“You were wearing a polka dot sweater,” he murmured.
“I can’t believe you remember that.”
“I remember putting my arm around you, and Paul rolling his eyes and telling us to quit getting physical around him.”
She huffed out a laugh. “I think I told him to stop hassling us.”
“You did. Then you kissed me. He flicked water at us.” His smile subsided. “How was that us?”
She understood what he was asking. Her life prior to the accident sometimes didn’t feel like hers.
A spasm of pain crossed his face and she drifted closer to him. Understanding and echoing hurt coursed through her. “Yo. Stop leaning on Ruthie. She’s delicate, you know.”
He blinked and focused on her, some of that pain subsiding. It took him a second, and then he moved away from her car. “Paul didn’t change much in there.”
“No. I think he liked it the way it was.” Paul had kept the same menu from her grandparents’ daystoo. “Sadia’s trying to upgrade things, but it’s kind of expensive.”
His face softened. “How is Sadia?”
“She wasn’t there.” Livvy took a sip of her latte, barely tasting it. She glanced around, but it wasn’t quite five, and the parking lot was fairly empty. She’d parked closer to the edge, and they were hidden from the main road by a large tree.
It wasn’t as good as meeting behind the place like a pair of clandestine lovers or drug dealers, but it would have to do.
“No. I mean how is she? In general?”
“She’s good. She says she sees you around town sometimes.”
“Yes. We don’t talk to each other, because, well...”
“For what it’s worth, she wouldn’t react like Paul, if you did talk to her. I mean, she doesn’t love you, but she’d be civil.”
“It would be hard to top Paul’s hatred of me.” His eyes glinted. “We didn’t cross paths much, but when we did, he was really good at looking right through me.”
Her lips twisted. “If it makes you feel any better, he and I couldn’t really see eye to eye either.”
Nicholas shook his head. “No, that doesn’t make me feel better. You should have had your brother.”
She shifted her weight, surprised at the criticism on her behalf. “I couldn’t be who he wanted. It’s okay. I’ve kind of made peace with it.” Much of her mourning after Paul’s death had been over the loss of a possibility of a relationship with the man.
“Maybe someday I can too.” Nicholas shoved his hands in his pockets. “Three days after Paul died, my father told me to buy this café from Sadia. I told him I approached Sadia and she refused to sell.”
Livvy lifted an eyebrow. “You never approached her,” she guessed.
“No.” Nicholas smiled, but it was grim. “Paul would have haunted me forever for trying to rip his place from his widow. But if she needs money, I’m happy to pay over market value for it. I’m also happy to just give her money.”
Despite any financial troubles Sadia might be having, Livvy doubted the other woman would be eager to sell the café or take charity. “I’ll tell her, but I don’t think she wants to sell. And she definitely wouldn’t take your money.”
“I figured.” His smile was forced. “All you Kane women are on the proud side.”
“Pride can keep you warm sometimes.” Especially when you lost all of the people who kept the cold out.
“Tell me about it.” He rolled his shoulders. “You’re early.”
There was something different in his tone, something hesitant. “Yeah, unlike me, I guess.” She nodded in the general direction of Chandler’s, unable to bring herself to look at it. “I thought maybe I could go inside there, face my past, blah blah, but couldn’t manage it. Silly. It’s just a store.”
He glanced at the small café again. “Not silly at all.”
“Someday,” she allowed.
