Chapter 7
SEVEN
Piper
First thing in the morning was my favorite time of day at Silver Linings. Especially a winter morning like this one, when it was still dark out, and the day was fresh and new.
Chatting with my customers and seeing their smiling faces was also my favorite part of the day. But a girl could have more than one favorite, right?
I brushed the snow from my coat just before walking into the inviting warmth of the coffee shop interior. The scents of butter and sugar hit me as I strode into the kitchen.
Dillon’s broad shoulders hunched over the counter as he scooped balls of dough onto a baking sheet. “Morning, Dillon,” I called out. “It smells absolutely incredible in here. Is that cardamom?”
He looked up and gestured to a cooling rack. “Wait till you try these. New recipe. Here.”
He set down his scoop, picked up a scone from the rack, and held it out to me. I broke off a piece and took a bite. The texture was tender, with bursts of sweetness from dried apricot and the spicy bite of crystallized ginger. Cardamom accented the finish.
“This is dangerous. People are going to start camping out front before we open.” I took another bite. “Make a double batch tomorrow.”
Dillon smiled and nodded. “You got it, boss.”
I grabbed my apron and started on my tasks for opening up the shop.
Silver Linings had been mine for about five years now, and I still got that little flutter in my chest every time I walked through the door. My pride and joy, second only to Ollie.
Not that the path here had been what I’d planned. Once upon a time, I’d been working on a literature degree, my head full of Joyce and Hemingway and ideas of maybe being a teacher.
Grace had been my college roommate, naturally, the star student of her accounting classes.
While I’d taken out loans to fund my education, Grace had received a full-ride scholarship from an anonymous alumnus of Silver Ridge High, based on her impressive test scores.
I was still paying those loans off, even without the degree to show for it. At least Danny had agreed to move to my hometown, probably because he wasn’t at all close to his own family.
I’d wound up a barista right here. Worked my way up until I took over the place myself while also caring for Ollie, no thanks to my ex.
It had been my idea to add shelves laden with well-loved paperbacks for sale, and to refurbish the old fireplace so we could have a blaze going in the winter months. I’d even come up with the Silver Linings name and hand-painted the wooden sign outside.
Now, I had a half-dozen employees who worked various shifts, plus seasonal help in the summers. About once a week, I helped open up the shop in the morning, but I spent the others with Ollie.
Speaking of my employees, wasn’t there supposed to be another here right now?
On cue, Rina charged in five minutes late and out of breath. Her dark, wavy hair stuck out with static as she whipped the beanie off her head. “So sorry, Piper! Couldn’t find my ice scraper, and then I slipped on the driveway. My feet were over my head.”
I looked her over, but she seemed uninjured. “You alright?”
“Landed right on the snow-people my little brother made yesterday. Squashed them flat. But I swear, my entire life played out like a movie in my head. Scene by scene.”
Dillon placed a tray of muffins on the cooling rack. “Only you could have this much drama before seven a.m.”
I chuckled and handed Rina an apron. “Glad you’re safe and sound.”
Rina Collins had moved to Silver Ridge last year and always seemed to be skating through the door at the last second.
She was far worse than me about keeping to a schedule.
But her milk foam artistry was legendary.
Seriously, she had her own Instagram account devoted to it. And she kept us laughing.
Dillon Kirby was a former baseball player. Not the most likely type to wind up my best baker. But he was one of those quiet men with hidden depths. He’d been through far too much tragedy and loss already in his life, having lost his father and sister in a fire when he was a kid.
Then he worked his way to becoming a college baseball star before he tore his rotator cuff so badly that surgery couldn’t fix it.
Lucky for me, he’d discovered a passion for high-altitude baking techniques.
Within a couple of hours, we were busy making lattes, boxing up pastries, and chatting with customers.
There seemed to be one topic of conversation on everyone’s mind today: a certain handsome, mysterious, tattooed bad boy who’d just reappeared in town.
It seemed most of Silver Ridge had heard about the drama at Grace’s house. Including the way Ashford had yelled at Grayden and told him to leave.
It was still hard to believe he’d sat at my kitchen table that night, eating my leftovers and throwing out casual mentions of his prison time. And afterward, when I’d walked into the living room and found him shirtless, all those muscles and tattoos on display…
Yikes.
