Chapter 26
There was a knock on the door of Frost + Foam the next morning as Rhys was sleepily setting up for the day.
He wasn’t ready to deal with Tessa yet, but when he turned around, he saw Jonah standing there. Jonah had already been many drinks in when Rhys left his party. He was sure Jonah had been up late, so Rhys had expected him to sleep in.
Rhys unlocked the door and ushered him in. “What are you doing up this early?”
Jonah grinned. “I haven’t actually been to bed.”
“Wow. I expected you to be out late, but—”
“I ended up back at Tessa’s. She has the day off, and we sat up talking until five. Then I decided to go on a walk and ended up here.”
“Do you want coffee, or are you going to go to bed?”
“I don’t work today, so sleep would probably be best, but I wanted to check on you.”
Rhys frowned. “Why?”
“You looked upset when you left last night.”
“I’m fine.” Jonah didn’t say a word, and the silence grew uncomfortable. “I was tired of people insinuating things about me and Caleb. I shouldn’t have said anything about us working together. It was better to keep it a secret.”
“It wasn’t that big of a secret.”
Rhys’s pulse sped up, and he leaned against the counter. “What do you mean?”
“You really think no one noticed you going to Cloud Nine in the evenings.”
“Most people aren’t even out in the evenings on weekdays.”
“We aren’t out late, but plenty of us go out to dinner or for drinks or knitting club or—”
Rhys groaned. “Tell me the knitting club isn’t talking about me.”
“No more than usual.”
“What does that mean?”
Jonah shrugged. “Nothing.”
It would probably be bad for his stress levels to learn more. “If people knew, why didn’t they—”
“Why do you think we all kept asking about how progress was going on your drink?”
Rhys took a sip of his coffee, trying to ground himself. “Because you’re curious.”
“We are, but you kept saying you wanted to keep it a secret.”
“When has that ever stopped Tessa?”
Jonah laughed. “True, but it usually quiets the rest of us.”
Rhys ran a hand through his hair. He’d already been having a shitty morning, now this. “Fine. But…”
“None of us were certain of anything except we’d each seen you at Cloud Nine in the evenings.”
“I could have been teaching Caleb how to pull a proper shot.”
Jonah shook his head. “Caleb is doing fine with that already.”
“Maybe that’s because of me.”
“Since when do you offer coffee lessons to anyone?”
He took a deep breath to prevent himself from yelling. “Just because I haven’t—”
“Rhys.”
“I didn’t want everyone talking about me, but I guess not saying things was just making everyone more curious.”
Jonah nodded. “I think so.”
“But I didn’t talk about it last year.”
“We didn’t have Caleb last year or Agnes on a crusade of revenge.”
Agnes was definitely not helping anything. “Is this really all because her sister’s town won more awards last year?”
“I do think she genuinely wants to help the town, and it’s partially because we’re hosting this year.”
Rhys groaned. “I wouldn’t even be in this mess if she hadn’t started all this.”
“Do you really regret working with Caleb? Would you change that now if you could?”
Rhys thought for a few moments. Plenty of things would be simpler, but what if he’d never found out what it was like to kiss Caleb or for Caleb to… He pushed away those thoughts. He didn’t need to get hard in front of Jonah. “No. I wouldn’t change it.”
“You like him.”
“Yes, but I can’t date another business owner here—it’s too public. What if things don’t work out, and we both still have to exist here?”
“It’s not like he works for you,” Jonah said.
“No, but the business association is…”
“We’re close, and you would have to see him, but are you really going to give up on a chance at happiness because you’re afraid?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.” Tears burned behind Rhys’s eyes, and he fought to keep them from falling. “I need a minute.”
He walked into the back as Jonah called, “I’ll leave you alone, but text me if you need anything.”
Rhys waved at him, not sure he could get himself to speak again.