Chapter 3
Rhys left the Temporarily Closed sign on the door since he wasn’t prepared to face any customers after that disaster. He shut himself in the back office, sank down into his desk chair, and dropped his head into his hands.
What the fuck was he thinking? He’d touched Caleb’s espresso machine without permission. He hadn’t even said hello first. He’d just blurted out his criticism, then taken over. Damn. The whole thing had gone even worse than he’d imagined.
But the temperature did need to be fixed. He didn’t want to sell burnt drinks.
True, but that was not the way to handle it.
It wasn’t, and now Rhys looked like a dick. Everyone in line had stared at him, and he’d wished he could disappear. The story would be all over town in no time. How the hell was he ever going to face Caleb again?
He’d heard Caleb call out that it was okay, but surely he was just saying that to be nice. It was his opening day. He wasn’t going to yell at customers, no matter how asinine they acted.
Rhys’s phone buzzed, and he saw a message from Tessa.
He knew he’d better respond, or she’d come looking for him.
He didn’t want to talk to anybody, but he was going to have to go back out front and run his store.
Sam wasn’t available on Mondays. They volunteered at an animal shelter, so he couldn’t even call them in, and he didn’t trust anyone else to work alone.
He didn’t bother to read Tessa’s lengthy text. He just typed, I’m okay. I need to focus on the shop. She sent a heart in reply,
Rhys stood as he took a deep breath and wiped a few tears from his eyes.
He was absolutely not going to let any of his customers see him crying.
He forced himself to smile, because he needed to look like he didn’t feel defeated, like he believed in his business, no matter how happy everyone looked at Cloud Nine or how personable Caleb was or how he was so damn hot Rhys felt a flutter in his chest every time he saw him.
But maybe other people did see him like that?
Rhys sighed. Who was he kidding? You’d have to be an idiot not to see how amazing Caleb was, physically and otherwise.
But not everyone wanted drinks overflowing with whipped cream and made sickly sweet with syrup.
Some people wanted Rhys’s not-at-all-boring coffee, so he needed to take the sign off the door and get back to making it, including a cup for himself of his favorite Peruvian roast.
Rhys had enough of a lunchtime rush to take his mind off the way he’d embarrassed himself at Cloud Nine, and no one said anything to him about it, though he was sure many of his customers knew about the incident.
Once things slowed down again, he got his lunch from the back.
Every day, he packed a sandwich—usually peanut butter and strawberry jam, but occasionally chicken salad—chips, and an apple.
When he worked alone, he quickly ate behind the counter, hoping no one would come in and see him looking so unprofessional.
Today, he got halfway through his sandwich before Tessa walked in.
He shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay, but are you coming to the meeting tonight?”
He sat his sandwich down, no longer feeling hungry. He’d completely forgotten about the “emergency” meeting for the business owners’ association. “Will Caleb be there?”
Tessa gave him a soft smile. “I would assume so.”
“Then no, I’m not going.”
She laid a hand over his. “Yes, you are. You can’t hide from him forever.”
“That’s what you said this morning, and look what happened.”
“He wished you’d stayed. He wasn’t upset at all.”
Rhys huffed. “He just said that to be nice.”
“Have you considered that maybe he is nice?” Tessa asked as she stole one of Rhys’s chips.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m not nice.” He turned the chip bag toward her, offering her more.
She grabbed another chip as she said, “You are nice. You just need time to adjust to new things.”
“I don’t know what to say to him.”
“Would it help you to practice?”
Tessa was such a good friend, but he didn’t want to have to practice what he was going to say. He wanted to just know. He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a long breath. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
Tessa glanced over her shoulder toward the door. I don’t see anyone coming, so go ahead.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now. I’m on my lunch break, and the meeting is right after we close.”
Rhys checked the door too before rolling his eyes, then saying, “Hi. I’m Rhys.”
“Good start.”
He glared at her. “That’s not what he would say back.”
“Oh, right. Let me get into my role.” She cleared her throat, then said, “I’m Caleb. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“Um… yeah. It’s, um… nice.” Rhys shook his head. “This isn’t going to work.”
“Yes, it is. Maybe next you could ask him about his opening day or about moving here.”
Right. Why hadn’t he thought of that? “How was your first day?”
“Great. I’m so excited to actually have my own store.”
“Um… I like having a store.” Tessa did a rolling motion with her hand, telling him he could keep going. “Do you like Frostwick Harbor so far?”
Rhys looked pointedly at Tessa when she didn’t answer.
“Oh, right. Sorry.” She nodded and said, “It seems like a great place to live, and everyone is so friendly.”
Rhys wasn’t sure what else to say. “Do I apologize again?”
“You could if you wanted to,” Tessa said.
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not sure I can do this.”
She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “You can. I believe in you.”
“Will you be there, or is Finn going?”
“We’re both going. Agnes essentially told us we had to.”
Rhys rolled his eyes. “I don’t know if I can handle dealing with Agnes and meeting Caleb. Or meeting him again. Oh my God, I was such an idiot this morning.”
“No, you weren’t,” Tessa insisted. “You were right about the machine. He appreciated you pointing it out.”
“He just said that to be nice in the moment. What if he won’t even talk to me? He probably hopes I’ll never come back to his store.”
Tessa grinned. “You’re so wrong about that.”
Rhys didn’t like the look in her eyes. It was one that said she was scheming. “How do you know that? What do you mean?”
“Nothing, just that he’s not like that. He’s very sincere, and he said he wanted a chance to talk to you.”
If that were true, Rhys appreciated it. He despised when people said things they didn’t mean. It was way too confusing.
