He punctuates that swift rejection by taking my hand between two fingers, as if it’s a dirty tissue or—gasp!—a participation trophy, and placing it back down by my side.
Apparently the stages of grief move incredibly fast because I’ve arrived at depression. All I want is a sweet treat from inside The Coffee Shop but the Bardot brothers are currently blocking my way.
Without dignifying Ben with a response to his comment about my dreams, because, dammit, sometimes I do dream about the bastard, I sidestep him and his pretty-boy brothers in pursuit of a chocolate croissant.
“Colette—” he starts, but I don’t care what he has to say. This conversation is over. Not quite acceptance but as close as I’m going to get right now.
Only, when I finally make it through the hulking men to the front door of The Coffee Shop, there’s a note on the door.
That’s when I realize, it’s surprisingly empty inside and no one has come in or out since I walked over here in the first place.
The note is scrawled in the specific brand of cursive that all grandmothers seem to write in and reads:
Closed early today! Meeting with those handsome Bardot brothers. They are taking over the shop! Retirement can’t come soon enough.
- Ethel
“Absolutely not!” I scream, because now I’m right back at denial.
Her anger is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. And when she was stroking my arm like that? I almost gave up right there and told her I’d not only leave Sassafras, but leave planet Earth if she wanted me to.
I hear they are almost ready to attempt human settlements on Mars.
She doesn’t know it but it takes everything in menotto do what she asks. Because as much as I say I’d move to Mars, it’s been torture living so far away from her for the last twelve years. A slow, painful torture knowing that she was off doing amazingthings, never once thinking about me while I was trying to achieve, succeed, transform—anything for another shred of her attention.
And now that I have it? No fucking way am I giving it up again.
“Absolutely yes, Red,” I finally reply. “Aren’t you going to properly welcome me home?”
Stepping forward, I open my arms and gesture for her to give me a hug. To my absolute shock, she tentatively takes a step to close the gap between us—and then forcefully shoves me backward into the waiting arms of my brothers.
“Fuck you, Bardot!” Colette shouts before stomping off down the sidewalk. After a moment she calls over her shoulder, “You better have chocolate croissants when you reopen, or else!”
“Or else?” Gabe asks. “She’s an angry little thing, isn’t she?”
I scrub a hand down my face. “Yeah, she is.”
“And Ben loves it,” Jules chimes in. Before I have a chance to deny it—not that I would—he continues, “I’ve got to head back to school to finish up a few things. Are we done for today?”
Nodding, I run through the list of things we still need to do. “We should be good for today. It’ll be a few more weeks until we can sign all of the paperwork. Let’s check in with Colton and make sure he has room in his schedule to start construction after that.”
Jules fires off a text, pocketing his phone afterward. “I know I’ve already told you?—”
I hold up my hand to silence him. “Don’t. You can’t keep thanking us every five minutes for the next however many years we run this coffee shop.” Gripping Jules’ shoulders, I shake him lightly. “Your dream is our dream, Brother. We’re going to make it happen and we are ecstatic?—”
“Thrilled!” Gabe adds.
“Elated!” I reply.
“Joyful?” Gabe ponders.
“Overjoyed to be joining you on this adventure. Got it?”
Jules dips his chin in acknowledgement. “Got it,” he murmurs.
“Great. Now, shoo!” I wave him off, satisfied when he seems to relax just a bit before heading back to school.
Gabe and I walk back to the apartment, one of the perks of living with him instead of with Mom and Dad—I’ll literally be able to walk to work every day once we reopen The Coffee Shop.
