Chapter 12 Rae
RAE
Isat at the small coffee bistro, waiting for Nora.
I had initially texted her that I had major news, and that it involved Davis.
She wanted to see me last night, but her parents had her attend a business function for her father.
Now, she was ready for all the gossip, and all I wanted to do was forget anything had ever happened.
While I waited for her, my fingernail trailed the small plastic menu, noticing the worn edges and how a few of the drink options had a dark permanent marker sliced through them.
Furrowing my brows, I walked over to the counter and thumbed through a few more menus, noticing the disrepair repeated with the others as well. Distressed edges, wrinkles, permanent marker, and sticky spots. Looking over my shoulder, I eyed the empty tables and frowned.
This would be an easy fix to give the impression that they cared about their image to the public, and with the location of the shop, they should be getting the majority of the tourists who wanted a latte before heading up the mountain, and yet there didn’t seem to be anyone in, and I had been there for well over twenty minutes.
This was a big reason I wanted to meet Nora here, because I wanted to start inspecting a few of the businesses to gauge where they needed help and how I could offer my services.
Unfortunately, my rebranding help would have to be done for free, as I already knew these businesses didn’t have the money for it.
If it helped keep my home afloat and my parents employed, then I wouldn’t mind.
“Hey, Rachel?” I called out, standing at the counter.
The girl in question had introduced herself, made my Americano, and then promptly ducked into the back.
A flash of red hair caught my attention as Rachel jogged back out, holding a sudsy dish.
“Yeah?”
Dear Jesus, why would she drip soapy water along the floor? Gah.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to bother you, I was hoping to chat with you about something for a second.”
“Oh, okay.” She looked around, as if she wasn’t sure where to put the dish. Settling on the counter, she set the plate down and walked over to me.
“What’s up?”
“I was just curious if you reprint and laminate menus on a quarterly basis or what the rotation usually is?”
Her dark brows hit her hairline as surprise swept over her features. “Oh those? No, we’ve had them forever. I don’t think they’ve been swapped out for at least two years or something.”
Just as I suspected.
“Okay, thank you. Um, do you have the number for the manager, by chance?”
Panic flooded the poor girl’s features. “Is something wrong?”
Shaking my head, I set the menu back down. “Not at all! I promise, I’m just hoping to talk with the manager about a business opportunity. You have been amazing, don’t worry.”
“Okay, good, just making sure.” She exhaled and walked back toward the back, forgetting her soapy dish.
Right as she exited, I heard the small bell over the door jingle. I turned, seeing my best friend enter, hugging a cross-body purse to her chest. Her eyes widened as she took me in and hustled toward the table I had snagged for us.
“I literally don’t even need caffeine; I just need details,” she gushed, barely balancing her ass in the small seat she’d half untucked from the table.
Feeling my face flush red, I settled in across from her and decided to just spill everything, like ripping a Band Aid.
“Well, I may have oversold it. I mean, it wasn’t that big of a—”
“You will not skimp on this, Raelyn Vernon. Tell. Me. Everything,” she demanded, leaning over my cup of coffee.
Exhaling a heavy breath, bristling at the flicker of embarrassment that came with the feeling of what happened, I just blurted it out.
“He kissed me.”
“What?” she shrieked loudly, making Rachel drop something in the back. The barista came rushing back out, eyes wide and chest flushed.
“Everything okay?”
“Sorry,” Nora and I apologized in unison.
Rachel shook her head, probably in irritation, and trudged into the back.
“He kissed you? Okay, back up.” Nora sat back, shaking her head.
“Okay, so when I got up there, I had no idea it was his house, until he walked out.”
“How is that possible?” Her brows came together, piecing little bits together, and it made me want to just let her try and draw her own conclusions. Confessing felt like swallowing glass.
“Well…funny thing about that, I found out last night that my dad had actually set me up and asked Davis to place the order without putting his name on the ticket.”
“What?”
Something crashed again in the back. We winced and yelled together toward the kitchen, “Sorry!!”
“Yeah, we’ll circle back to that. So, I was surprised, and because of how stunned I was, I ended up standing too fast by the rear hatch and hit my head.”
“Oh my God. He totally took care of you,” Nora presumed, slack-jawed and wide-eyed.
“He took me inside and offered me water and helped me.” I carefully left out about a gazillion details, like the fact that he carried me, and how he cradled my head to his chest like I was the most fragile thing he’d ever held.
