Chapter 11 #2
“Just a friend helping me on a new business project,” Jo replied.
“Uh-huh.” Sherri sipped her dark roast and exchanged a look with Hank.
“The new project sounds interesting,” Hank said. “You’re going all in on your gourmet coffee line. I couldn’t help but overhear.”
“I saw you straining to listen, Hank.” Jo winked at him. “You know I’m kidding, but I’ll let you in on a secret.”
“What’s that?” Hank asked, and Sherri leaned in, too.
Jo lowered her voice. “New week, I’m starting a crowdfunder online for preorders of my new premium coffees, along with limited-edition items. I like to take care of my regular customers here on Crown Island first. But some items might sell out.”
The couple looked pleased with that information.
Jo knew that would spread like wildfire. Or so she hoped.
By noon, Hugo had taken off, and the campaign was nearly finished. Maileah cut the copy in half, just as she’d promised, and what remained was strong and compelling.
Jo had sent Maileah several images: One of her behind the counter in her uniform, some packaging mockups, the Colombian women’s cooperative, and Jo and Mahina in her coffee grove.
In between orders, Jo swept over to refill their cups.
“What do you think of this?” Maileah asked, swinging the laptop around. She had pulled a line from Jo’s draft: Sourced by women. Roasted with grit. Poured with pride.
Jo read it through. It was her story in a script that looked like handwriting. She wouldn’t have thought of that.
“Catchy, I like it.”
Maileah grinned. “You wrote it.”
Jo smiled, proud of the work they were all doing. “I love having you and Rocky helping me on this.”
“It’s fun, and we get bragging rights,” Maileah said. “Rocky can put this on his resume.”
That reminded Jo of their dinner. “Did you follow up with Ryan?” she asked him.
Rocky nodded. “It took me a while to get on his schedule. There was an old project they’d looked at before that resurfaced, so Ryan is working on an offer. Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you that.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” Jo said.
“In the meantime, he asked me to meet with his team,” Rocky said. “I spoke with Whitley, but Knox is working on the project with Ryan, so it’s hard to get on his schedule. But I’m persistent. I’ll wear them down.”
Jo laughed at that. She loved his optimism.
Then, from the edge of her vision, she saw Blue walk in.
He was off duty, in jeans and a T-shirt, but his expression was mission-focused. He sat on a stool at the other end of the counter, far from Rocky.
Jo grabbed the coffee pot and a cup and made her way to him.
“Hungry?” she asked while she poured his coffee.
“Not really. This won’t take long.”
“I have a couple of minutes. What’s up?”
He gazed into her eyes as if to memorize her face, and touched her hand. “I need to tell you something before you hear it from someone else. It’s very important.”
From the look on his face, Jo couldn’t imagine what was so dire. She put the pot down. “Are you…are you ill?”
Surprised by that, Blue shook his head. “No, but Commander Jackson from my old precinct called. He has an opening for me.” He paused. “I’m leaving for an interview.”
The diner noise seemed to fall away, and Jo stared at him. “That’s in Chicago. When?”
He lowered his eyes and nodded. “Soon.”
Her world seemed to tilt off its axis as Jo absorbed the impact of his words. She stared at him across the counter, in the same spot where she’d served him his first cup of coffee.
“Are you moving?” She managed to squeak out the words.
Blue held her gaze. “I don’t know yet.”
Behind them, the bell over the door chimed, interrupting them. A family of four walked in, sunburned and cheerful. One of her servers hurried to greet them and lead them away to a booth.
Jo blinked. “Is this why you…” She couldn’t finish her thought.
Wouldn’t answer me at your house, she screamed in her mind.
“You knew,” she said instead.
“No, this is new. I just found out.”
“But you told me to sell the diner.” She shook her head, feeling angry and confused. “How long have you been planning to move to Chicago?”
“I wasn’t. Not really, not until we…”
Jo backed up and raised her finger. “Don’t put this on me, Blumenthal. Let me know what you decide. Or don’t, since you’re making decisions without me now.”
Blue left without a word, while Maileah and Rocky watched.
Every limb in her body was weak with shock. It was over…they were over.
Jo made it through the rest of the day by sheer force of habit, counting the minutes until she could leave. She didn’t tell Maileah and Rocky what Blue said because she didn’t want to break their flow. More than that, she was afraid she’d break down.
