drink.”

  “Right. Okay, we’ll do a few different things. How do you want yours?”

  “Just…black with a splash of milk, if you can.”

  I picked up my flowers, smiling. “Of course I can. I’ll collect all the vases and change out the artificial flowers with these after you leave. I love them. Thank you, Jack. You have no idea what this means to me.”

  He cleared his throat but didn’t say anything. I helped Sally and we did a mix of everything: a few macchiatos, a few lattes, four black coffees, and two matcha lattes, just in case someone preferred that. When Sally started on the extra black coffee, I gently took over. It wasn’t that it required any extra attention, but I wanted to be the one who prepared Jack’s coffee. When the whole order was ready, I started packing the free muffins and lemon bars. “These are free,” I explained without looking at Jack. “For the first day, I’m giving everyone a lemon bar or a muffin, whatever they prefer.”

  “You don’t have to—” he started, but I was already closing the box.

  “They’re free, and you will take them. Otherwise I’m not giving you your coffee. Don’t argue with me.”

  “The roses look great on the door,” he said after a moment, and I looked at him.

  “Really?”

  “How did you put it up?”

  “I did it this morning, with Owen’s help.”

  His face hardened a little for some reason. “I woke up early to see if there was anything I could help you with, but I guess I missed you. When did you leave?”

  “Around five, I think.”

  “How did you get here that early?”

  Confused, I gave him a brief look over my shoulder and started on making another quick coffee. “Like I always do—I walked through Central Park.”

  “On your own.”

  “Well, yeah. That’s how I get here. I won’t come in that early every day, but it was the first day, so…”

  We fell silent as I finished the second cup I was preparing.

  “Everything is ready to go, Rose,” Sally said, sliding four bags toward me on the counter.

  “Okay. Thank you, Sally. Just one more second, Jack. I hope I’m not making you late.”

  “It’s fine,” he muttered as a new customer walked in and started to look at the food and ask Sally questions. I welcomed the newcomer and put the lids on the two coffee cups I had prepared myself, grabbed two small paper bags that had our logo on the front, and quickly put two lemon bars inside each one along with an extra chocolate muffin in one of them. “Okay. We can go,” I announced, smiling at Jack.

  He held out a credit card to me between two fingers. “I hope you don’t forget to ask for payment from all your customers.”

  “My husband gets a free pass,” I pointed out softly as we stared at each other and I ignored the credit card. Sally walked behind me toward the espresso machine. “Ready to go?” I asked Jack.

  “Rose, I’m not taking anything if I’m not paying for it.”

  My smile started to melt off my face as he spoke.

  “It’s your first day—if you start giving away free coffee to everyone you know on the first day, you won’t have this coffee shop for very long.” There went the rest of my smile. “I wouldn’t have ordered so many if I’d thought you weren’t going to accept payment for it.”

  He extended the credit card farther forward and I reluctantly took it.

  Before pushing in the amount, I glanced up at him. “I’m not taking payment for your coffee, Jack. I’m…just not.”

  We had a short-lived but intense staring match where I came out as the winner. “Okay. Okay, that’s fine,” he agreed. “I didn’t mean to make you upset, Rose.”

  “It’s okay.”

  I handed him the four bags and the card. Then I took the two coffee cups and the extra small bag myself. “Be careful not to tip the cups,” I warned as Jack glanced inside the bags. “I’ll be right back, Sally!”

  I followed him out to the curb where Raymond was waiting. He rushed out as soon as he saw us coming with our hands full. He opened the door for Jack and waited.

  “You should put the bags on the floor, Jack, keep them between your feet so they don’t make a mess in the car.” Jack leaned down and arranged everything carefully as I turned to Raymond. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how you take your coffee, but I made you what I made for Jack, black with a splash of milk, and if you want, there are sugar packets in the bag too.” I handed him the cup and the small paper bag. “And there is a lemon bar in this. I made it myself. It’s good.”

  “Thank you, Rose, and congratulations on your new place. It looks amazing.”

  It was the first time he’d called me Rose. “Thank you so much, Raymond, and you’re welcome.” I beamed after him as he walked back to the driver’s side.

  “And these are yours,” I said as I handed my husband the other coffee cup and paper bag, feeling a little shy all of a sudden. “I put a lemon bar and a chocolate muffin in yours because I wasn’t sure what you liked, but if you don’t like —”

  “You made the muffin, too?” he asked, peeking into the bag.

  “No, Owen baked the muffins. I made the lemon bars and the sandwiches. He is…” Did I need to give him an explanation? He hadn’t asked, but I felt like I wanted to. “Owen, I mean, he’s my friend. Barely even a friend. We worked at this café two years ago and talked every now and then after that. So, I just wanted you to know. He is just a friend.”

  “I don’t need an explanation about your friends, Rose.”

  Despite his harsh answer, I thought I saw his shoulders relax a fraction. I could live with that.

  “Okay.” Not sure what to do with my hands, I just stood there.

