“Total Eclipse of the Heart is a great song.”
I flung my hand toward him.“Thank you!”I dropped into my chair, eyes scanning Laurent.“Are you here to tell me you have video?Are you going to blackmail me?”
“I do have video, but I’m not going to blackmail you.I wanted to tell you that no matter what happens between you and Rose, that doesn’t change anything.You’re still a part of this family.Always will be.”
“Even if she brings home some big, strong, rugged outdoorsman?”
Laurent barked out a laugh.“Do you honestly think that’s Rose’s type?”
“I never thought about it, actually, but it would make sense.”
“Rose was obsessed with Steve Urkel when she was six.As a teen, she had posters of Michael Cera and Jesse Eisenberg on her walls.Then she brought you home from college, and none of us batted an eye.”
“So I’m the natural evolution of her nerdy crushes.”
“Let’s put it this way.If Michael Cera and Pen Badgley had a baby, and that baby hit the gym and was blessed with a few extra inches of height, we’d get you.”
“So I’m Adam Brody.”
“Actually… that’s exactly who you look like.”
“I’ll take it.He’s a handsome son of a buck.”
“Son of a buck?Wow.You sure you’re not an eighty-year-old man stuck in a thirty-one-year-old’s body?”
I shrugged.“Anything’s possible.”
Laurent shook his head and pushed from his chair.“I have to get back to being the boss.”
I saluted him, and he headed for the door.
“Laurent.”
He stopped and turned back to me.
“I appreciate it.”
He tapped the doorframe and nodded.“By the way, I know you think my eyes are pretty, but I’m happily married.”With a smile, he walked away.
Another thing I must have said out loud… I slumped into my chair, the fear that had been deep inside of me easing.Now I just had to find a way to get Rose back before I lost her forever.
And it started with coffee.
***
The late summer heat was getting on my damn nerves.My shirt stuck to my chest, and it felt like a greenhouse in my pants.Fall could not get here fast enough.I pulled up toEspresso Yourselftwenty minutes early to make sure our table would be available.
I grabbed the handle, but just as I yanked it open, Odette stepped out.“Oh Wyatt!Tell me it isn’t true.”Odette threw her arms around me and pulled me into her bosom.Helpless, my arms hung at my side, waiting for her to release me.
“Odette, you’re suffocating me,” I said after her grip tightened.
“Oh dear, I’m sorry.”She let go but didn’t step out of my way.If anything, she blocked the door with her entire body.
“It’s all right.”
“How are you holding up?You must be absolutely heartbroken.You two were perfect together.Perfect, I tell you.”
“Can you leave the poor man alone?”Albert’s gruff voice echoed from behind me.He had parked his tractor behind my car.He was in his usual overalls, Vietnam veteran hat, and American flag pin just above his chest.“He doesn’t have time for your nonsense.”Albert slapped my back, nearly causing me to face-plant in Odette’s floral blouse.I’d already been there, and I did not want to be there again.I managed to stay upright.“Give the man some space.”
