Chapter 6
Jax
I threw myself down onto one of the cafe chairs and let out a long sigh. I was glad I had been able to help Ethan out, but was also happy he had decided to close the cafe a few hours early.
The cafe wasn’t nearly as busy as Serenity Sips, but there was enough of a steady flow for it to be too much for two people to handle.
Right now, all I wanted to do was go back in time and slap young Jax for thinking it was okay to skip out on work because of a party.
Well, there was one other thing I wanted to do, and that was sleep.
I hoped Carter was okay with going to bed early, because I could definitely use her snuggles right now.
At least if she wasn’t ready to sleep, I knew Speck would be.
That was pretty much all he did at this point. Poor old man.
Ethan sat down beside me and set a mug and a sandwich on the table in front of me.
I pointed toward the items. “What’s all this?”
“Coffee and grilled cheese. Consider it your pay for the day since you won’t accept cash.”
Ethan smiled at me and, even in his sixties, his boyish grin showed through. It was no wonder Jamie fell for him. If he was younger and I was into men even the slightest bit, I think I could be into him.
Shit. Why am I thinking about that? I must be really tired. The yawn that followed confirmed those thoughts.
“I would never accept pay from you. You’re family. I’m happy to help.”
Ethan reached over and squeezed my hand. “Well, I’m very happy to have you here. You really are a natural.”
“I’m not sure if you can really consider it natural when I’ve been doing this job since I was in college.” All that hard work to have the rug pulled right out from under me. I tried my best to keep a smile on my face so Ethan didn’t realize anything was wrong.
Ethan looked around the cafe and sighed. “I love this place so much, but I’m also ready to be done. This will be Jamie’s last year of teaching, and I’d really like to retire at the same time as him.” Ethan chuckled. “Heck, I’d love to retire before him just to rub it in his face.”
“You’re the boss. Can’t you just kind of oversee operations from the outside? That way, you still get to keep your baby, but don’t have all the responsibility.”
Ethan laughed again. “It’s still a lot of responsibility.” He held his arms out to the side. “Look at what happened today.”
He had a good point. I guess he could never fully relax if he was still trying to keep the business afloat. “You could try hiring workers who are more reliable; maybe hire one or two people to be managers.”
Ethan nodded. “I’ve thought about that, but I love the fact that I’m able to provide jobs for high school and college kids, especially when those kids don’t have a good home life for one reason or another. I would hate to change that.”
“So, what’s your plan?” I was guessing he didn’t have one given everything he was saying.
Ethan ran a hand over his face and sighed. “I guess I’ll find someone to sell it to and hope they respect what I’ve started here rather than changing it completely.”
“Who are you going to sell it to?”
Ethan laughed and rubbed his face again. “That’s the million-dollar question. I don’t know. I really hate the thought of selling it to someone random.”
Someone random. Like someone fresh out of college who has absolutely no experience?
The thought pissed me off and my next words came out much harsher than I meant them to, especially since my anger had nothing to do with Ethan.
“Isn’t there someone who works here that you could offer it to?
Someone who has put their heart and soul into the cafe and deserves a chance to make it their own? ”
Ethan furrowed his eyebrows and stared at me for a long time before saying anything. “Is there something you want to talk about?”
I crossed my arms in front of my chest and shook my head. “Of course not. What makes you think that?” I didn’t want to lie to Ethan, but I also knew I should be having this conversation with Carter before anyone else.
“Well, I think you witnessed today the kind of dedication my workers have. While I meant what I said, and I do love providing jobs for kids, they aren’t always the most reliable.
Plus, none of them are looking to make this a long-term thing.
” He poked me in the arm. “There is one person I know, though, who has been working very hard and has dreams of opening her own cafe some day.”
“Oh yeah?” I snorted. “Who’s that?”
Ethan studied me once again, and I felt like I might melt under his stare. “Come on, tell me what’s going on. It’s clearly really bothering you.”
I sighed in defeat. I would have this same conversation with Carter as soon as I was back at her grandparents’ house, but there was no way to skirt around the truth with Ethan. I might as well tell him.
