14. Chapter 14
Chapter fourteen
Rowan
When I entered Karma, Poppy and Cammie were carrying the last bistro tables to the wall beneath the large picture window, leaving the padded chairs scattered in the middle of the floor. Lauren was unpacking folding chairs from a cart into rows at the rear of the café. She let out a relieved sigh when she spotted the Tupperware containers in my hands.
“Thank you so much,” she said. “There’s a tablecloth and trays on the counter. Would you mind setting up the cookies while we arrange the chairs?”
“Of course,” I said.
“Let me get the board first,” Poppy said, running into the back.
“Do you want me to help with the chairs?” I asked.
“No,” Cammie and Lauren shouted together.
The swinging door bumped open, and Poppy sailed through with a massive sheet of plywood. I started toward her, but she glared at me. Cammie helped her flip it onto the bistro tables creating a large, narrow surface suitable for a buffet.
“Looks like y’all got this down to a science,” I said, putting my containers on the counter and grabbing the tablecloth.
“We do these once a month,” Lauren said.
Judging by the number of chairs and her frantic request for “as many cookies as you can bake by eight,” she was expecting a good crowd. “What’s the topic tonight?”
“Declaring Your Financial Independence,” Cammie said with a smile.
Lauren shook her head. “I’d like to declare my independence from Bob’s Bakery. I placed an order for tonight a month ago. When it didn’t arrive with the usual morning delivery, I called right away, but they said they were short-staffed and couldn’t fill it.”
“That’s so unprofessional,” I said as I smoothed the tablecloth over the board. “You’ve been a customer for years. You’d think they’d try to do something.”
“I agree,” Lauren said, placing two large serving trays at the far edge of the table. “The coffee station goes on the side closer to the counter in case we need to refill the urns.”
I snapped open a container and started arranging cookies while Lauren filled two large urns with steaming coffee. Cammie continued setting up chairs. Poppy darted back and forth with napkins, cups, pitchers of iced water, and everything else needed for a coffee service.
“Do you charge for these events?” I asked, taking in the finished table.
“Oh no,” Lauren said, placing small white plates under the coffee dispensers to catch any drips.
“But all this must cost you?” I said gesturing to the table.
“That reminds me,” Lauren said. “Let me get you a check for the cookies.”
“Absolutely not,” I said, crossing my arms.
Lauren drew her shoulders back and waved a finger at me. “Do not sell yourself short, Rowan. I was going to pay the bakery. I have no doubt what you made is way better than anything they’d have sent over. I’m paying you.”
“Consider it my donation,” I said with a smirk. “Good karma, and all that.”
“She does have a point,” Cammie said, patting Lauren on the shoulder. “Your karma bank must be overflowing.”
Lauren waved her hand. “All this is free advertising.”
“Minus the free part,” Poppy shouted from behind the counter.
“People order things while they’re here,” Lauren said with her hands on her hips. “We just supply drip coffee, water, and a small treat. Besides, almost everyone comes back at some point as a paying customer.”
“Do you pay for the speaker too?” I asked.
“No, they volunteer. My financial planner is giving the talk tonight.”
“And what are the chances she gets a few new clients?” I asked.
Lauren huffed. “I hope she does. She’s excellent at her job and could really help someone who might be too intimidated or uninformed to reach out.”
Cammie raised her hand with a sheepish expression. “Me. Lauren had to drag me into the bank to open a checking account. I thought it was normal to pay a fee every time I cashed my paycheck.” She blushed and straightened a chair that was already straight.
“Did you make that list of questions for tonight?” Lauren asked.
Cammie nodded.
“Good,” Lauren said. “I’m counting on you to ask them. It will give people courage to ask theirs.”
“That’s a great idea,” I said and smiled at Cammie. “I’m always too nervous in a group to ask questions. If Lauren and I were in the same class, I’d write mine down and make her ask them.”
Cammie grinned. “What did you do if you weren’t in the same class?”
“Get annoyed at myself and try to google the answer later.”
Cammie smiled, and I felt better knowing I hadn’t stuck my foot in my mouth too far.
“I’m grabbing a seat at the front,” she said, taking a cookie and heading for the first row of chairs.
“I hope I didn’t hurt her feelings,” I whispered as Lauren and I moved a pair of flower bouquets from the counter to the table. “I know Cammie isn’t taking advantage of you.”
“Nah, Cammie knows you’re just being an overprotective friend.”
“I’m the right amount of protective,” I said.
“Speaking of friends, don’t think I forgot to ask what’s going on between you and Cal Cardoso. I saw y’all holding hands when you walked to the car last night.”
