Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Raven
“A re you ready for this?” Greer asked, rubbing her hands together.
I wanted to throw up, and I didn’t know if it was nerves or cramps. It was probably a mixture of both, which wasn’t a great thing for a baker who had been up since three in the morning. I normally kept baker’s hours, but I wasn’t even sure I had truly slept the night before.
I looked over at Greer and I knew she was just as nervous as I was, but better at pretending. She looked excited, eager, and ready to dance the night away.
I also knew she was probably going to throw up later, because the nerves would get to her.
I held out my arms in answer, and she threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly.
“Let’s get this done,” she whispered, then kissed my cheek.
“You know, when only four people show up and they happen to be Montgomerys, at least we can say we tried.”
I ducked as Greer slapped me upside the head. “No, we’re not doing that. We are doing happy things. We’re thinking happy things. Don’t put that out into the universe. You know better than that. Okay, get back to baking, I will go open the doors.”
“No, I’ll go open the door with you,” I said, as I straightened my apron. “We do this together.”
Both of our staff members held up their thumbs. I smiled at them, as we walked to the door as a unit. We wouldn’t always have a staff of four, in fact we rarely would. But it was day one, and even if nobody showed up, despite the advertising, the samples of sweet treats, and other things we had done to promote our business, we all wanted to be there on the first day. I just really hoped this wasn’t all for nothing.
I looked through the glass doors finally, and nearly tripped over my feet.
It was six a.m., early for most people, and around the time we would be opening our doors every day of the week. We knew that people needed coffee on their way to work, so we would be early risers. I really hadn’t expected anybody to actually be waiting outside though.
“Oh, my goodness,” Greer whispered, and I saw her whisk away a quick tear.
Because, at six o’clock in the morning, on a Friday, we had a line.
We opened the doors quickly, and Greer beamed.
“Welcome to Latte on the Rocks. We are so happy to have you.”
Hailey, our co-owner, investor, and patron, beamed at us. “I brought the whole family, and while I may be first in line, I’m happy to say that it’s not just Montgomerys and friends here.” Hailey hugged us tightly, and then we all got to work, doing a thousand things at once.
Hailey and her husband Sloane came in first and ordered, gushing over the look of the place. Considering this was her franchise, and we were just part stakeholders in it, it felt as if we were blessed by our own fairy godmother.
The next set of customers were of course Montgomerys, these from the downtown tattoo shop, before they headed back over to their section of the city.
I worked behind the counter along with Greer, making orders. Our staffers went to the tables, cleaned them up, made sure everybody was happy. I handed out banana nut muffins, pumpkin cheesecake muffins, honey oat squares, cranberry cheesecake buttons, various cinnamon rolls, brownies, and cupcakes, and never stopped moving.
I pulled out the biscotti on its second bake and set them to cool, before I mixed up another round of biscuits, as somebody ordered a full dozen. I also had sandwich bread and rolls cooling on the racks, as another person ordered a whole baguette.
I knew that it wasn’t always going to be like today, that no matter what I baked, somebody wasn’t going to like something, or I would make too much of one thing or not make enough of the other. And while I had worked in bakeries and cafés ever since I was first able to work, I didn’t have decades of experience. I knew what I was doing, but there were going to be mistakes.
I needed to get those thoughts out of my mind, because I needed to focus.
I turned to the counter, going to refill the display case I was sure had already been emptied, and looked up to see Wyatt.
He grinned at me and gestured towards the stack of cream cheese blondie brownies in my hand. “Those look decadent.”
“It’s her own personal recipe,” Greer teased.
I blushed and shook my head. “Anything here is my own personal recipe, but they’re a common baked good.”
“There’s nothing common about you, Raven,” Wyatt teased.
From the twinkle in his eyes, it took me a moment to realize that he was flirting with me. Wyatt, the bike store owner, and our working neighbor, a man who was slowly becoming our friend, was flirting with me.
Greer raised her brows as she went to make a peppermint white chocolate latte for the next customer.
Wyatt beamed at me, and asked me something, though I wasn’t really paying attention. Because someone else walked into the building, and why did it feel as if I was losing my mind?
“Raven?”
“Huh?” I asked, pulling my gaze from Sebastian as he walked in, his gaze on me.
“May I have one of those brownies? Or are they for another order?” Wyatt asked.
I cleared my throat and gestured. “Of course. Let me wrap that up for you.”
“Thank you. I’ll go eat it over in my shop, and thank you guys for opening, because I already had people browsing in my shop, and that means more business for all of us. You should let me thank you one time. With dinner.”
Sebastian, along with Noah, Ford, and Leif stood behind Wyatt, waiting to hear my response.
“Oh. Well. Here’s your brownie. Thank you!” I spluttered, completely ignoring the fact that I was pretty sure he had just asked me out on a date.
Wyatt’s face fell, before he rolled his shoulders back and turned to our staffer at the register. “Thank you, Raven. And I think I’m going to have to try a little harder. Or just enjoy the sweetness that is this brownie.”
He winked again as he walked out, nodding at the Montgomerys. “Neighbors,” Wyatt said.
“Hey there, Wyatt,” Noah drawled, before he glanced at Sebastian.
I did the same, and realized that Sebastian was stone still, hands fisted at his sides.
