Chapter 9
Diccon
Never let it be said that I couldn’t fix mistakes when I made them.
I’d definitely messed up with Theo, but after our conversation on Sunday night, I felt better.
Sure, the underlying reasons why I’d gotten so upset were still there.
Common Grounds might still be in trouble and my insecurity about the possibility of Theo thinking he was smarter than me wouldn’t leave me alone, but progress had been made, and I felt hopeful.
I took that hope to work with me the next morning as I opened the store, along with Brian, Hannah, and Gilbert, who had come in early to get some work done.
“So you and golden-voiced Theo are back on good terms?” Hannah asked through the window into the kitchen as she got several batches of muffins going and I set up the cash drawer for the day.
“I think so,” I told her and Brian, who was giving the coffee machine its morning cleaning and starting a pot of regular brew.
I was kind of amazed that the story of Friday night had already reached them, even though Hannah didn’t work weekends.
“We still have a lot to talk out, and I probably need therapy after the way I reacted—”
“We all need therapy,” Brian interrupted with a smirk, though I could sense a level of seriousness behind his pretend teasing. I knew my friend had some issues of his own that he was trying to get over, but at the moment, there were too many other things to deal with.
“Anyhow,” I said, exchanging a look with Hannah, “Theo said he was going to try to reach out to the head of the expansion project, Kyle Jameson, to see if the guy is willing to take a meeting with us as soon as possible to go over this idea for changing the construction entrance so the businesses along Glenside Ave aren’t hurt by this whole thing. ”
“That sounds like a reasonable way to handle the situation,” Hannah said with a shrug, then turned on one of her mixing bowls.
“It sounds like a good idea, except for the fact that Kyle Jameson is a jerk and the most stubborn man I’ve ever known,” Gilbert said, coming out of the office to grab a cup of coffee, now that the pot was finished brewing.
Both Brian and I turned to him, and even Hannah looked up from her baking in the back.
“How do you know that Jameson is a jerk?” I asked, worried and curious.
Gilbert huffed a humorless laugh. “He came in here last week with that flier, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember.” I was still more than a little mad at myself for not looking more closely at the flier at first or asking Theo outright what he knew about it. But I’d had no way of knowing in the moment how deeply Theo was involved in the project.
“He seemed nice enough to me,” Brian said. “And hot, too.”
Gilbert glowered him. “I pointed out to him right off the bat that the way he was planning to do things would cause a lot of problems for a lot of people, but he wasn’t hearing it.”
I wanted to know more, but Gilbert stomped back into the office, and it was time to open the café anyhow.
The morning started off the way mornings usually did, especially Monday morning.
All our usual patrons came in for their caffeine.
I was back to feeling happy to be right where I was, serving and entertaining the people of our community in the way I liked best. Brian, Hannah, and I had particular fun with our call and response orders, which made the customers smile.
Everything was exactly as it should be.
And at eight-forty-eight on the dot, the same as for the past few months, Theo walked through the door.
I noticed at once, like I could feel a disturbance in the Force.
My heart sped up, and my face flushed hot as our eyes met almost immediately.
A dozen racing thoughts shot through my brain.
He looked so good dressed for business. The morning sunlight coming through the front windows picked up the golden highlights of his bright ginger hair.
His smile was tentative, but it was there.
It was a shame that I had to help five other people before he made his way to the front of the line. My heart beat faster with each step he took closer to me until he was finally right there, only a countertop away from me.
“Hi,” I greeted him, unable to stop myself from smiling from ear to ear. “What can I get you this morning?”
Theo dipped his head slightly and smiled up at me with the most bashful smile I’d ever seen.
I was grateful for the counter, because my reaction to that smile definitely wasn’t suitable for work.
“The usual,” he said, lifting his head like he was trying to be brave and face what needed to be faced.
“And maybe a slice of forgiveness to go with it.”
I couldn’t help myself. “Would you like that forgiveness with or without whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles?”
Theo relaxed into a breathy laugh. “Just plain, thanks,” he said.
“Medium no-frills coffee with a side of plain forgiveness!” I called out.
“Medium no-frills coffee with a side of—what?” Brian echoed, laughing.
