Chapter 4
Haji
A tired breath escaped me as I ended the call with the claims adjuster.
They’d just rejected my request for payment for new wiring a third and final time.
Deciding not to let it bother me, I spent some time in my office looking into new insurance options before the lunch rush.
Though, these days, we didn’t really have a lunch rush.
Thanks to the competition, we never had a rush at all.
I couldn’t deny the fact that it wasn’t just the competition from a chain coffee shop that had slowed down business over the years.
Grounds had been missing its heart since Zina died.
For a while, people supported the shop in her honor.
As with all things, they stopped as time went on and forgot about her.
Forgot about the love she poured into this place and our community.
They may have forgotten about her, but I never would.
I wasn’t supposed to be running Zina’s business; her sister was. A lot of my anger had been directed toward a woman who probably didn’t even remember I existed.
Zoe Bush.
When I first met her, my heart ached for her. I felt an instant connection with her because of our shared pain, but I knew hers ran deeper. I might have lost my best friend, but she lost her sister. I had the time to prepare for Zina’s death; Zoe didn’t.
Our trauma bond made it hard for me to trust anyone else with her pain during her short stay in Jasper Lane.
I felt responsible for her. I wanted to help her heal.
Focusing on her pain helped me avoid mine.
Then she left, and I didn’t see her again.
Not only that, but she left me the responsibility of keeping Zina’s dream alive.
As I stepped into the damn near empty dining room of Grounds 4 Love, my irritation with Zoe grew just a little more.
It was her fault that I was dealing with this failing business while she was wherever doing God only knew what, but for Zina, I was going to give keeping Grounds open everything I had.