Chapter 39 Coffee Dates
Coffee Dates
Keaton
Mom’s hand brushes over the top of my head as I make notes on the paper in front of me. “What are you working on, sweetie?”
I drop my pen, lean back in my chair, and sigh. "Just trying to figure out this so-called coffee 'friend' date with Charlie."
Her eyes widen, and a smile slides over her face. “You didn’t tell me you had a date with her.”
I let out a shaky laugh. "She just said yes yesterday, and since then, I've been a total fucking mess. My emotions are all over the place."
Dad walks into the kitchen to rinse his empty cup out and slide it into the dishwasher. Then he leans back against the counter and folds his inked arms along his chest. “What’s going on in here?”
Mom joins Dad at the counter, smiles, and gives him a quick kiss. She tucks herself under his arm and says warmly, "He’s got a date with Charlie."
Dad jerks his head my way in surprise, and I can see the happiness in his eyes. “Really?”
I shrug and rub the back of my neck. "It’s not really a date. We’re just getting coffee as friends."
“But it’s a start, right? If she wasn’t ready to take steps forward with you, she wouldn’t have answered,” Dad replies.
“That means she already had you unblocked. You told me a few months ago that she had you blocked on everything,” Mom says.
Huh. That didn’t even occur to me.
A surge of hope makes my heart race, and I sit up a little taller. Dad laughs, clearly noticing the moment everything clicks for me.
“I’m nervous,” I admit. “How do I stay on track? How do I keep it friendly when all I want to do is wrap her in my arms and never let her go?”
They both take a seat at the table. Mom pushes the notepad out of the way and grabs one of my hands.
“Easy. It’s not about you, Keaton. You have to remember that.
She set the boundaries she needs from you, and it’s up to you to keep them if you want any sort of future with her.
You’re lucky, son. Not everyone gets a second chance when they fuck up as hugely as you have.
She’s blessing you with another chance. If you do anything to fuck that up, that’s a regret you’re going to live with for the rest of your life,” Mom says.
“We’ve seen the changes in you, son. You’ve matured so much since all of this went down. What you did, the pain you caused Charlie and yourself…it’s made you grow up,” Dad adds. “I don’t think we’ve told you this yet, but we’re damn proud of you and who you’ve become this last year.”
A gentle peace settles over me, and I realize just how long I’ve been craving those words from my parents.
I clear my throat, fighting the tears that are threatening to spill from my eyes. “Thanks.”
“No matter how much we were disappointed in the choices you made, we never stopped loving you. You’re our son.
We needed you to find in yourself what we always saw.
” Mom taps her finger against the list I was working on.
“You don’t need this, Keaton. Charlie may be a new version of herself now, but you still know the heart of her.
Just go there and be yourself. Let her see the man you’ve become. ”
“I love you all,” I tell them gruffly.
***
I check my watch and wince. I’m way too early, but there’s no chance I could have sat at home, nerves making my knee bounce out of control. At least here, tucked into a booth, I’ll get to see her walk in and steal a few extra moments just watching her.
I scan the menu, realizing I barely know what’s good at Blooming Brews. At Grinders, Charlie’s place, I could have recited every item by heart. At least, I used to. Last time I passed by, it looked like she’d given the place a fresh new vibe.
“Well, hey there, handsome. What can I get for you?” The barista’s flirty tone has me scooting back a bit and aiming a polite smile her way.
“Just a black coffee for me and a white chocolate mocha, please.”
The barista’s eyes dart around, making it painfully obvious she’s curious about who the second drink is for. It’s not her business, and the nosiness grates on me. I bury myself in my phone, scrolling through the shop’s social media, silently willing her not to pry further.
She places the drinks in front of me, and I look up to thank her, but the eagerness in her eyes catches me off guard. My gaze drops to my cup, and there it is—her name and phone number scrawled along the side.
With a sigh, I hand it to her. “Look. I have someone that I love deeply and don’t want your number. If you could just pour this into another cup, I’d appreciate it.”
Her face turns a bright shade of crimson as her eyes fill with embarrassment. “I am so sorry. Whoever she is, she’s super lucky to have someone like you.”
If only you knew the whole story, I think.
I smile sadly. “Nah. I’m the lucky one. I always have been.”
She hands me the new cup, and I thank her before turning around, only to freeze, my mouth falling open as a wave of awkwardness crashes over me.
Charlie stands there, watching me with a strange look. Though I’m anxious about what she saw, I don’t mention it. Instead, I play the friend role and hold out her drink with a smile.
“One white chocolate mocha, ma’am.”
Her eyes light up, and she grabs it from me. “Thank you.” She glances around the shop, and the way her eyes fill with warmth lets me know she’s appreciating the decor of the place. “Do you have a seat already?”
I shake my head. "No, I just got here and ordered for us. Hope that's okay."
