I loved owning and working in my coffee shop, but my body was still adjusting to standing on my feet all day.
“If I knew I’d get foot massages every night, I would’ve moved in sooner,” I joked. It’d been three weeks since we had dinner with my parents and two weeks since I moved into Brutus’ home. Though I had been nervous, the transition into his house felt natural. He had no problem clearing space for me and exchanging pieces of my furniture with his to blend our styles.
“See what you’ve been missing?” he replied before swatting my thigh. “Next time say yes the first time and you won’t miss out.”
“Hush, you.” I playfully poked his side with my foot.
Instead of responding, he stuck his thumb in a particularly sensitive part of the sole of my foot. I groaned deeply, my eyes falling closed. “Damn.”
“I hope that sound doesn’t mean you’re in here doing something you have no business doing in public,” Rick said, coming to a stop in the entryway of the living room. He covered his eyes with his hand as if needing to hide from whatever we were up to.
“We were,” Brutus said in a flat tone. “Get out.”
I chuckled and sat up. “We were not. Join us to watch the movie,” I told his father, loving his company. “How was lunch with my father?”
The day I moved in, my parents showed up. Rick, my father, and Brutus refused to let my mother or I lift a finger. Between the three of them and the movers Brutus hired, I was left twiddling my thumbs. My father and Rick struck up a conversation, and before the end of the day, the two of them were chumming it up like old friends.
Since then, they’d gone out to lunch a few different times. I loved to see it because I felt like Rick needed more friends in his life and so did my dad.
“Just fine,” Rick said, which meant he really enjoyed it. “That daddy of yours knows his shit when it comes to chess. Next week he’s taking me to that historical site he told me about.”
“Why doesn’t he take you now?” Brutus offered, glaring at his father.
With a laugh, I swatted his arm. “Don’t be rude.”
He frowned, and I could see the remorse in his eyes. “Sorry, Dad.”
Rick waved a dismissive hand. “I’m just fooling with you, son. I have no intention of interrupting your evening.”
“You’re never an interruption, Rick,” I said genuinely.
“You’re not,” Brutus said.
I knew he meant it, but I also knew he wanted some alone time. He’d only gotten back from a five-day business trip with Joshua and Aaron Townsend earlier that afternoon. I’d missed the hell out of him, too, so I could understand his frustration.
“No. You two need your alone time. I wanted to thank Mia for the dinner she prepared. This lasagna is to die for.”
“Please don’t die for it. I promise I’ll make it again soon, and there’s plenty of leftovers,” I quipped.
“I’ll leave the two of you—” The rest of his comment was cut off by a simultaneous buzzing of Brutus’ and my phones.
Brutus’ back went straight as soon as he heard the sound. “That’s the notification that’s connected to the alarm at your shop.”
A pit in my stomach instantly formed, but I immediately thought of a reasonable explanation. “Maybe a stray cat or something set it off?” The excuse sounded hollow even to me.
Brutus was already on his feet, texting something or someone on his phone.
“That alarm doesn’t go off over a thing like that,” Rick said in his stead.
I could feel the tension coming off of Brutus in waves. I had no idea who he was contacting, but I imagined it was the police.
“Dad, stay here with Mia while I go find out what—”
“Absolutely not,” I demanded, rising to my feet. “That’s my shop and I want to know what’s happening with it.” There was no way in hell I was about to sit at home twiddling my thumbs while Brutus went to figure out what happened to my shop.
“I’m not about to let you walk into a dangerous situation.”
“Let me?” I let out a humorless laugh. “You’re not letting me do anything because that is my shop.” I pressed my hand to my chest for emphasis. “If anyone is going to go down there, it’s me. If someone broke into my shop, I want to know about it. Besides, that alarm you had installed also alerted the police right away, too. They’ll want to speak with me, and I’ll have to file a police report as the owner.”