That was so weird. Why was he standing there? Maybe he didn’t want to be here. That would make more sense. They’d probably forced him to come over because they wanted to support a local business, their neighbors, but he probably had a thousand things to do. He was a single dad, and Nora seemed to be constantly on the move. She had a zillion different activities, and Sebastian was always there for her. He didn’t have time to come and see the opening of our café.
“It’s the Montgomerys,” Greer teased, as she hip-checked me. “While Raven is over here in la-la land, how about I take your order?”
I shook my head. “I need to go to the back. I think something’s buzzing.”
“Just your brain,” Greer mumbled, as Noah leaned forward.
“The place looks great. I mean, not only does it look great aesthetically, but everything smells divine. We can smell it through the walls though, so I’m grateful that we built the door from the café to the tattoo shop. Can I just say, it was the best idea ever?”
“We blatantly stole that from your father’s shop, Leif,” Greer put in.
“Oh, when we first renovated this entire building as we bought it, we made sure that that was going to happen. The people before you really weren’t into the idea, but you guys are. And that means we can get coffee and baked goods and sandwiches when we need it, and I just know I’m going to have to add, like, two more workouts to my week in order to survive all of this sugar.”
I shook my head. “We’ll make sure you eat healthy, too. I don’t want to deal with Brooke when I get you on a sugar high.”
“Just don’t let the kids have all the sugar without me knowing, okay?” he teased.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be good. Maybe.” It was easy to talk with Leif, because he was like a big brother, just like Ford and Noah were. Just family, reminding me of a time long past.
Sebastian though, Sebastian made me feel weird. There was nothing more to say about that.
I was nervous, warm, tingly, and wondering what the hell I was going to do.
Because that middle school crush was long gone. This was Sebastian Montgomery. He was different now.
And he wasn’t and couldn’t ever be mine.
“Do you have some form of sandwich?” Sebastian asked, his voice a deep growl.
Ford glanced over at Sebastian, brow raised, and I wondered why Sebastian sounded like that.
He really didn’t want to be here. But this was our opening day, so I was going to be good.
I wasn’t going to let my disappointment and the fact that it looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here show.
“We do have sandwiches. They’re on the board, or I can make you something.”
“Wait, you’re going to make him a special sandwich and not me?” Noah asked, aghast.
“I can make special Montgomery sandwiches. How’s that?” I said on the fly. Leif beamed but Ford just glared.
“I’m not a Montgomery. I might play in the same sandbox, but I have my own name. And my own set of brothers.”
“Oh yes, the Cage brothers,” Noah said with a roll of his eyes. “You don’t want to mess with them.”
Intrigued, Greer leaned forward. “There are more of you? Keep talking,” she teased.
I shook my head. “Get back, we have work to do. And I have sandwiches to make. Although I’m sorry, I kind of like the idea of calling it the Montgomery sandwich.”
“Fine, but you’re going to need to make me a Cage sandwich.”
I laughed. “I can do that. Specialty named sandwiches on the way.”
Sebastian didn’t say anything, and I was glad for it.
Something was weird, then again it had been weird between us for a while now. Even before Marley had passed away. Because I left, and he stayed, and he had never forgiven me for abandoning Marley.
* * *
By the time the day was over and we closed up shop, my feet ached, my back ached, and I was pretty sure that I was so wired on sugar, I wasn’t going to be able to sleep.
Greer was ecstatic and did a backflip in the parking lot before we left. I just laughed and headed home.
It wasn’t always going to be like this, there were going to be bad days, but today was a damn good day.
Greer was amazing at social media and had kicked ass making sure people knew we were there. She had even done a few live feeds from when we were working, getting people to laugh as they teased about the wait and the fact that they were dying in gastronomical bliss once they got their orders.
They loved our food, loved our coffee, and loved our place.
We just needed to make sure they kept coming back.
I pulled into my garage and noticed that Sebastian’s front lights were on, but I didn’t look for too long. Instead, I closed the garage door behind me, and put those thoughts out of my mind.
He didn’t want me here. That much I had figured out. I just wanted to know why.
Beyond the ideas that I already had.
I went inside, put my things away, and decided that maybe a long bath before my early wake-up call for our second day was what I needed.
I stood in front of the bathroom mirror and slid my fingers over my necklace.
It was one-half of a heart, layered with the other half that I should never have had.
Marley and I had given them to each other when we were in middle school, and I’d had to put the piece on another chain when I’d gotten older.
Marley’s parents had handed it back to me, along with a few other of my things that had been in her childhood room. They hadn’t wanted anything to do with me, or their daughter’s past when she died. I didn’t always wear the necklace. In fact, I rarely wore it. There was no need to wear something to remind me of my former best friend when all I had to do was close my eyes and I could see her smile, and the way that she lit up the room.
But I had wanted her to be part of today. She had always loved my baking and had pushed me to pursue my dreams. Even if it meant leaving her and Sebastian behind.
I let out a breath when suddenly dizziness swept over me and I clung to the bathroom counter.
When bile rose up, I staggered to the toilet, and threw up everything I’d eaten that day, even though it hadn’t been much.
Cramps assailed me, and I kept throwing up, sweat pouring off my face, before I lay on the cold tile, shaking, hating myself.
I curled into a ball, wondering why I had let myself forget.
I had been too stressed that day and hadn’t taken care of myself. I had just wanted something for myself. Just once.
Because it wasn’t always like this. Sometimes I actually didn’t hate myself. I didn’t hate my body.
But today my body hated me.
And it reminded me once again, that life was never as it seemed.
And I didn’t always get what I wanted.