“It’s perfect,” she says, smiling at me.
God. She’s so fucking beautiful.
I glance around the coffee shop. “Do you have a spot you want to sit at?”
“Nope. Anywhere in here looks pretty comfortable.”
“Lead the way then,” I tell her.
She leads us to a booth by the front window.
We sit across from each other, caught in a quiet moment, just taking in how much we’ve both changed.
She looks almost the same, except for the new tattoos that wind across her skin.
Honestly, seeing all that color on her is ridiculously attractive.
Back when we dated, she only had a few, so it’s good to see her expressing herself in a way I understand so well.
“So,” I start, rolling the coffee cup between my hands. “Tell me about yourself.”
I can’t look away as she talks, her whole face lighting up in a way I haven’t seen before. She’s more vibrant, more alive. When she describes her plans for Grinders, her passion practically glows.
I could sit here all fucking night, just watching her talk. It doesn’t matter what she says. Just hearing her voice is enough.
Charlie laughs softly. "Enough about me. I want to know about you. That night at the bar, you admitted to cheating on a woman you loved. How do you know you can be a good partner after that?"
Fuck. Straight into it.
Swallowing hard, I roll my eyes over her face.
“I’ll be honest. I don’t. I can’t sit here and say that I’ll be a good partner after something like that, but I can say that I want to be.
There’ve been so many lessons that I’ve learned.
So many things I did badly turned me into a person I didn’t want to be.
A person who I hope like hell I never have to see in the mirror again.
That person wasn’t good. I want to be a man that my woman can find comfort in.
A safe place that she can find herself. I want to be the person she can trust never to break her heart.
I need to be a man that my partner would be proud of.
Learning I had it inside of me to do what I did, to break the one person I should have protected… it was a wake-up call for me.”
Warmth sits in her eyes as she watches me lay myself open to her. She appears pleased with my answer, and it loosens the tension that I was carrying.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” she answers.
“Does it make me a bad person? I know at that point in the relationship, I wasn’t a good one, but do you think I’m always going to be a terrible person because of the choices I made?”
Her entire face softens, and she reaches across the table to place her hand over mine.
“Oh, Keaton. No, I don’t think it makes you a bad person.
I think it makes you human. You were a good person who got caught up in something you really didn’t have experience with, and you made bad choices that hurt someone deeply.
You’re so much lighter than the darkness you carried on your shoulders six months ago.
What you did changed both of us. It wasn’t just surface-level stuff change either.
It was down to our cores. Sitting here, looking at you now, I can tell that we’ve both built ourselves into these new people we needed to be.
I found strength in the pain you caused, and I think you did, too.
So, no. Once again, I don’t think the bad choices you made as a boy mean that you’re going to be a terrible man.
You have to remember that sometimes good people do bad things, and bad people do good things.
I don’t think most people are inherently one or the other. We all have both pieces inside of us.”
The heaviness of the conversation fades away as she sits back with a smile and asks me about my parents.
Time blurs as we talk about everything and nothing. By the end, our sides ache from laughing, our faces hurt from smiling, and it feels like a weight has finally lifted from both of us.
I take a sip and make a face at the cold coffee, but it’s worth it just to hear Charlie’s laughter bubble out.
“Ugh, I will never understand how the hell you drink that shit cold,” I mutter, causing her to laugh again as we climb to our feet.
I walk her out to her car with my hands shoved deep in my pockets so I don’t reach for hers.
Charlie leans back against the side of her car and peers up at me with a gentle smile. “Thank you. I, surprisingly, had a great time.”
“Me too. It was good finally getting to know you.” I shuffle my feet. “Would you, maybe, want to do it again?”
She tucks the inside of her cheek between her teeth as she thinks about it. Finally, she nods. “Yeah. I think I’d like that.”
Every part of me aches to close the distance between us, to feel her warmth again, and resisting that urge is pure torture.
“Are you okay with leaving our next date up to me?”
Charlie sighs and shakes her head. “How about we do a couple more coffee dates first? After those, if they go well, then I’ll be more than happy to continue dating you and letting you plan them out.”
I never used to take the lead, and maybe that’s why she’s hesitant now. Why did I always leave the planning to her before?
“Perfect. It gives me time to come up with something, anyway.”
Charlie lifts a brow. “So sure the next few coffee dates will go that well, are you?”
“Gotta have hope, baby,” I tell her, shooting her a wink.
Her lips curl to the side as she turns to open her car door. “Yeah, I guess so. Take care, Keaton. I’ll send you a message with the next date and time.”
“I’ll be waiting, beautiful.”
Her body shivers at my words, and I worry for a quick second until I see the brightness in her eyes before she closes the door between us.
Things will never be the same between us, but our date today has got me feeling the most hope I’ve felt since I found myself on the floor of that pool house, drowning in self-loathing and misery.