“Shut up, Lauren. Cammie works with him.”
“Oh, I know,” she said with a devilish smirk. “She’s been telling me all about the tension between you two. We have a bet about when it’ll boil over. She thought he’d behave until after your sessions ended. Judging by what I saw last night, I think she owes me five.”
“I’ll give you twenty bucks to never talk about this again.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see a call from Brad. Lauren peered at the screen and frowned.
“Why is he calling you?”
“No idea,” I said, sending the call to voicemail. “Anything he wants to say to me, he can tell my lawyer.”
“Good,” Lauren said with a nod.
My phone buzzed again. Then again. And again. After weeks with zero contact, he seemed pretty impatient to talk to me. He hadn’t even bothered to send a single text to ask how I was healing from the accident. As time passed, I went from being pissed at his lack of care for my wellbeing to relieved I didn’t have to deal with him. I assumed that meant he wanted a clean break, which I’d been happy to give and wanted to maintain.
Lauren narrowed her eyes. “Is he harassing you? We can go to the police station right now and file a report. Cammie and Poppy can manage the event.”
“Down, girl,” I said. “Who’s overprotective now?” She looked so worried; I couldn’t help hugging her. She let out a sigh and wrapped her arms around me.
“You’d tell me, if he was?”
“Of course,” I said, patting her back.
She hugged me tighter. “I wish you’d consider staying here. I’m going to be a nervous wreck thinking about you all alone in some city.”
My phone buzzed again.
“Ugh,” I groaned stepping out of the hug. “Just let me deal with him. I don’t want my phone going off during the event.”
“Use my office,” she said.
I walked to the counter, past Poppy, who shoved her own phone in her apron with a guilty expression. “What are you doing back here?” she snapped.
“Chill, I won’t tell your boss you’re texting at work. I’m using Lauren’s office to make a phone call.”
“Yeah, whatever,” she said. She grabbed a bottle of Windex and started aggressively cleaning the glass countertop.
I walked through the swinging door and the small kitchen/storage area to the tiny enclosure Lauren called an office. It was about the size of an airplane bathroom, but at least it was private. I shut the door and squeezed around Lauren’s cluttered desk to sit in her small chair. Brad had left a voicemail and sent three texts:
Brad
You owe me
Don’t be like this
Pick up Rowan
My phone buzzed again with a picture of his favorite loafers filled with dog poop. Picture after picture arrived: Poop on the bedsheets, poop on a stack of dishes, poop inside a cereal box, and finally, eight pictures of poop in different HVAC vents.
Poppy would have had to unscrew the covers for those, which made me laugh so hard I snorted.
I haven’t sent these to my lawyer. Yet. CALL ME
I knew Poppy’s prank was going to come back to bite me. I dialed Brad, and he picked up on the first ring. “Why are you sending me pictures of poop?”
“Quick,” he said. “How do you run the monthly report you put together for Gwen?”
Not “How are you” or “Sorry for being a dick.” He didn’t give a damn about me. I wondered if he ever did. It didn’t feel great to realize how little affection I’d accepted in my marriage. I couldn’t do anything about the years I’d wasted or the woman I’d been with him, but I didn’t have to be her now. “What?”
“The report, Rowan. The one you ran every month for her.”
“Ah,” I said leaning back in the chair. “You mean the one Kelli re-saved with her credentials, so it looked like she made it.”
“Yes, that one.”
“Sorry,” I said, “I can’t remember. Stop calling me and sending me pictures of poop, or I’ll be forced to contact my lawyers.”
“Those are evidence of what you did to our apartment.”
“Gross, Brad. I thought you knew me better than that. Call my lawyer if you have anything else to say.”
I ended the call and tossed the phone onto the desk just as Lauren opened the door and wiggled in.
“Were you listening outside?”
“Maybe,” she said with a shrug. “I had to make sure you didn’t let him walk all over you.”
“How’d I do?”
She put two thumbs in the air and smiled. “Now, I want the dirty details about Cal. We have five minutes before everyone arrives. Spill the tea.”
The truth was, I was dying to tell her. Everything happened so fast last night, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Physically, I’d never experienced anything so satisfying. The man had a gifted tongue. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t crave a repeat performance. But, I’d never had a casual physical relationship before. I wasn’t sure I could enjoy sex without getting attached. Add to that my inner-sixteen-year-old doing cartwheels because Caleb Cardoso was somehow attracted to me, and I wasn’t sure my heart could handle more.