“For months, my boss has been making it seem like she was going to sell me the cafe. It was so close, I could smell the biscuits baking. Then she ripped it all away.”
“She’s not going to sell to you?”
As I shook my head, I had to work hard to keep the tears that were burning my eyes from falling.
“She’s passing it on to her niece who suddenly showed up out of nowhere.
She has no experience, no connection to the cafe, and I’m honestly not even sure if she wants the position.
It didn’t really seem like it when my boss introduced her.
” I scoffed as I thought about that day.
“To make it all worse, she wants me to be this girl’s right-hand man.
Pretty much, she wants me to do all of the work while she reaps all of the benefits. ”
“Well, to repeat your question to me—what’s your plan?”
I groaned. “Isn’t that the million-dollar question? I don’t have a damn clue. If I left Serenity Sips, I wouldn’t even know what to do next. At the same time, it doesn’t feel right to stick around. I just feel like everything I worked so hard for is falling apart.”
“You know what would make both of our lives easier?”
“What’s that?” I hoped it was something that could happen, because I could use easy.
“If you lived in Maryland.”
“So, I could buy it from you?” It honestly didn’t sound like the worst option right now. I kind of wished I lived in Maryland so I had that option. It was too bad my whole life (including my soulmate) was in New York.
Ethan shook his head, and I wondered if I misinterpreted what he was trying to say. “You’re family. I’d be happy to just hand it over.”
Now, it was me shaking my head. Money wasn’t an issue for me given the trust fund my parents had set up for me.
I wasn’t the type to depend solely on mommy and daddy, but I did know I was well off, and I wasn’t going to take advantage of someone who could use the money.
With both him and Jamie retiring, I was sure they could.
“I would pay you. Definitely.” I laughed and nudged him playfully.
“I would take the family discount though.”
“To get that, you need to finally marry my niece.”
“Man, everyone is really on my case about this. It’s going to happen, don't worry.”
“Good.” Ethan tilted his head slightly. “Also, are we still talking hypotheticals?”
“About marrying Carter? Totally not hypothetical. Like I said—it’s happening.”
“No. I was backtracking a little. You were talking about paying me as if it was something you’d actually consider, but I figured that was hypothetical, right? Figured I’d ask before I let myself get excited about something that isn’t going to happen.”
I understand that feeling all too well.
“Unfortunately, that was hypothetical.”
The thing was, if I wasn’t dating Carter and an offer like this arose, I wouldn’t even think about it.
I’d pack up my things and say goodbye to New York.
I’d hope for the best, and if it didn’t work out, I’d move on to the next thing.
I liked to jump first, think later. That wasn’t a possibility anymore though.
In situations like this, I wasn’t only thinking (or not thinking) for myself.
I had to keep Carter in mind. Carter wasn’t the type to jump and that’s why I loved her.
Even if she considered this, which she wouldn’t when she had her dream job in New York and hated change, she would need to sit on it for months and make list after list.
Ethan smirked at me. “I feel like I can see your brain working. At the risk of getting myself excited, it seems like you’re considering it.”
I shook my head. “Please don’t get yourself excited. Have you met your niece? She’d never go for it.”
“You never know if you don’t ask. I honestly had no clue how I would make things work with Jamie, because I was sure he’d never come back here.
But guess what? He did. And as crazy as it seems to some people, especially Carter’s moms, it was the best decision he ever made. He’d tell you the same thing.”
“I’ll think about it.”
I would definitely talk to Carter about what happened at Serenity Sips, but I didn’t know if I would bring up the subject of taking over Ethan’s cafe. I didn’t want to add extra stress to Carter’s life based on something that I was fine to forget about.
The problem was that I couldn’t forget about it.
As Ethan drove me back to Grandma Miller’s house, I watched out the window and thought about what it would be like to live in an area like this.
Small towns were known for small minds, but it was hard to see this place as anything but beautiful.
The trees were green. The sky was bright.
It was pretty much the opposite of New York.
Little shops lined the main road in Ethan’s town and eventually gave way to farms and fields that led the way to the town Grandma Miller lived in.
Her town also had one main road that was filled with little mom and pop shops.