“Jonah will be there too,” Tessa said. “We’ll all support you.”
“Fine. I’ll see you then.” If he didn’t go, Agnes would likely hunt him down anyway.
Rhys had to force himself to leave his house later than he normally would so he wouldn’t be early to the meeting. He hated the idea of being late, but he didn’t want to get there before at least one of his friends. Thankfully, Jonah was usually early, just like Rhys.
When he stepped into the town hall, he saw that the chairs had been arranged in a circle, the way Agnes preferred them for this type of meeting.
Jonah was seated next to Marianne, who worked at the library.
Tessa and Finn were standing up front, talking with Agnes.
Jonah motioned him over, pointing to the chair on his other side.
He’d just pulled his chair out enough to squeeze between it and Jonah’s when a low, booming voice called out, “Rhys, I want to finally meet you.”
Oh no. It was Caleb. What were the things he was supposed to say? He turned around to greet him, and somehow, his foot caught in the folding chair. He stumbled forward, and then Caleb was there, stopping his fall with a solid wall of muscle.
His big hands wrapped around Rhys’s upper arms, steadying him. For just a second, Rhys melted into him. He smelled so damn good, like coffee and caramel and sitting outside at night. His sweatshirt was soft and worn like he’d owned it forever.
Suddenly, the noises of the room—chairs squeaking, people talking, Agnes’s laugh—came rushing back, and Rhys realized he was in the town hall with all the other business owners. Anyone could see him. He jerked back, and Caleb let him go.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Caleb said.
Rhys felt the heat rush to his face. He was sure it was bright red. “I… um… I need to use the bathroom.” He turned and hurried from the room.
Once he was in the bathroom, he splashed some cold water on his face, but it still burned with shame.
How the hell had he fucked up so badly again? He should have just said something to Caleb like he’d planned, not that he could think of a single thing after falling into his strong, sculpted arms. And now that he’d run, there was no way in hell he was going back out there.
Apparently, he was incapable of being in the same space as Caleb and not making a fucking fool of himself. Tessa would just have to tell him what happened at the meeting. There had to be a way to sneak out the back of the town hall so no one would see him.
The bathroom door swung open, and he froze until he saw it was Finn.
“Are you okay?” Finn asked
“Yes. No. I will be. Tessa sent you, didn’t she?”
Finn nodded. “Yeah. Sorry. She told me I have to get you back out there.”
“No way. This is twice in one day I’ve looked like the biggest fool in front of Caleb. I’m not going back out there.”
“He’s sitting on the opposite side of the circle from us. You’ll be fine.”
“No, I won’t. I’ll have to look right at him.”
Finn frowned. “Do you usually look up much during these meetings?”
Rhys typically spent the meetings looking down at his notebook, pretending to take notes while he was bored out of his mind. “No, but—”
“Agnes is freaking out. She says everyone has to be here. She sent someone to go get Lisa from the gift store.”
The woman was acting even crazier than usual. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
He rolled his eyes. “I wish I was. You don’t want her to come back here looking for you.”
Great. He could face Agnes’s wrath or give himself another chance to show Caleb how inept he was. “Help me get out of here. I’ll find a place to hide where Agnes will never find me.”
Finn laughed. “Then I’ll be in trouble with Tessa. Why does Caleb make you so nervous?”
“He’s a hot, fun guy everyone likes who could ruin my business.”
“Hot?” Finn raised his brows.
“You know he is.”
“Well, yeah, I mean, I have eyes, but you don’t usually get flustered over things like that. You’re pretty cute yourself, you know?”
Rhys rolled his eyes. “You don’t see him falling down every time he sees me.”
“You fell down once, that’s all.”
“I suppose Tessa told you about this morning.”
“She did, but it’s all right. Just come back out there before she comes and gets us both. I promise I’ll make it really easy for you to get away at the end of the meeting.”
“Fine.” Rhys wished his heart weren’t pounding so hard. He felt like he might pass out. He was really not at all sure he was capable of handling this. What if he keeled over in the middle of the meeting? What if Caleb tried to talk to him again? Maybe he’d learned his lesson about that.
Just breathe and don’t look at him. You’ll be with your friends.
Tessa had made everyone move so Rhys could sit between her and Finn. She leaned over to whisper to him. “I’m proud of you.”
“For making an ass of myself again?”
She scowled at him. “For coming back out here.”
Before he could say anything else, Agnes called the meeting to order.
“As you all know, the Seacoast Harvest Festival will be taking place in Frostwick Harbor on October tenth and eleventh. That’s only twenty-seven days away.
This is such an important moment for our town.
We’ve been slowly increasing tourism here, but we want to keep that up.
I want to see all your businesses thrive, and I know you do too.
One of the best ways to gain interest in our town is for us to win as many festival awards as we can. ”
“I’m pretty sure this is more about doing better than her sister’s town,” Finn whispered. Rhys fought the urge to laugh. The last thing he wanted was Agnes’s attention on him.
The discussion dragged on as people made suggestions on how everyone could up their game for the various festival competitions.
Rhys hadn’t been able to stop himself from glancing at Caleb when the Best Fall Beverage competition was mentioned.
Rhys had entered the year before out of duty to the town, but he hadn’t won because his entry wasn’t exciting enough.
Agnes seemed thrilled that they’d now have Caleb’s entry as well. Rhys seriously doubted that winning Best Fall Beverage was going to change the future of Frostwick Harbor, but he managed to force a smile and nod along with what Agnes had to say.
As soon as the meeting was over, Finn jumped up, pushed his chair back, and helped Rhys escape through the gap. Rhys hurried out like he was being chased by wild dogs, or worse, coffee shop–owning bears.