“Medium no-frills coffee with a side of luuuuv!” Hannah sang from the kitchen.
I whipped around and glared playfully at her, then shushed her. She laughed, and I turned back to Theo, a little too aware of the amused customers looking on, like they were about to see a scene from a rom-com played out in real time.
“You don’t owe me any sort of forgiveness,” I told Theo, lowering my voice a little. “I’m the one who should be saying I’m sorry.”
Theo held up a hand and shook his head. “You already did. It’s okay.” He glanced behind him, his wine-splash blush growing. “We’ll talk later. I need to go set up my office.”
I grinned, insides buzzing with the promise that we could get back on the same page and continue where we’d left off with each other.
I moved on to taking the next order, but was constantly aware of Theo and watched him out of the corner of my eye.
As soon as Brian gave him his coffee, he took it to the booth near the front window where he’d worked the week before.
There was something so satisfying about watching him pull out a laptop and his phone and sink into his seat like he was meant to be there.
I knew having Theo work from the café wasn’t going to last forever, but as long as I had that, I was going to enjoy it.
I did enjoy it, but throughout the morning rush and as it died down, I could tell Theo was busy.
He started his day by making several phone calls, then he tapped away intently at his computer for a while.
At one point, I noticed he was using some sort of cool drafting program to design something.
I wished I’d had time to go over and ask all about what it was.
I might not have had the whole four-year college degree thing going for me, but I was curious about stuff.
In the end, I didn’t need to ask what Theo was up to. Around quarter past nine, once the café was quiet, he got up and came over to the counter.
“Is your brother Gilbert here today?” he asked.
I blinked, and my hopeful grin dropped a little. That wasn’t what I’d been expecting him to ask. “Yeah, he’s in the back office,” I said, gesturing with my thumb to the office door. “Want me to get him?”
“Yes,” Theo said. “I’ve just been talking to Kyle Jameson, and he’s able to come to the café later this morning to discuss our ideas. I figured your brother would want to be involved in that.”
“He will absolutely want to be involved,” I said.
It was great. Everything was moving along, not just with the café, but with me and Theo, too.
We both had to go back to work, but less than an hour later, as I was gearing up for the lunch rush and Brian was helping Hannah pre-make a few sandwiches, Kyle Jameson strode in through the front door.
Gilbert might have had a point about the guy being a jerk.
He was tall and imposing, with broad shoulders that stretched the limit of his flannel shirt, and as soon as he was in the middle of the café, he crossed his arms and looked around, like he was searching for an excuse to find fault with the place.
He spotted Theo, then veered off toward Theo’s booth. “I hope this won’t take too long,” he told Theo without greeting. “I’m due at a site in Center City just after lunch.”
I jumped into action, gesturing for Brian to keep an eye on things while I dashed out from behind the counter and headed for the booth.
“Lunch is on us,” I told Jameson, putting on my friendliest smile as I hurried to join him and Theo.
“It’s the least we can do for asking you to take time out of your day. ”
Jameson glanced me over, then nodded. Nerves that I didn’t know I had jittered through me.
Asking for alterations to the construction next door hadn’t seemed like such a big deal to me in theory, but the prospect of trying to convince Mr. Brick Wall here to talk business to change his mind was a whole other thing.
“Let me just get Gilbert,” I said with my usual smile, stepping aside so I could knock on the office door.
As soon as Gilbert stepped out of the office, I knew we were in for a showdown. He drew in a breath, narrowed his eyes, and squared his shoulders at the sight of Jameson. I had a giddy sense that any customers hanging around the café or who might come in during the meeting could witness a drama.
“Meyers,” Jameson greeted Gilbert with a curt nod.
“Jameson,” Gilbert said the man’s name coolly in reply.
“What’s this I hear about you folks wanting to change my construction plans?” Jameson asked bluntly.
“Please, have a seat,” Theo said, clearly nervous, but also incredibly professional.
As Jameson slid into the booth across from him, I took a seat by Theo’s side. Seeing that the only other place in the booth was by Jameson’s side, Gilbert grabbed a chair from one of the nearby tables and sat at the end of the booth.