11. No. 10 Learn to make croissants #3
My eyes are caught by an explosion of colour on the wall opposite the counter, where I had expected the bookshelves to go, and I’m crying once more.
Joanie stands next to the incredible mural that spans the entire wall from the front to the back of the café.
It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. One scene seamlessly blending into another from a Georgian town with ladies in bonnets with parasols, to an enchanted forest with nymphs and a unicorn.
The sky shows space with a spaceship and a rather attractive blue alien that may have come directly from the cover of one of my books.
The more I look, the more I see. There are references to some of my favourite books, and I laugh loudly when in one corner I find four little hobbits and one giant spider.
“Shelob,” I point at it and look at August. He raises a brow, but his lips are twitching with his amusement. When I look at Joanie, she’s beaming, hands clasped in front of her. “You did this?”
“It’s kind of my thing,” she says with a confident little shoulder shake. “Best interior designer in the village—”
“Only interior designer in the village,” Connor mumbles from where he’s perched himself on the corner of one of the tables.
Joanie gives her son the middle finger which makes me choke out a laugh.
“Anyway,” she says pointedly. “August said you wanted to be transported to another world, so I gave you several options.” She gestures at the wall again and I wrap my arms around her neck.
She laughs, hugging me back and rocking us from side to side.
“You have free coffee for life,” I say against her wavy hair.
“Unnecessary,” she says, pulling back and giving me a warm smile before her face goes serious. “But I’ll take it, verbal contracts are binding, no take backs.”
“Deal.” I laugh.
“Right,” she says, stepping away from me and addressing Connor. “Come on, you have homework to do.”
Connor groans and stands as if to follow, but I wrap him in a hug before he can take a step toward the door.
He hugs me too and when we part, he pats me on the head, highlighting the fact he’s several inches taller than me.
I push him away to his amusement, laughing as he and Joanie leave.
I turn to August still stood in the middle of the room, watching me with his hands in the pockets of his soft looking jeans.
“You need to tell me what I owe you,” I say trying to sniff back my tears and hold on to my emotions.
He’s shaking his head before I’ve finished speaking. “Consider it an apology for being a dick.”
“I can’t accept that, August,” I say quietly. “You’ve already apologised, you took me to your parents’ house for dinner, that was more than enough. This took a long time and must have cost a lot in materials; I have to pay.”
“You can pay for the materials,” he concedes. “But Joanie and I already agreed we wanted to help to say welcome to the village and we’re sorry Connor caused all the damage.”
Something about that feels so wrong, like I keep forgetting Connor was the one who vandalised my books, because he’s such a good kid. “Connor’s worth his weight in gold,” I tell him. “He’s already making it up to me.”
Both August and I have been slowly walking forward, towards each other, until we’re now only a foot apart. He huffs out a breath, frustration flaring in his eyes. “Jesus, woman, can you just let us do something nice for you?”
“Why do you want to do something nice for me?” I ask, voice barely above a whisper, my head tilted up to keep looking at him.
There’s a long pause as he looks into my eyes and then over my face, snagging momentarily on my lips before coming back to my eyes. “Don’t ask me questions I don’t know how to answer, sunshine,” he rumbles, and the endearment squeezes my beating heart.
It’s impossible not to rise to my tiptoes and wrap my arms around his neck.
He bends to bring us to the same height, but he doesn’t envelope me with his beefy arms like I would like.
Instead, he pats me on the back and grunts, which only makes me smile into his neck.
I turn to kiss his cheek, but his face is closer than I’d anticipated, and I catch the corner of his mouth.
August stands straight, forcing me to let go and he takes a big step back, shaking his head. My stomach roils and I feel heat rush to my cheeks, a new stinging at the back of my eyes.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”
“Bea, I can’t—”
“No, of course, I wasn’t trying to um—”
“I’m not interested in—"
“Oh god, no. I really didn’t mean to kiss you!” I somewhat lie. “I mean, I was just going for your cheek, I was just saying thank you. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t know why I did.” Except for the fact I kind of want to rub my naked body against your naked body.
He nods, unable now to look me in the eye. “Okay, well, that’s fine then.” He clears his throat. “We’re uh, friends.”
“Friends,” I agree, feeling regret for the word I’d been pushing so hard to hear from his lips.
“Great. So, I’m going to go.” He steps around me, giving me a wide berth, and he’s gone. All the joy I’d been feeling minutes ago out the door with him.