Chapter 21
Chapter 21
I ARRIVED AT THE Cozy Cottage the following morning, literally dragging my feet along the ground. Okay, not literally dragging my feet, but I was feeling as low as I’d felt in a very long time. Betrayal and a near-death experience could do that to a gal.
I tapped on the front door, and Bailey appeared from the kitchen to unlock and let me in.
“Good morning. I hope you’re feeling better today?” she asked in her usual bright and breezy tone.
I summoned every last bit of energy to form a smile. “Morning. I’m working on it.”
“Good. Come and drop your purse. I need you to finish off the breakfast muffins, if that’s okay?”
Usually, the thought of Bailey’s delicious cream cheese, bacon, and spinach breakfast muffins had my mouth watering. Not today. My taste buds were clearly as down in the dumps as I was.
I followed Bailey out to the kitchen. When I walked through the entranceway, I spotted Josh, glancing in my direction and shooting me a brief smile as he slipped out the back door. A strange feeling passed over me. In my current state of mind, I couldn’t identify it.
Bailey turned to me, her eyes shining. “Actually, this can’t wait. Can we sit down and have a talk?”
I wondered what was going on. “Of course. But didn’t you want me to do the muffins?”
Her face was bright. “Yes, but I have something I need to tell you first. Something to talk to you about. Let’s grab a coffee and sit down. Latte?”
“Sure.” I dropped my purse out back as Bailey ground the beans and fired up the coffee machine. I was finding it nearly impossible to get excited about anything today, but she had my interest piqued.
Our coffees on the table in front of us, Bailey placed her hands on the table in front of her. She seemed almost nervous.
“What is it?” I asked, knitting my brows together.
“I need to tell you a story. My story.”
Out of nowhere, a chill hit me. I nodded.
“You know I’ve had this place for a while now and I own it with a partner, right?” I nodded. “That’s not the whole story.” She paused, and I noticed she was now clasping her hands together tight.
I placed one of my hands on hers. “It’s okay.”
She smiled at me, tears welling in her eyes. “I bought this place with my fiancé.”
I blinked at her. Bailey didn’t have a fiancé. We’d have known about it if she had. Wouldn’t we? “Your fiancé?”
“Daniel. Daniel Bentley.”
Josh’s last name was Bentley. Coincidence? My mind began to whir. “Any relation to Josh?” I asked uncertainly.
She bit her lip and nodded. “He was Josh’s brother. He died.” Her voice cracked, and she pressed her lips together.
“I had no idea, Bailey. I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. It was a while ago. It was a biking accident.” She looked off into the distance. “He was mad on mountain biking. He and Josh would go on these trips away together. Only, one day just after Dan and I had bought this place, he . . . he didn’t come back.”
“Oh, Bailey.” My heart ached for her. She looked so small, sitting across from me, sharing this awful, awful story of a young man, gone before his time. As I squeezed her hand, tears began to spill down my own cheeks. What had I been so sad about: some guy I barely knew, two-timing me with a woman I hated? That was nothing. This. This was something: the loss of the man you loved.
She pulled a handkerchief out of her sleeve to wipe away the tears, the way my nana used to do. It was quaint and old-fashioned and brought a watery smile to my face.
“I know I may look like I’m not over it, but I am. Well, as much as I’ll ever be, I guess. It was hard and it was horrible and I wish with all my heart he was still here, but he’s not.” She swallowed, then took a deep breath, attempting a smile.
“I’m so sorry. I never knew. And . . . Josh never said anything.” Oh, Josh. This must have been so hard on him, too. Something went click in my brain. That was why he had been strange that day on our run: this was the thing he mentioned he had to deal with, the reason he had left his high-flying career as a V.P.
“Don’t blame him. I asked him not to say anything to you. It affected him deeply, of course. But for him, out of the ashes came Ned’s Coffee, his passion.” She let out a puff of air. “You see, Dan’s nickname was Ned. It’s some weird childhood name, you’ll have to ask Josh about it.”
I swallowed. Ned’s was named after Josh’s dead brother, Bailey’s dead fiancé. I tried to swallow a lump in my throat the size of Texas. It didn’t work.
“So, what happened after Dan passed away is his mother, Meredith, took over his interest in the café. I didn’t have the capital to run this place on my own, and it was always Dan’s and my dream to do this together.” She paused, clearing her throat. “Anyway, to cut a long, unpleasant story short, she’s finally agreed to take a step back.”
I nodded, watching my friend closely as I tried to take everything in. It was overwhelming for me—I couldn’t imagine how all of this was for Bailey. Or for Josh. “That’s . . . good?” I chanced.
Her face broke into a smile. “It is good. It means I can call the shots, do what I want to do with the place.”
“Bailey, that’s great. I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks. I understood what Meredith was doing, of course, trying to keep things the way they were before Dan died. It’s good for her she can begin to let go now.” She took in a breath of air and her expression changed. “Now, I have a proposition for you, as the new sole owner-operator of the Cozy Cottage Café.”
I returned her smile. “That has a nice ring to it.”
“It does, doesn’t it? I know you want this new job of yours at that electricity company, and you’re so talented, I can imagine they’re desperate to have you. But, would you like to join me here?” She looked around the café.
“What do you mean?”
“You have so many great ideas, and you’ve helped me begin to develop this business into what I want it to be. Plus, you’re an amazing baker, and I could really use another pair of hands.”
“You want me to stay on?”
She bit her lip. “Yes, as my business partner. Help me run this place, make it our place.” She bit her lip and looked at me, her face full of hope.
This time I didn’t need to ignore what my gut instinct was yelling at me. I bounced out my chair and hugged her, tears spilling down my cheeks. “Yes! Oh, my gosh, yes!”
Bailey let out a laugh. “I’d hoped you’d say that. Josh was right.”
I cocked my head to the side. “Josh?”
Bailey nodded. “He told me this needed to become your place now. With me.”
“He did?” I thought of Josh on the yacht, telling me to talk to Bailey. I’d assumed it was to stay on as a waitress because he knew I’d loved that so much, not to become Bailey’s partner .
Somehow, he knew. Somehow, through all this mess, he knew me better than I knew myself. He could tell my heart was here, with Bailey, at the Cozy Cottage Café—not trying in vain to follow some career other people wanted for me, working in a job where my soul was being sucked out of me by some corporate vacuum cleaner each and every day. Here. Doing this.
“You know, it might have been Josh’s idea, but the moment he mentioned it, it was like the jigsaw puzzle pieces fell into place. You love this place as much as I do.”
A rush of excitement ran through my veins. In an instant, my grin was big and fat. “This is going to be a-mazing!”
“I know! We’re really doing this!” Bailey’s eyes were the size of the saucers she served her delicious cups of coffee on.
My excitement morphed into a beautiful sense of serenity, the kind of calm you can only achieve when you know deep, deep down in your bones something is right. I looked at Bailey for a moment and took a deep breath. “We are.”