Grace’s brother, I reminded myself. I’d had a pathetic crush on the man when I was a teenager, but I had far more sense now.
Besides, I doubted Grayden would stick around that long, regardless of what he’d said the other night about staying in Hart County.
Around mid-morning, I took a ten-minute break and retreated to the kitchen, where I downed a mocha and ate half a bran muffin while I scrolled my phone.
No urgent messages waited from Ollie’s school, thank goodness.
Like the time he’d played chicken on the monkey bars and the other child wound up with two broken arms.
Rina’s head popped in. “Piper, you need to get out front.”
“What’s wrong?” We didn’t usually get slammed at 11:30 on a Monday. “Did you spill another twenty-pound bag of coffee beans?”
“No. It’s way more exciting than that. Two words. Double. Espresso.”
“What?” I shook my head, as if that would help me understand what in the world she was talking about. “Aren’t you supposed to be on the register?”
“Yeah, I was. That’s my point. You need to get out there. This is big.”
I let her push me along through the kitchen toward the front. She stopped me before we reached the counter and peeked comically from behind a partial wall at the tables.
“See? It’s him. The guy everyone’s talking about. He’s here.”
My gaze first went to the register, confirming there weren’t any annoyed customers waiting with no one to help them.
Only then did I let my eyes wander in the direction Rina was pointing. The far table in the corner by the bookshelves.
Grayden was here.
I ignored the tiny increase in my heart rate. “So?” I asked. “He’s allowed to drink coffee.”
“Double espresso, Piper,” she stage-whispered. “Who orders just espresso in Silver Ridge? This isn’t Italy. But he was so cool and confident about it, I was all, Bellissimo, Signore, like I’d been transported to Roma.”
I was doing my best not to roll my eyes. “Plenty of people order plain espresso.” Okay, not a lot, but it happened. Sometimes.
Rina kept up her stream of consciousness. “And he smells like…I don’t even know, something a really hot anti-hero smells like. Broken promises and virgin tears.”
I snorted. “He’s not an anti-hero. He’s just a guy. And he smells more like…” I cut myself off, realizing I should not finish that sentence.
For the record, he smelled like black pepper, cedar, and pure man. And his eyes were dark brown with subtle hints of amber and gold.
“Piper.” Rina leveled a glare at me. “For heaven’s sake, look at the guy.”
Nope. Didn’t need to do that. “I just did.”
“No, you glanced.” She nudged my chin. “Take a nice, long look.”
Ugh, did I have to? I’d seen more than enough of Grayden the other night.
Trust me, I’d looked my fill.
But reluctantly, I went ahead and focused on the secluded corner table again.
Grayden sat with his head bowed as he read a battered paperback.
He wore a black button-down with the sleeves rolled up his forearms to show off his tats.
His unruly hair hung into his face, and as I watched, he pushed back the strands with a large hand.
A shiver passed through me, and a sigh whispered through my lips. No denying the man was fine as hell.
His head tilted, giving us a better view of the black roses inked on the side of his neck. His beard was a bit more trimmed than the other night. But today, he wore a pair of thick black-framed glasses.
That was just unfair.
“Didn’t know about the glasses,” I muttered weakly.
“Yeah, sexy-guy glasses. And the tattoos?” Rina made a choked sound. “I wonder how far they go over his body.”
That, I had a pretty good idea about.
A huge design of tropical leaves and flowers covered most of Grayden’s back.
His right arm was mostly unmarked except for a starburst on his bicep.
But an intricate sleeve of ink covered his left arm and stretched up to his shoulder, where the design extended across his upper chest to the stylized roses just visible right now above his collar.
I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off him when he stood there shirtless in my living room. I’d remembered him being in good shape back when I was a teenager. But not like that. There was no way his upper back had been that broad years ago, or that his pecs had been so…round.
I’d gone to bed with my blood pumping, my nipples peaked, and very naughty ideas swirling in my brain.
At his table, Grayden turned a page of his paperback. Lifted his tiny cup to sip the espresso.
Then his eyes shifted upward and met mine, which made me jump and duck back into the kitchen.