The nerve of him delivering that kind of news while she was at work.
When Candy arrived, Jo told her she needed to leave early.
She stopped by the seafood market and bought some fresh catch for the jambalaya. Junie had told her she’d leave vegetables on her doorstep.
And Jo would make extra for Knox and Penny.
At home, she prepared the rice base and vegetables, trying to keep her mind off Blue.
Still, she needed to talk to someone. She rinsed off her hands and picked up her phone.
Her grandmother answered on the third ring. In the background, the faint chatter of a television and a card game winding down carried through the line.
“Josephine. What a nice surprise.”
Jo closed her eyes. No one called her Josephine except Mamie Rose. It always made her feel like a little girl standing in her grandmother’s kitchen, waiting to lick the spoon. She made the best macadamia nut cookies with white chocolate chunks.
“Am I interrupting?” Jo asked.
“I just cleaned out Dorothy and Francis at canasta. They’ll recover, and I’ll donate my winnings to their favorite charity. What’s going on, chérie?”
Jo eased onto a stool at the kitchen bar.
“I need to talk. I have a big day tomorrow with this crowdfunding project I told you about, but I just—” She pressed her hand to her forehead. “Blue is leaving for Chicago. He has a job interview there.”
Her grandmother’s door clicked shut after her friends left.
Rose Dufour was eighty-four years old and had been widowed at an early age.
Her husband had never returned from the Vietnam War, so she had to provide for herself and her daughter, first by taking on sewing and alterations, and then by creating a fashion line that she sold to boutiques.
Mamie Rose was the only person Jo knew who understood her completely.
Rose was quiet for a moment. “Will he take the job if offered?”
“I assume he’ll take it and stay. Why else would he fly out for the interview?”
“What do you think spurred this decision?”
“I think his family is pulling him back. And clearly, I’m not worth staying for.”
“Now, Jo. Don’t talk like that. You’re well worth it, and you know that.”
Rose had once told Jo she’d spent her life watching the women around her compromise their goals for the men in their lives. She’d done her best with Sylvie, but her daughter had spent her life chasing validation from men who didn’t deserve the effort.
Being of a generation in social flux, Rose understood that pattern. She also understood why Jo was terrified of repeating her mother’s mistakes.
“Josephine, listen to me. Keep your eye on your goal. You have a big opportunity to launch, and that business is all yours. No man gave it to you, and no man can take it away.”
“I know that.”
“I’m not finished.” Rose’s voice was firm but warm, the way it had been when Sylvie wanted to transplant Hugo to Mexico with a man she’d just met.
“The right man, and that may still be Blue, will love you for who you are and respect what you’re building.
He won’t ask you to change. If he does, he’s not the right man. ”
Jo stared at the ceiling. “What if I went to Chicago? Maybe I could start over.”
“Could you? And would he understand while you did that? You worked awfully long hours starting Cuppa Jo’s. That was a major investment of time.”
Jo tried to imagine it. They’d have to work years to get back to where they were now on Crown Island, hardly seeing each other. A new city, a new diner, new customers. Chicago in the summer was beautiful and exciting.
But the winter? She shuddered. Heavy coats, stiff winds, and gray slush. No sunny beaches or oranges on the trees in January. No Junie across the street. Many survived and thrived in winter climes, but she didn’t want to. Leaving Crown Island, Hugo, and her grandmother would be a sad day for her.
“I don’t think I could do it,” Jo said. “This island is my home. I have community here.”
“And Blue has community there,” Rose said. “His mother, his sisters, the memory of his brother. That’s powerful. The decision is his, chérie. Not yours. You’ve done all you can do.”
Jo felt the weight in her chest ease. She could count on her grandmother to simplify the decision.
“How do you always see so clearly?”
“I’ve had years of practice. I hope my insights benefit you.”
She could hear the smile in her grandmother’s voice. “I love you.”
“I love you more. And Josephine? Whatever happens with Blue, don’t forget who you were before him. That woman bought a downtrodden diner and made it a smashing success. She’ll be fine and attract others who will value her.”
“Thanks, I needed to hear that.”
Jo hung up and went back to her stove. Her grandmother was right. The decision was Blue’s. Jo had laid everything on the table at his house, next to the dirty dishes and the cornbread crumbs. She’d asked him outright. There was nothing left to say.