  “Did anyone unwanted show up today?”

  I arched a brow. “Anyone unwanted? You mean like Bryan? No, he didn’t. Neither did Jodi.”

  “Good. I had a quick talk with him. He won’t bother you again.”

  “What? When?”

  “After he showed up here. It doesn’t matter now.”

  He had a coffee cup in one hand and the bag in the other. With his tailored suit and that I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing here look on his face, he looked so…so grumpy and adorable that I couldn’t stop myself from giving him another hug.

  Since his hands were full, he couldn’t do anything but stiffen this time. Before I realized what I was doing, I found myself pressing a hand on his cheek and kissing him on the other side, surprised by my sudden act, I lingered. When I let go of him and backed up, he was looking straight into my eyes. I flushed but managed a smile. “Thank you, for the flowers and the coffee order. That you’d even think of buying coffee for your work friends—and they’re not even your friends—and only because it’s my first day…it means so much to me.”

  “I’m not doing it for you.”

  “You keep telling yourself that. You’re hating it all the way, but you’re starting to get used to me.” When his steady gaze became too unsettling to return, I gave him a weird wave, mumbled something like, “Have a good day at work,” then rushed back into the coffee shop.

  My cheeks slightly flu
shed—maybe from the cold outside, or maybe because of Jack’s gaze on me—I made it back to Sally’s side. When the thing that was fluttering wildly inside my chest became too much to ignore, I looked back outside to see Jack standing on the curb and looking inside.

  Had I really just kissed him and lingered? And then run away like a school girl?

  I thought my cheeks flushed even more, so to forget all about it, I started to collect all the little vases on the tables, took my roses into the kitchen, and started on making my coffee shop even more lively and beautiful with a big, permanent smile on my face.

  * * *

  When the clock hit seven PM, I was drained. I was happy, but the excitement had gotten to me. Owen had left right after lunch when he was done with his work, and Sally had left just half an hour ago. We had sold well over fifty cups of coffee, crushing my goals. It’d been just a bit over the one hundred mark, actually.

  A knock on the door made me stop what I was doing, which was getting the last few bits of baked goods into containers and then in the fridge. I’d dimmed the lights in the coffee shop right after Sally left and had flipped the open sign to closed, as well as locking up. Holding the doorframe, I peeked toward the door. When I saw Jack standing in the rain, I put the brownie plate down and ran to the front of the coffee shop.

  “Jack, what are you doing here?” I asked as soon as I opened the door. “It’s raining.”

  “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

  I took a deep breath to keep myself from rolling my eyes at him. “You should’ve called from the car so I could open the door for you.”

  “I did, actually, but you didn’t answer.”

  I winced and just stood in front of him, not sure what to do now that he was standing right in front of me and we were alone. “I’m sorry, it’s in my bag. I haven’t checked it the entire day. But, still, I didn’t expect to see you here.” I watched him as he ran his hand through his wet hair, somehow making it look like the rain had styled it for him—whereas the minute I stepped out into that rain, I knew I was going to look like a drowned rat.

  “Right, because it’s not like I’m here every night,” he said before looking around the shop. Apparently that was all the explanation he was ready to give. “Are you going to let me in, or do you want me to stay out in the cold?”

  “Oh, shoot, come in. Sorry.” I opened the door wider and he stepped in. “Since you came in this morning, I thought maybe you’d skip the pickup today.” I smiled as he brushed off the rain from the arms of his coat.

  “Looks like I didn’t.” I just stared at him. “Ready to leave?” he asked, eyes coming back to me.

  “You’re really gonna make me ask?”

  Distractedly, he kept brushing rain off of his coat as his forehead creased. “Ask me what?”

  I raised my brows. “The coffee, the lemon bar? Did everyone like it? More importantly, did you even eat it? Did you like it?”

  I waited with bated breath, which was stupid. Almost all the customers had commented on how much they’d loved everything—the space, the coffee, the food, the roses outside. Even so, hearing what Jack thought felt important. I cared.

  He finally stopped messing with his coat and took a good look at me. “Everyone loved it.”

  “That’s all you’re going to give me? Are you being serious?”

  The creases on his forehead got deeper. “I’m always being serious.”

  I laughed. “Yes, yes you are. I think you loved it, but you’re just too proud to say it out loud.” I didn’t give him an opportunity to answer. “Do you mind sitting and waiting for a few minutes? I need to do a few more things in the kitchen, but after that we can leave. I can make you a coffee for while you wait?” My eyes still on him, I started backing away toward the kitchen.

  With his coat still on, he pulled up the closest chair and sat down, his eyes on me. “I’m good. You go take care of whatever you need to take care of.”

  I gave him another overly bright smile and disappeared through the doorway. Grabbing the brownie plate from the counter, I raised my voice so he could hear me.

  “Did you have a good day?”

  I stopped transferring the brownies and waited for his answer.

