The bell over the door jingled, and Faye groaned as she hauled herself to her feet and fixed her apron. The morning rush had just ended, and she’d already burned her fingers with the milk steamer when she’d tried to wipe it down with her bare hand instead of the wet cloth she was supposed to use.
It was her own fault, though. Her mind just wasn’t on what she was doing. Instead, it was stuck on replay of everything that happened at the New Year’s party two nights ago. Specifically, the way it had felt to be wrapped up in the strong arms of her new fake boyfriend. Her new fake boyfriend who was coming with her to the movies on Saturday.
She was still wearing a dreamy smile when she came out of the back to greet her next customer. But it froze on her face when she saw who’d come in. Faye stopped and blinked, but quickly got it together and approached the counter, her smile—if a bit forced—back in place. “Hey, Jeff. What can I get for you?”
Resting his crossed arms on the counter, he looked up at her. “You can tell me who that asshole is you were with the other night.”
“Do you want a coffee with that? Or are you just here to interrogate me?”
He narrowed his eyes a little at her snappy tone, but for the love of god, she was really tired of defending herself with this guy. Why the hell couldn’t he take a hint? Instead, he had to come in here and ruin a perfectly good morning—burns and all—with his overly possessive attitude. They’d never even gone on a date, for Christ’s sake.
“Tell me who he is, Faye.”
Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she quickly dropped them again when his eyes went right to her boobs. “I introduced you at Greg’s. There’s nothing else to know.”
“Yeah, see. Somehow, I don’t believe you.”
She looked desperately toward the door, praying someone else would come in and save her from this conversation. “What’s not to believe, Jeff? That I could possibly have a boyfriend?”
He made a disbelieving noise. “Come on, Faye. You know I don’t think anything like that. Just that you suddenly have one that no one else knew about. Not even Margo.”
She had to admit he had a point there. As the town’s unofficial and unneeded keeper, Margo made it her business to know everyone else’s since she was around ten years old. “Like I said the other night, it’s kind of a new thing,” Faye told him. “I haven’t really had a lot of time to introduce him to anyone before the New Year’s party.”
“So where’s he from?”
Shit. Frantically, she thought back to the few things she and Adam talked about at the bar. Hadn’t he said something about coming out to help Riko with something? Which meant he knew Riko from Oklahoma. “Oklahoma,” she told him. “He’s a friend of Riko Silvano’s.”
“Don’t know why that motherfucker moved back here.”
Faye couldn’t tell if he was really wondering or if he held some kind of grudge against Riko. “I think he did it for Addison.”
“Yeah, maybe.” His tone said he didn’t really give a shit why Riko came home, but his gaze was hard. “Seems like his friend moved in awful fast.” On my property. He didn’t say the words out loud, but the meaning was clear in the way he crowded her, even with the counter between them, and the way his eyes roved over her face and body.
Faye resisted the urge to drop down behind the counter and cover her burning cheeks with her hands. Anger, hot and unfamiliar, rose up inside of her. It wasn’t a feeling that Faye was used to. She was a person who could always see the positive side of things and never let anything get her down for long. But there was nothing good about the way Jeff was looking at her right then. Something in his eyes was making her extremely uneasy. Something she’d never noticed before. And it went way beyond just an annoying crush.
The words bubbled up and came out of her mouth before she had a chance to think about what she was saying. Maybe it was the only line of defense she could think of. Maybe it was her earlier daydreaming getting out of control. Or maybe it was just pure desperation. “Actually, Adam and I are engaged.”
She’d finally managed to make him speechless. At least for a few seconds. “Get the fuck out.”
Faye forced a bright smile. “It’s true. He proposed on New Year’s.” Not exactly true. He’d accepted her kiss at midnight with his jaw clenched and his eyes open, and then walked her out to her car shortly after when Jeff’s staring had worn on her to the point that she’d just wanted to go home.
He pushed his weight off the counter and straightened to his full height. “Then where’s the ring?”
She smiled even brighter. “We’re gonna go pick it out together.”
Jeff gave her a look. “A man proposes to a girl and doesn’t even know her taste enough to have a ring picked out for her?”
“Or maybe he just has enough consideration for her to let her pick out something she’ll really like. After all, she’ll be wearing it forever.”
“Maybe not forever,” he told her. With a tight smile, he took a few steps back. “I’m gonna skip that coffee today. But I’ll see you Saturday.”
“Yeah. We’ll be there.” She gave him a little wave as he walked out the door. Then she started cleaning the espresso machine like she didn’t have a care in the world, even though she’d already cleaned it, just in case he was standing outside somewhere watching her. Faye was grateful when one of the local cops came in to distract her, though she would’ve been happier if he’d pulled up just a little bit sooner.
While she was serving Ted his free coffee, a few more people wandered in, and soon the coffee shop was filled with the lunch crowd. Faye had no time to worry about Jeff for the rest of the day, and she’d almost forgotten about his strange visit until she was practically assaulted by Jules when her shift was over.
“You’re ENGAGED?? And you didn’t tell me??”
Faye shushed her as she pulled her coat on and hustled them both outside before everyone in the coffee shop heard. “No.”
