Chapter 6 #2
Standing up again, she came face to face with Rowan brandishing a cheery Santa’s face on his chest. ‘Oh hi, Rowan. Great jumper. Have you got your coffee cart outside?’
‘Nope. I’m here selling my range of ground coffee today. Different hat, same business.’ He chuckled as he lowered a wooden crate onto the table next to hers before pulling out the hem of his jumper and indicating the bold knitted pattern. ‘Or should I say different jumper, same business.’
‘Oh, you weren’t joking about being my neighbour then?
’ Scarlett laughed. After stumbling back into his coffee cart and sending half his coffee cups flying to the floor the other day, she’d never wanted to lay eyes on him again she’d been that embarrassed, but now having him as her neighbour for the day might be quite nice.
Plus, being business-minded, the more stalls set up at this end of the hall, the more customers would be drawn her way.
‘Nope. I hope that’s not a bad thing?’ He lifted a stack of tiny cardboard coffee cups and waved them in her direction. ‘I’ll have a constant supply of coffee samples for you to try.’
‘Haha, now I am glad we’re neighbours.’ She laughed as she signalled the space between their tables. ‘Just drag your stall a little more towards me so the samples are in easy reach, and I’ll happily be friends for life.’
Grinning, he held a finger in the air. ‘One moment, I might just be able to do better than that.’
‘Oh, really?’ What could be better than coffee samples on demand? Scarlett began hanging her range of mugs on a wooden mug tree, making sure to angle them so her designs were perfectly visible to any potential customers.
‘These…’ Rowan frowned as he rummaged through his wooden crate. ‘That’s strange. I’m sure I’d brought some cups with me.’
‘Ah, I hope they weren’t the ones I broke?’ Scarlett frowned.
‘Nope, I usually bring some to add to my display.’ He grimaced as he gave up and instead continued setting up the bags of ground coffee on his stall. ‘Sorry, we’ll have to make do with the little sample cups, unless we can find anyone with a key to the hall’s kitchen.’
‘Or else we could use these?’ Taking two of her own mugs from the plastic box, she held them up and grinned.
‘What? No, those are yours to sell.’ Leaving a pile of bags of ground coffee heaped in the centre of his stall, he took a step towards her and took one of the mugs, turning it in his hands as he looked at the detailed Christmas design. ‘Wow, these are beautiful. You drew these?’
Scarlett nodded, feeling her cheeks pink with the customary embarrassment she always felt when someone complimented her work. ‘I did. Well, I drew the original design, anyway. I got them printed onto the mugs.’
‘I can’t use these.’ Rowan held out the mug between them. ‘I’d be denting today’s profits for you.’
Holding her hand out, she pushed the mug back towards him and laughed.
‘Like I did to yours the other day when I merrily backed up to your coffee cart and smashed loads of cups. Nope, you can definitely use these. Besides, at this moment in time, the promise of a good coffee is worth more than the measly profits these two would bring in.’
Shaking his head slightly, he took the other mug she was holding out towards him and set them on his stall before pulling out four large flasks from the crate.
‘If you insist. Thank you. Now, I have four different coffees, which would like? They’re all slightly different, shall I read the descriptions out to you? ’
‘No, don’t worry. I’m sure I can get through one of each before the day’s out.’ She grinned. After spending all morning packing her things to bring today, she’d only had one coffee, and she was both parched and in need of a caffeine pick-me-up.
‘Haha, challenge accepted. We’ll start with this one.’ Picking up one of the flasks, Rowan filled Scarlett’s mug before adding a dash of milk and passing it to her.
As she took the mug from him, she frowned as his fingers brushed against hers, hers tingling as she thought back to what Laura had said about him and their being perfect for each other.
Shaking her head, she drew the mug towards her and wrapped her hands around the hot ceramic.
Why had that felt weird? As he turned away, seemingly oblivious to the effect his touch had had on her, she looked down at her hand and frowned.
It didn’t matter how kind and lovely he was.
Or seemed to be. Tyler had been the same towards her, had wooed her, been caring, generous, had gone out of his way to be nice to her, and look how that had turned out.
Besides, Rowan hadn’t noticed anything. He hadn’t felt anything.
She watched as he glanced across at her and smiled.
Shaking her head, she placed her mug down on the table with a little more force than she’d intended and watched as a dribble of coffee ran down the side of the mug and seeped into the lilac fabric.
Huh, that would be the perfect place for the cash box then.
Clearing her throat as she made her way around the front of the stall, she mumbled over her shoulder. ‘I’m just going to grab the rest of my stuff.’