  “It was fine,” he said finally. “Busy and long, as usual. Fred wanted me to congratulate you on his behalf.”

  “Oh? That’s so nice of him.”

  I waited another few seconds and when the follow-up question didn’t come, I answered it for myself. “Mine was good. Thank you so much for asking. It was just like yours, actually—busy and long.” I paused for a second. “Ah, thank you so much, Jack. I hope it becomes a usual thing, too. You’re so right.”

  Another quiet few seconds, and then his delicious voice came from very close.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  No, not delicious—it wasn’t delicious as in delicious, but it felt like it was delicious as it touched my skin. It was just a normal male voice, nothing to get excited about, just a little thick and rumbly and smooth at the same time.

  I knew exactly where he was, but I still looked to where he was leaning against the doorframe. His coat was off, but he was wearing his suit jacket, hands in the pockets of his pants. Maybe it was for the better that there would be no forearm porn today, because if that had happened, I wasn’t sure how I would react anymore.

  “Just talking to you.”

  “You mean to yourself.”

  “No, I mean to you. I really enjoy talking to you.”

  He stared at me boldly and I fell into the blue trap.

  “Can I help you in here?” he asked.

  For some reason, I flushed. It was a pretty small space for two people. Sure, I worked with Owen just fine, but we baked across from each other and I wasn’t attracted to him at all. I couldn’t exactly keep Jack at arm’s length when we were carrying pastries to the fridge.

  “Nope. I’m good.” I mean, it wasn’t the first time he had offered his help, and if he did help, he would actually…but…no. No, skipping the forearm porn was the smart choice here. Definitely. “Just a few more things I need to…ah…do, then I’m ready. If you have somewhere else to be, I don’t want to make you wait. I’ll be done in—”

  He crossed his arms, his shoulder still holding him up against the doorframe. “No. I’m good right here, too.”

  I didn’t even attempt to stop the smile growing on my face, and to be honest, that weird sense of pleasure his words had caused was completely uncalled for. I bit my lower lip just to stop my mouth from curving up. Considering I hadn’t even stolen one genuine smile from him, I was giving mine away too easily for my liking. When the brownies were done, I grabbed my cheeks and pushed them in. “I’ve been smiling so much today, my cheeks are hurting.”

  “How good was it?”

  “Hmm?” I mumbled distractedly, keeping my eyes on the last few brownies.

  “How good was your day? Still happy?”

  He was making small talk. Granted, I’d already answered the question, but he was making small talk without me having to prompt him. The itch to grin and lose my cool was growing with every freely offered word out of his mouth.

  On my way to the fridge, my eyes cut to him and I brushed my bangs away from my forehead with the back of my arm. “I’m exhausted, as you can probably tell from how I look, but it’s the good kind of exhaustion. I’m still over the moon, still a little high on it.” I reached for the remaining two chocolate chip cookies and put them in another container.

  “I was going to ask if you would like to go out for dinner tonight, but I don’t think you’d make it through, especially if you still feel like you’re high on it.”

  “That actually would’ve been nice, but I agree with you.” I held my arms out and looked down at myself. “Probably not the best night to be out in public anyway.”

  “What are you talking about? You still look just as you did this morning.”

  I tried to hide my wince, but I wasn’t sur
e how successful I was. “Welllll, that’s not saying much.”

  “Actually, it is,” he muttered, but before I could ask what he meant, he straightened from the doorway and started walking toward me. I focused on my hands, which were reaching for the last two lemon bars with the tongs. I grabbed one of them, put it in a small container, and was in the process of grabbing the other one when Jack’s chest brushed my shoulder.

  I stopped breathing. My body pretty much stayed still, but my eyes were moving. He wasn’t so much pushing me, but he was leaning on me enough that his chest was brushing my shoulder—his broad and warm and inviting chest.

  “Can I have that?” he murmured in the vicinity of my ear, not too close, but closer than I expected him to stand.

  I cleared my throat so I would be able to sound serious and normal like him. “Can you have what?”

  “The last lemon bar.”

  That had me looking over my shoulder and…what a bad, bad idea. Our eyes met and I kinda got stuck on his steady and expectant ocean blues. Then I looked at his lips because they were right there, so full. In my defense, I was looking so I could catch his next words, but they didn’t come.

  “Hmm? Oh? You liked it then?” I forced my eyes back to his and extended the tongs toward him. He took it. “Would you like a plate?” He met my eyes again and just shook his head. I faced forward. What is happening? “I didn’t think they would almost completely disappear by the end of the day, even though they were free.”

  “They are good enough to come back for every day, Rose.” Before I could process those words and at the same time try not to analyze them to bits too much, he continued, “Will you bake more tomorrow?”

  “I can make you a batch at the apartment, if you want,” I offered as I started to just push things around randomly, hoping to keep the conversation going.

  “I don’t mind coming here.”

  Finally, I turned to face him, leaning my hip against the counter. If I just leaned a little forward, I could fall into him, so easily.