Or how I’d grabbed his wrists because they seemed strong and, in the moment, I had felt weak.
Gathering my thoughts, I pushed on. “Anyway, we started talking and I got annoyed because he’s been forcing my parents to drive up the mountain for like two years, just to take him stuff, because he’s too lazy to come down, so I told him to fuck off, he told me to fuck off back, and when I tried to leave, he pulled me in and kissed me. ”
Nora’s eyes searched my face, “like in a sweet way?”
Slowly, I shook my head, as a defiant smile twisted my lips, betraying my truth.
“Oh my God, you liked it!”
Pushing my cup forward, then tucking my fingers into the handle, I tried to ignore the rush of heat hitting my chest at the memory of his lips. “No, I didn’t.”
“You did,” she argued, as though it were as plain as the sky being blue.
I sipped from my coffee, shrugging my shoulder. “So, the man can kiss…doesn’t change the fact that I hate him. Like hate, hate, totally despise, so it doesn’t matter.”
Nora sat back and finally let her gaze drift up toward the ceiling, like she was considering everything I had said, trying to find a way to fix it.
“It definitely matters, Rae…this is your lifetime crush. The man you—”
“It wasn’t real,” I said more forcefully than necessary. Softening my tone, I added, “It was a crush, and it died. My feelings are no longer active, so it doesn’t matter.”
It was just a kiss. And a lie.
Nora’s eyes sparkled with amusement as she sat back and smirked, drawing her gaze from the patron who opened the door, face down, eyes glued to their phone. We both watched as the man looked up, saw there was no one behind the counter then turned on his heel to walk out.
“So the kiss meant nothing at all?” She raised a thin eyebrow at me in challenge.
Shaking my head vehemently, I smiled. “Nothing at all. It was just physical, like two magnets that clunked together because of proximity.” I couldn’t bring myself to talk about what I had overheard him say to my father.
“Huh…interesting.”
I narrowed my gaze on my best friend. “Why is that interesting?”
She shrugged, sagging in her chair. “No reason… It’s just that…a kiss from Davis isn’t just a kiss. It will always mean more because of what he meant to you for so many years.”
“It’s not like that at all.” I swallowed the thick lump in my throat, hearing his voice as he spoke last night.
“I think it was all just for show, for my dad. I think Dad is worried or something about me. Either way, it wasn’t a real kiss, Nora.
So this entire conversation is just a waste of our time. ”
Her expression crumpled and then her left brow arched, which meant she was ready to throw a few more reasons on top of why she likely thought the kiss meant something. But I couldn’t talk about this anymore.
I stood and smiled down at my friend.
“I need honey—Mom and Dad are fresh out. Let’s go.”
The next morning I found myself yawning as I exited my bedroom and padded down the hallway.
“There she is!” my dad exclaimed loudly.
Wincing, I blinked against the brightness of the room. “Why are the shades open?”
“It’s almost ten, sleepyhead.”
Oh.
“Sorry, I was up late…” I scrambled to think of something clever to say. “Doing a puzzle.”
My mom’s eyes lit up. “You should have come and grabbed me, I was up late doing one too.” Of course she was.
Giving her a warm smile, I moved into the kitchen and grabbed a mug, pouring myself a cup of coffee. It was when I went for the creamer that I heard a gasp behind me.
I jumped, startled at how close my mom had come up behind me.
“Mom!” I huffed. “What are you doing?”
“Is that the hazelnut blend?” She eyed the creamer bottle in my hand.
She looked crazed, like she was ready to snatch it from me any second. Slowly returning the bottle to the fridge, I shut the door and put my back against it.
“I think I’ll try that milk and sugar thing you’ve been doing.”
Her eyes narrowed on the closed door. “No, don’t be silly…just let me smell it.”
I watched her, trying not to crack a smile. She was a total addict, about to break, and my dad was going to kill me if she did.
“Dad!” I called, and he was there a second later, eyeing my mother’s posture and gaze toward the fridge.
“Mil, you worked so hard,” he said reproachfully.
“I just want to smell it, Roger, that’s all.”
I burst out laughing, unable to hold it in any longer. “Why on earth are you so determined not to drink it anymore?”
Finally, my mother clicked her tongue and turned away.
“It was just something Thomas encouraged me to give up. We all gave something up as a summer thing.” She waved me off as though I wouldn’t understand, and the pinching in my chest echoed her sentiment.
I had grossly underestimated how close they’d gotten over the years.