“I haven’t bought it yet.”
She hadn’t? Great, there was still hope he could talk her out of destroying him.
“Of course I thought about it,” she said. “We’re going to share customers.”
Surely she wasn’t that naïve. Then he thought about the book he’d seen on her nightstand the night he brought her home from Harper’s party.Beginner Business. Now he knew why she was reading it.
“People will have coffee and pastries at the café, and they can eat their meals at Sunshine.”
Good grief, she really didn’t have any business acumen. “You truly think it would work out that way?”
“It did for Hayden, didn’t it? He sent customers over to Sunshine from the hardware store, and we had our best day in years.”
“Yeah, but they hadn’t eaten at the hardware store. They were hungry. They won’t be hungry after having coffee and food at your place. Maybe if the café were across town, but not when it’s right next door.”
“Did you ever think that the customers would be too full to eat dessert at my place?” she pointed out.
“If that’s the case, then why would you open a café next to my diner? Anywhere else would have been better than the spot you picked.”
She paused, looking surprised and a little hurt. He ignored that and gave her the final blow. “I’m opening a coffee bar at Sunshine,” he said. “It’s already in the works.”
The color drained from her face. “I didn’t know that,” she said quietly.
“Now you do.” He stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “You’ll have to figure out something else to do with #3.”
***
Anita prayed she appeared serene on the outside, because her insides were quaking. She also felt stupid. She had been inspired by Hayden’s marketing ploy, and she’d still believed there could be a way for her and Tanner to share customers instead of dividing them... if he didn’t have a coffee bar. She couldn’t believe they had come up with basically the same idea and had never talked to each other about it.
His normally easy, open expression was shuttered, and she couldn’t read him at all. “You want me to give up the café,” she said, his words sinking in.
“Yes. If you want to work at the coffee bar, you can be a barista. I’ll hire a waitress to take your place.”
How condescending. “Oh, wow. Thank you, sir.” She performed a sarcastic curtsy.
“Anita,” he said, his tone tight and strained. “I’ve spent years saving to buy Sunshine. It means everything to me.”
More than she meant to him, that much was clear. And it was also clear that in his eyes, his business was more important than hers.
“It’s not too late to change your mind,” he said. “You haven’t signed the papers yet. You can always back out of the deal, and no one would judge you for it.” He moved closer to her, so close she could detect the faint scent of his cologne, the one that turned her thoughts to mush. “Don’t open the café, Anita. Please.”
She met his gaze, blank a moment ago but now filled with pleading and, unbelievably, something that made her toes grip the carpet. He was right. She could back out of the deal. She could give up owning her own business and continue to be a waitress. Or a barista. Occupations she would enjoy doing. Above all, she would make Tanner happy, something she also enjoyed.
Her new life would be over before it began.
“No,” she said, backing away from him. “I’m signing the papers tomorrow, and I’m going to open my café.”
He pressed his lips together. Then he said, “You owe me, remember?”
She frowned and she realized he was referring to rescuing her from the roof. “You’re calling in that card now?”
“Yes.”
Oh, that was low. She always tried to keep her word. This time, though, she was being manipulated. She’d had no idea Tanner could be so devious. “Do you realize what you’re asking me to give up? This is my chance to prove to my parents that I’m not less than my siblings. That . . .” She started to choke on her words. “That I’m not a failure.”
He glanced away, not saying a word.
His silence told her what she needed to know. She hardened her emotions and moved away from him. “Like you said before, I don’t owe you anything. “
