I don’t say anything.
The air in Battle Harbour is cool and crisp, and really cold. Being shut up in the castle for a month has made me forget how cold January can be near the Arctic Circle.
“Coffee for the Sole?” Ashton asks after he helps me from the SUV.
I walk gingerly across the street with my crutches, Ashton hovering at my side. I haven’t been using them much, but for this outing, I thought it was a good idea to have them with me.
“There’s no ice,” Ashton encourages. He’s been my own private cheering squad this month. “You won’t slip.”
“I know.”
“I’d catch you if you do,” he tells me. “Maybe I’ll hang on if it makes you feel better.”
This is my first time out in public since the accident, which took place as I was walking across the street, so of course I’m a little apprehensive.
Of course, I’m not about to tell Ashton that.
But I make it across the street to the sidewalk, which is free of snow and ice. Silas must shovel at the sight of the first snowflake. I even manage to pull the door open. A gust of coffee-scented warm air hits mein the face.
I close my eyes and breathe it in. How can I think a pot of tea can compare tothis?
“Sophie!”
Silas is behind the counter with Leodie, both with big smiles on their faces.
“How are you?” Leodie cries.
I wave one of the crutches. “Good,” I tell her. “I’m good.”
Ashton chuckles to himself, and keeps a hand on the small of my back as I make my way across the coffeeshop.
The Christmas decorations are down, leaving just the paintings and the fishing nets and the automated flopping fish by the bathrooms, until Leodie begins to decorate for Valentine’s Day. Having a fish-flavoured décor might not seem the norm for a coffeeshop, but I think it works for Coffee for the Sole.
It’s busy for a weekday afternoon, the tables full of townsfolk.
I’m greeted by most of them, so that it takes a few minutes before I can get to the counter.
I know every inch of this place. I’ve tasted most of the menu, and am always happy to sample new pastries for Silas to try. I know what table to avoid on a sunny afternoon, and which one is unsteady unless there’s a piece of cardboard under the leg.
It’s been over four weeks since I’ve been in, and I had no idea how much I’ve missed it.
“Hey, you.” Leodie grins from behind the counter. She is Silas’s second in command; a few years younger than I am, but she spent a summer working at the fish and chip place before I pushed her in the direction of the coffeeshop. “Want the regular?”
“I feel like I should have a bucket of it, just to make up for missing so much.” I try to take everything in. “How is everything?”
“The same. You really haven’t missed much. Oh, are you able to come to the dance on Friday? Will your foot be okay?”
“I think so,” I say, as Ashton presses his hand firmly against my back. I sneak a glance at him and see that he’s smiling.
“It’s good to see you,” Silas says as he hands us our coffees. “Good to see you out and about.”
“It’s good to be out and about.”
Fenella sits at the table by the window with a laptop open before her.
Fern is beside her, and I slowly make my way over to them.
“If I’d known you were coming into town today, I would’ve waited for you,” Fern says.
