Maya pursed her lips at him and managed to look slightly abashed. “Well, fine. Okay, you’re here.” She tilted her head. “Are you going to help me?”
Sam fidgeted with his gloves, trying—and failing—to not look at her. Her chef’s whites, unbuttoned at the top, were stained with various colors. Her hair was trapped in a net, and there was most definitely colored icing on her cheek. Any other woman dressed like this would have conjured up nightmares of the lunch lady from school, but not Maya. Maya managed to make you wish you were the cake.
His gloves lay abandoned on the small table between them. A small voice in the back of his head kept telling him to look away. Or at least say something. She gasped—it was a small thing, someone else might have missed it—and then her hand was at her head as she yanked off the offensive hairnet. Sam swallowed hard as dark hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders. It was time to look away.
“I, uh... I just came to say that I can help you out,” he said. “Byron Stevenson and I went to law school together.”
Maya smiled expectantly, and Sam remembered why he had wanted to do anything for her back then. “You’re friends?”
“Not exactly. He was kind of an ass in law school, so in helping out your...our...” He paused at the word.
Maya finished for him. “Daughter.”
“Daughter. Yes. I’m still getting used to it.” He shook his head and sighed as he watched Maya. “So, in helping ourdaughter, I will get the added benefit of annoying Byron, so...”
“Oh, Sam!” She beamed as she stepped closer, almost as if she were going to throw her arms around him. She stopped midway, and grabbed his hands in hers in an awkward, backward, two-handed handshake. “Thank you!”
She glanced down at their hands and dropped them as if struck by electricity. “Oh, sorry, you—have—uh, well green icing on the edge—well—it’ll come off.”
Sam scraped dried icing from his cuffs, but his hands still held the memory of her touch. For a split second he had thought Maya was going to hug him. Their nonembrace lay thick in the air between them, forcing Sam to remember what it had felt like to hold her, making him wonder how it would feel to hold her now.
Sam cleared his throat and willed his body to squelch that memory. He was engaged to another woman. “Uh, no problem.” He was treated to her blush. “I don’t like this coat anyway.” He smiled at her. “But before you’re too grateful, you should know that I do have one stipulation.”
“Fine,” she said quietly, giving a sharp nod.
“How about some coffee?”
“Um, sure.” She gestured toward a table.
Sam came around to her side and pulled out a chair for her, before removing his coat and sitting down opposite her. The table was next to a window, and the noontime sun sent warmth from high in the sky.
“Julie, could you please bring us two coffees?” Maya nodded her thanks to Sam as she sat down. “Just a splash of cream and one sugar for Mr. Hutcherson here.”
“And just a splash of cream and no sugar for your boss.” Sam grinned.
Julie seemed a bit confused until Maya nodded her away.
“You remember.” Maya’s voice was gentle, no sign of irritation or demand.
“I remember lots of things.” Though he tried not to, his gaze lingered on her. “Like the coffee you have here.”
He waited for her to make some sort of excuse to justify using that specific coffee in her shop. Some reason why she would have bothered to learn how to roast and flavorthisparticular coffee. She shifted in her seat and looked away, saying nothing.
“Do you remember that Honda Civic I drove that summer?” Sam broke the silence.
Maya gave her slightly lopsided smile that Sam remembered so well, and let out a “humph.” “Of course. Powder blue, if I remember correctly. And the passenger-side door stuck from the inside.” She sat back in her chair and raised one eyebrow at him.
Sam dropped his gaze and chuckled. “You do remember.”
“Whatever happened to that car?” She caught his eye.
“Totaled it.”
“What? Were you hurt?” She sat up in her chair and leaned in toward him.
“Nah.” Sam shrugged. The sweet scent of flowers and sugar coming from her drew him in closer. “I was lucky. The car actually saved me.” He looked her in the eye. “I notice your sign is the same color as that car.”
Maya sat back. “Is that so?” She shrugged. “Coincidence.”
