“I am so ready for this. Real freakin’ coffee. This is the best day ever.” I beamed at her. “Hey, Rose.” She had unlocked the front door and burst inside with a big smile aimed my way.
She flipped theClosedsign toOpen, then waved a pair of shoes at me. I flipped her the bird and headed for the restroom to change. Her loud laugh followed behind me as I shut the door and looked in the mirror, which was something I probably should have done before I left the house. I cringed and splashed my face with water. I applied mascara and lipstick, then added a bit of the lipstick to my cheeks to give me some color. Good Lord, I looked like one of the zombies in Gram’s basement—pale and dead. I decided the mom-bun could stay. Everyone loved a messy bun, right?
Rose knocked on the door, opened it, and passed me the high-heeled, strappy black sandals. I decided to play along with my sisters and changed. I was supposed to see Luke later. There was no need for him to see me at my slovenly best. There would be plenty of time for reality later.
“Lily, get your tiny booty out here,” Violet bellowed. I exited the restroom and tossed my stuff into Violet’s office.
She held out a cup of coffee. “You look pretty. At least you picked good jeans to wear today. Your ass looks nice.” She nodded as she checked me out. I wasn’t even looking at her. My eyes were on the coffee. She grinned. “It’s my special of the day—vanilla bean latte. I made the syrup myself, with real vanilla beans. I don’t fool around here.”
I accepted the cup from Violet with reverence. This would be my first real, fully caffeinated cup of coffee in over a year. And not just any coffee, but Violet’s coffee. I closed my eyes in blissed-out anticipation, then took a sip. It was delicious. Violet was a coffee goddess.
I opened my eyes to thebing-bongsound of the bell at the door signaling the arrival of the first customer of the day. I looked up and spotted big Liam, Luke’s friend. We waved and smiled at each other as he headed to the counter to order from Rose. My eyebrows raised after he pulled out his phone and started texting. I headed to the cash register, feeling special because I was the official ringer upper for the day. I also got to fill the little purple bags with baked goods.
Violet had embraced her name and the purple lifestyle. There were purple accents all over her store. The sofa was a rich royal purple and the pillows on the leather club chairs were of varying purple patterns. The tables were dark wood, but the chairs had all been painted in different shades of lavender. I inhaled deeply. It smelled good in here, it was pretty, and my kids were being taken care of. I started to relax. This would be a great day. I could feel it already. Or maybe it was just thecaffeine I was feeling. Either way, day one of being fearless was a success.
I rang up Liam’s order: fat-free iced soy latte with no whip and an egg white and spinach breakfast sandwich on Violet’s special no-carb cloud bread. He had huge, defined muscles popping out everywhere. I could see his six-pack through his shirt, and it was glorious. I guess his disgusting breakfast was one of the things that helped him get that hot bod. Aside from lifting heavy things and doing crunches or whatever.
He grinned. I think he caught me checking him out. I blushed. “Have a great day, Lily,” he said.
I nodded and waved as he headed out, then cringed at myself. I had been cooped up on bed rest surrounded by family members and kids for so long that I had forgotten how to behave around regular humans. Whatever. I shook it off.
The doorbing-bongedagain, and Luke walked through, followed by a few other people I didn’t care about. He smiled at me, then approached Rose to order.
“Hey, Rose,” he said.
“Hey, Luke, you want the usual?” She offered with a smirky smile. She had been giving him crap since the day we were all born. If there was something to tease him about, she would be the one to do it. They had the quiet-brother-and-annoying-sister dynamic going on.
“Has Violet changed the name of it yet?” he asked.
“Nope, it’s still called The Spoiled Princess. Do you want me to make the pink Barbie silhouette in the froth?” She laughed as she started to make his order. It looked like a type of cappuccino.
He sighed. “No, I do not. But I do want the sprinkles. And two of the raspberry scones, with extra clotted cream, please.” Wow, I was right. Luke was a dessert eater now. I guess that was how he got that delicious hulky bulky quality to his body. I frowned as I busted myself staring at him again.Damn it.
I shook myself out of my Luke trance and reached for hisscones. I put them in the cute little lavender bag, then found the clotted cream.
He came to me to pay. “Hey, Lily. Did you have a good night?”
“What? Yeah, sort of. I think the zombies in the basement were extra active last night. I couldn’t sleep.”Was I flirting?
He grinned that adorable half-grin that always used to get me all swirly, then I realized who I was talking to, and my brain turned to mush. I was flirting withNew Luke. Fine-as-heck, totally-pinnable-on-my-hot-guy-Pinterest-board, lumberjack Luke.
He stared at me intently, searching my eyes. I didn’t remember Luke ever being this intense with me. It was both scary and hot. I blushed bright red. I was cursed with super pale, typical redhead skin. I couldn’t remember ever blushing or being uncomfortable with Luke before. I mean, we’d been born on the same day and we had literally known each other our entire lives, even in the womb.
“That’ll be nine-ninety-five,” I blurted. I took his ten-dollar bill. I made change and dropped it into his huge, manly hand. A hand that had been everywhere on me, andin me. I couldn’t take it. The way he was looking at me freaked me out. I turned and made a mad dash for the kitchen.
I called over my shoulder, “Um, I’m going to work on an order for later. Be right back,” and hurried through the door that led into the kitchen to squat down on the floor. I heard Rose talking to Luke out front as I huddled there like a total wuss.
Violet eyed me with a knowing look. “Luke here?” she asked as she poured blueberry muffin batter into muffin cups.
“No, why would you say that?” Who was I trying to kid? I couldn’t play this off. These people knew me too well. “Okay, yes, he’s here. Don’t ask me what I’m doing. I don’t even know. I am perplexed and you know I don’t like being perplexed. I can’t handle this, Violet. He was looking at me like he was on amission or something. I am not mission material right now. I just had a baby. Women who have just had a baby can’t be mission objectives,” I rambled. I couldn’t stop talking, or thinking, or saying what I was thinking.
Make it stop.
“Make it stop, Vi,” I pleaded.
“Take a breath, Lily. You’re going to stroke out or something.” Her tone was soothing when she said, “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.” Then she snickered. “But you are coming off kind of crazy right now. You know that, right?” She raised an eyebrow at me, then shoved the future muffins into the oven and set the timer.
“I don’t know why I’m freaking out. I texted with him on the phone last night. I knew I would see him today. I tried to mentally prepare for it. I shouldn’t be reacting this way. It makes no sense.”
