Over the years, I’ve gone so much longer between seeing Cole. A month shouldn’t bother me. But things have changed. I thought… I thought things were changing.
“I invited her,” my mom—the traitor—responds.
Before I can process that proverbial bomb drop, Chloe jumps up from her seat. “Cole! Come sit by me!”
Et tu, Brute?
“Really, Princess Chloe? I thought we were closer than that.” Chloe and I have been spending time together at the weekly library story time, and whenever Hank needs a break. Thea is busy now that her dance classes are up and running and, the truth is, I really enjoy Chloe’s company. Except for right now, while she’s befriending the enemy.
Chloe narrows her eyes at me, scolding in a way that only kids can. “Don’t be mean to Princess Cole and maybe we can be friends again.”
Ouch.
I turn my attention back to the infuriating red head. “Hear thatprincess? We can’t be mean to each other.”
Instead of responding, Cole stares at me. And stares.
And stares.
Whispered conversations move on around us, but two can play the game that Cole has started, and I’m determined to win this time. After several moments, I can’t hold it any longer, blinking with a mutteredfuck.
Cole smirks. “How does it feel always coming in second place?”
“I love coming second.” My reply is instant. “Especially if you’re the one coming first.”
Now it’s her turn to blink. She looks at me, stunned, until Chloe tugs at her hand in an attempt to get Cole to sit down.
Tentatively, she slinks into the open seat. I notice the small shake of her head as she joins in a conversation with Thea.
As hard as I try, I can’t help but sneak glances at her throughout the evening. She mostly sticks to conversation with Chloe and Thea and, after seeing her interact with a new friend,it crosses my mind that I still don’t know what happened with Maya. I want to ask her about it.
I want to know everything about Cole.
My anger is still there, though. Simmering below the surface. Frustration that she’s avoiding me, holding me at arms length.
“Take a breath,mon chou.” Mom’s voice cuts through my thoughts.
Scowling at my mom, I do as she says, inhaling a mix of fresh-baked pizza and lingering bits of Cole’s Irish coffee scent. “This is your fault,” I mumble, the petulant teenager in me rearing its ugly head. “You at least could have warned me.”
Mom’s sigh is heavy. “She was supposed to join us a while ago. I think she’s had a hard few weeks.”
That catches my attention. Why does Mom have this knowledge but I don’t? “Who did you hear that from?” I ask, turning toward her.
She glances over my shoulder to where I know Cole and Thea are conversing. Mom’s lips purse together, contemplatively. I search her eyes, waiting for an answer. Seconds tick by before she returns her gaze to me, hand gently patting my cheek. “You should ask her.”
Huffing, I drop my head into my hands and gently massage my temples. “She doesn’t talk to me. She barely even looks at me.” I pause. “You know this,” I whisper.
“Keep trying, my cabbage.” She rubs soothing circles up and down my back, and I really do feel like I’m back in high school when I first confessed to my… obsession with Colette Russell. “And don’t forget, oral sex is the best sex.”
“No, oh God!” Mom has notoriously told us that oral sex is the best sex since we were all in high school. Growing up with a sex therapist for a mom was certainly… interesting. Her initial reasoning for the unconventional lecture was that no one couldget pregnant via oral sex, but now I think she just likes to fuck with us. “Please, no more talking about sex tonight.”
“I cannot guarantee that,mon chou.” Her twinkling laugh is a comfort amidst my swirling emotions. “Talk to her,” she repeats, patting me once more on the back before abandoning me to join the other women.
Talk to her. If only it was that simple.
Turns out, it is fairly simple to get Cole alone later that evening. Part of me is sure that this is my mother’s doing, but I can’t say that I mind her meddling—this time. After we scarfed our pizza, the women continued to talk, someone eventually saying something that spooked Thea. She hightailed it out of here followed by an uncharacteristically angry Jules.
We all get started working on little projects around the shop, and eventually I find Cole alone in the storage closet. Ironically, it’s the same closet that Ethel and I were in all those months ago when I told her that I wanted to take over The Coffee Shop. We had stumbled out of this very closet and bumped right into Colette Russell. At the time I was still firmly in denial about my feelings for Cole, but after coffee that day…
