He ignored me completely. “Where is your coat?”
“In the kitchen. It must be in the kitchen.”
Wordlessly, he headed toward the back, walking around the huge rose explosion in the middle of the shop. I thought I heard him talk to someone on the phone, Raymond I think, but then he was back, and he was ordering me to put my arms into the sleeves. He pushed me all the way out, got the lights, even put in the code for the alarm, and locked everything up. With his warm hand on my back, he guided me down the road to where Raymond was parked.
Why did I always feel so safe when he was near me?
“I think I leaned down a little too much for too long. I’m just feeling dizzy, but I’m fine.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I stumbled on something and Jack caught my arm before my face could hit the ground. “Whoa. Really dizzy.”
I remembered getting in the car and maybe saying hi to Raymond, but I didn’t remember how I got up to the apartment and onto the couch. When Jack woke me up with a hand on my shoulder, I was feeling extremely disoriented. He helped me up and gave me two slices of pizza. It was cheese, pepperoni, and black olives, and he ordered me to eat up, and eat up quick. I finished in two minutes flat and even asked for another slice.
I had no recollection of what we talked about, but I did remember mumbling my answers and then wishing him a good night before stumbling to my bed.
The number of times Jack Hawthorne smiled: zero. (BUT…it’s coming soon. I can feel it.)
Chapter Nine
Rose
It was finally Monday, the opening day I’d been waiting such a long time for, and now that it had arrived, I didn’t know how to contain my happiness or my anxiousness. One minute I was on the verge of hyperventilating just thinking about opening the doors enough that Owen and Sally had to force me to sit down, and the next minute I couldn’t stay still and felt like I was about to burst from happiness. Mostly, though, I was feeling sick to my stomach, worrying everything was going to go wrong and everyone was going to hate everything.
What if no one showed up? That had been the first thing I’d thought the moment I had opened my eyes that morning. What if no one walked in? My goal was to at least serve fifty coffees on the first day. That sounded like a fairly doable number.
“I feel like I’m about to lose my virginity,” I blurted out as Sally pushed a glass of water into my hands.
“Was it a good experience? Mine was pretty cool.”
“I mean, it was okay. No orgasms in sight, but at least it didn’t hurt much.” Owen grumbled something I couldn’t make out. “What did you say?”
“This place looks legit,” Sally said, ignoring him. “What you did with the flower thing is still blowing my mind. It looks so beautiful with the black exterior. The furniture, the colors—everything came together so nicely. You put out the flyers too. We’ll easily reach fifty coffees.”
When Sally left me and went to the kitchen, I got up from one of the chairs they had basically pushed me into, walked to the door to flip the closed sign to open, and just rested my forehead on the cool glass for a few seconds. Flipping that sign felt like I’d welcomed an elephant to come sit on my chest. People passed by. I even saw some of them stare at the roses as they walked by, but no one pushed each other out of the way to get in.
“Okay.” I sighed. “Now all we have to do is wait.” When I turned around, both Sally and Owen were standing in the doorway to the kitchen, Owen wiping his hands on a kitchen towel and Sally smiling and munching on a lemon bar. Taking the last bite, she walked up to the espresso machine.
“Would you like to have the very first latte of the day? I’ve been polishing my latte art skills.”
I let out a deep breath and smiled. “You know what, that’s a great idea. In fact, lattes all around, on me. We might need to drink forty-seven more today, but that’s not all that much, right? Death by caffeine is a real issue, but I’m sure we’ll be safe.”
We clinked our mugs together, at least Sally and I did and hoped for the best for the rest of the day. The first customer came thirty minutes after I’d flipped the sign from closed to open. Owen was in the back, but Sally and I were ready with our overly excited smiles plastered on our faces.