“Ok,” I said lowering my voice. “But you have to swear not to repeat any of this to Poppy or Cammie or really anyone.”
Lauren gripped her hands together and gave an excited squeal.
“Promise.”
“I told you I can keep a secret.”
“He went down on me last night. I was so flustered after, I left my underwear at his house and walked home bare assed.”
Lauren's eyes widened, and she fell back against the door, pushing it closed. “You did what?” she screamed.
“Lauren,” I hissed.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “But you can’t just jump in with that. All I saw was some innocent hand holding. Given how upset he looked over his dog, it could have been friendly concern.”
I nodded but didn’t go into details.
Seeing Cal’s distraught face in the playhouse as he held Skye had melted any lingering anger I’d had over our initial sessions and that odd kiss. I knew that pain all too well. Skye entered Cal’s life during a time of immense grief. It made sense he’d be triggered by almost losing her. I told him the story about the cherries to show I could empathize without calling attention to the state he was in when I found him. I didn’t know Cal well, but I sensed he hid his grief as much as possible, perhaps even from himself.
When he laughed at my story, he was the most attractive man I’d ever seen. Instead of talking through his grief like I intended, he pulled pleasure from my body and left me reeling.
“So, you went from disliking the man to feeling sorry for him to letting him put his face in your business all in the same night?”
“He kissed me earlier this week.”
“And you didn’t tell me,” Lauren said, clutching her chest. “That hurts.”
“He didn’t mean to do it. I’m not even sure why it happened, really.”
Lauren threw her hands in the air. “Because you’re beautiful, and funny, and sweet. His lips did not accidentally land on yours. He wanted to kiss you. Clearly, since he moved the kisses south.”
“Ok, fine. But before that we decided it could never happen again. I’m his patient. Plus, I’m moving soon.”
“Very mature of you both. But then?” She raised her eyebrows at me and waited.
“He gave me the best orgasm of my life.”
Lauren fanned her face. “I can imagine.”
An unexpected stab of jealousy made me sit straighter in the chair. “Ok, you get the idea,” I said, my tone a little sharp.
“So, are you seeing each other?”
“No.”
“You’re just hooking up?”
“Um, I don’t think so.”
“Rowan Eloise Stevens, if a man has his face in your lady garden you’re hooking up.”
“Please never call it that again.”
“So, what are you doing?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but if a firework hadn’t gone off and scared Skye, I’m pretty sure we’d have slept together.”
“Wow,” Lauren said. “That’s kind of unexpected.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Brad is still the only man you’ve been with, right?”
I nodded.
“What did Cal say when you saw him at PT today?”
“My session is tomorrow. The schedule got shifted because of the holiday.”
“Oh,” Lauren said with a smirk. “So, you’ve been overthinking this all day, haven’t you?”
“Pretty much.”
“Can you have fun with Cal and not get attached?”
I twisted my hands in my lap. “I’m not even sure he’d want that. Emotions were high last night, and things got out of hand. Again, I’m his patient, and he’s on thin ice at work.”
Lauren nodded. “Cammie mentioned that. Avery Peterson is such a bitch.”
“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you call anyone that before.”
“She’s hurt a lot of people.”
“That she has.”
“Lauren,” Poppy screamed from the other side of the door. “Get your ass out here. There are more people than I can handle.”
Lauren took a deep breath and sighed. “I love your sister, and I’d never fire her, but this job isn’t the best fit for Poppy.”
“Whatever do you mean,” I said with a laugh.
“You two really could open a custom bakery. You could bake and manage the peopling parts. Poppy could decorate and grow the business. She runs all our social media channels and comes up with the best ideas.”
I shook my head. “I worked too hard for my finance degree. I can’t throw it away because Poppy has a sudden passion for cake decorating, and you’d like to hire someone with a sunnier disposition.”
“Of course not. You’d do it because you love baking. You always have. And I’m sure all that finance experience would help you run your own business.”
“You just want me to stay in Peace Falls.”
“Duh. But more importantly, I want you to be happy. You deserve that.”
“I’m serious, Lauren,” Poppy screamed. “Mr. Fitzwilliam took his teeth out, and I swear on my rondel chisel I would rather put my face under the frother than help him find them again when he throws them out with his napkin.”
“Oh,” I winced. “We better go. She cried when Mom bought her that chisel.”
“Promise me you’ll consider all your options.”
Opening a bakery in Peace Falls seemed more like a fantasy than a valid career plan. But I nodded, and we returned to the café in time to save Mr. Fitzwilliam’s teeth and Poppy’s face.