Page 1 of Harvest Heat

CHAPTER 1

Rhys frowned as he looked out the front window of Frost + Foam. He’d spent years perfecting the shop until everything from the polished concrete floor to the marble counter to his expert saturation of pour-over coffee was up to his exacting standards.

It had taken time to convince the residents of Frostwick Harbor that the sludge they usually drank could barely be considered coffee. And even longer for him to be comfortable behind the counter, greeting customers and making small talk. At least he could mostly talk about coffee, the one subject where he always knew what to say.

But now, Caleb, a newcomer to town, one who somehow managed to smile and talk to everyone like he already knew them, had opened a coffee shop just down the street, Cloud Nine Coffee. Rhys was sick of hearing about it. “Caleb’s going to have so many flavors.” “He’s going to make smoothies too.” “He’s going to have cinnamon rolls from the bakery.” If one more customer tried to tell Rhys about things Cloud Nine would have that his shop didn’t, he was going to start throwing things.

Losing his temper like that would be worse for business than another shop a block away, but he’d had all he could take. Soon, he’d be left with choosing between an explosion of anger or running into the back of the store, curling up in a ball on the floor, and trying to shut out the rest of the world.

Caleb, Mr. Naturally Nice Extrovert, had stopped by to introduce himself a few days earlier. Rhys hid in the back, and Sam, the only employee he trusted to make pour-overs, talked to him. Sam was better at small talk than he was, and they didn’t seem to be affected by Caleb’s tall frame, broad shoulders, and full beard like Rhys was.

There was no way around it—Caleb was hot, which only made Rhys resent him more. Did he have to be full of sunshine and look like a Scandinavian lumberjack? All while trying to steal Rhys’s business.

Rhys could hear his best friend, Tessa, telling him he was being overly dramatic. Caleb had told her he wanted both shops to thrive. Tessa believed him, and so did the rest of Rhys’s friends. Caleb probably had them all under his spell.

Even if he wasn’t trying to sabotage Rhys’s store, he was right down the street, being all easygoing and charming—things Rhys definitely was not—and offering high-calorie desserts masquerading as coffee drinks. No way did that count as coffee; it was just syrup and whipped cream with a vague coffee flavor. What Rhys made was coffee, scientifically perfected, meticulously extracted flavor from the best beans he could source.

Rhys had kept his shop sleek and minimal. The coffee was the star, not the decor, but Caleb’s store logo was a cloud with a rainbow arching out of it, and the interior was bright yellow and pink with a wild mismatch of furniture. It was pure chaos.

Since he didn’t have any customers in the shop, Rhys stepped out from behind the counter and made his way to the front window. If he pressed himself against the wall at the far edge, he could see the line of people waiting at Cloud Nine. They spilled out of the store and down the sidewalk past the big fall book display in front of his friend Jonah’s store, The Reading Room. The front of Cloud Nine was fully decorated for fall. Rhys had put out a few gourds and pumpkins, but Caleb had gone all out with felt leaf garlands and hay bales, baskets of fake apples, and enormous pumpkins. Rhys could see a toddler sitting on one of them as her mother tried to get her to come down.

Rhys sighed as he looked at all the excited people who weren’t coming to see him. So far, only a few of his regulars had come in for their morning coffee. Apparently, the rest of the town was down the street, waiting to get a sugar high. When they crashed later that morning and fell asleep at work, it certainly wouldn’t be his fault.

The door chimed, and it startled Rhys so badly he fell against the window.

Tessa rushed over to him. “Are you okay?”

Rhys waved her away as he rubbed his cheek with his other hand. Ugh, he’d made a print on the window. He walked toward the counter to get cleaner and a towel.

“So you’re not even going to say good morning?” Tessa asked.

Rhys looked up. “Oh, sorry. I… The window…”

She smiled. “Go clean the window. I know you won’t be able to think about anything else until it’s sparkling again.”

He scowled at her, but she was right. He liked perfection. There wasn’t anything wrong with that.

When the smudge was gone, Rhys walked back to the counter, where Tessa was waiting.

She looked him up and down. “Your anxiety is sky-high today.”

She said it as a statement of fact, and Rhys couldn’t argue with her. She’d known him since second grade. She often called him out when he was spiraling, but she never judged him.

“Are you saying I shouldn’t be?” He gestured around the store. “There’s nobody here.”

“It’s Cloud Nine’s first morning. You know how nosy everyone is in this town. Of course they want to check it out.”

She was right, but that didn’t do anything to make Rhys feel better. “But my customers like good coffee. Why would they want…” Rhys’s nose wrinkled as he thought about the offerings advertised on the sandwich board outside Caleb’s shop: The Bear Hug, Pumpkin Dream Latte, Chai Me Up Buttercup. Ridiculous. Not that he was paying that much attention.

Tessa smiled. “They want to see what it’s all about, but they’ll be back. I bet Mr. Timmons came by, didn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“And Sylvia Rattray.”

“Of course.” They were two of his most dedicated regulars.

Tessa grinned. “I knew they wouldn’t be tempted by Caleb’s concoctions.”