Yeah, he probably hadn’t noticed.
Getting flustered around handsome men was not something I did. But Grayden O’Neal wasn’t just a random hot older man. He was a guy who’d spent the night on my couch a few days ago, then vanished by the time I stumbled out of my bedroom the next morning.
Which was fine by me. Not like I’d cared either way about seeing him again. I cared about Grace being happy and working out her siblings’ differences, but this wasn’t about me.
I had no idea what he’d done since. If he’d gotten a hotel or ended up sleeping in his truck for the rest of the weekend. Maybe I should’ve asked for his number to check, but he’d made it clear he didn’t want my help or my interference. Grace and I hadn’t texted much the rest of the weekend either.
“I guess he’s okay looking,” I finally said to Rina.
That was definitely a lie.
“What are you two staring at?” Dillon asked behind me.
Rina turned around. “Only the sexiest man to set foot in Silver Ridge, Colorado, since history began. Even if Piper won’t admit it.
You were there, weren’t you?” she asked me under her breath.
“Is it true he and Ashford got into a knock-down, drag-out fight, MMA style? Please tell me you got some video footage.”
“That is not true. And no, there’s no video. It’s a family matter, and the O’Neals deserve privacy about it. As far as we’re concerned, Grayden is just another customer.” I was determined to view him that way. “Now we all need to get back to work.”
Dillon huffed. “Pretty sure I’m the only one who was working.”
“Don’t argue with the boss,” I said, winking as I headed back toward my office.
Not because I planned to hide from Grayden. Not at all. I simply had a lot to do.
“Piper, wait.” Dillon followed me into the kitchen. “Is that guy a problem?”
I spun to face him. “You mean Grayden O’Neal?”
He dipped his chin in a nod. “I’ve heard about him. If he’s bothering you, I can get rid of him.”
I almost laughed. Dillon was always being thoughtful, but he had the wrong idea about Grayden.
If anything, I was the one who’d been sexually harassing the man with my eyes.
“No. It’s nothing like that. But thanks. I doubt he’ll stay too much longer anyway.”
“At Silver Linings? Or in town?”
“Both.”
Dillon was still frowning as I turned away and escaped toward my office.
Unfortunately, the moment I closed the door to my tiny office space and glimpsed the stack of waiting bills on my desk, I remembered what else I’d been avoiding. Dang it.
Bills, invoices, and more bills.
Couldn’t I go back out there and keep ogling Grayden instead? Keep making a fool of myself, because he had one hundred percent noticed me staring, both the other night and just now?
No. I was an adult. A mom and a business owner who had a lot of people relying on her. The last thing I needed was to get any further into Grayden’s drama.
Shit. I had a lot of people relying on me.
The reality was that running a small business was more expensive and stressful than I’d ever imagined before I took this place over.
The cost of ingredients kept climbing, the old building needed repairs.
Add to that the challenge of fairly compensating my employees and making my student loan payments every month.
Meanwhile, Ollie kept growing like a weed, shooting out of his clothes and shoes at an alarming rate. And Danny hadn’t bothered to make a child support payment for the last six months.
All of my friends and family had been stepping up since the divorce to help care for Ollie. Nobody knew how tough things were getting for me financially.
I didn’t want them to know. This was my mess to handle.
But there was something I’d been putting off for a while now, and it was time to tackle it. I pulled up a new document on my computer and started typing.
HOUSE FOR RENT, mixed-use zoning, perfect for commercial and/or residential. Lots of potential!
Potential, meaning Needs a shit-ton of work. But I preferred to look on the bright side.
I added a few more details and printed it out. The people of Silver Ridge were still an analog bunch, and they’d be far more likely to see a notice on my bulletin board than a rental listing on some website.
Then I made myself busy doing other things for an hour until I glanced out and confirmed Grayden was gone.
Phew.
I carried the rental notice to the bulletin board and pinned it front and center. I snipped the little tabs so they stuck out, practically begging people to grab one. Maybe not a solution to all my problems, but a step in the right direction.
Things would work out. They always did, one way or another. You just had to keep moving forward and believe that somewhere up ahead, there was a silver lining waiting.