Chapter 4 #2
“But during my rehab, my perspective began to change. The therapists and nurses who worked with me showed me—a stranger—so much kindness and patience. I didn’t have anyone else in my life doing that. It made me remember that promise of what I’d do with a second chance in life.”
Ben leaned forward, bracing his arms on his thighs.
“I decided that I was going to be a people person. I wanted to give back to others without asking for anything in return. I knew I could easily retire because I had plenty of money to do so. A week after I returned to work full-time, I told the company I was ready to leave and turned the reins over to new, younger leadership. I was given a very generous compensation package and took my time, about four months, deciding what I wanted to do next. I ate better. Exercised, trying things like tai chi and meditation, along with strength training and walking. And I decided I’d like to be someone who lived in a small town.
Someone who became a part of his community.
I started driving to various towns around the state and would stay a day or two, walking around, talking to people.
I knew how there was a Starbucks on every corner in Houston.
The coffee culture has definitely taken over.
I thought opening a coffeehouse would be ideal, so that’s what I did. ”
“So, you chose Hawthorne as your new home.”
He nodded. “One of my first customers at Coffee Hour was a kind, attractive woman named Becky. She’s a counselor at the high school.
Never married. Ten years younger than I am.
We hit it off. Friendship quickly turned to love.
We’ve been married two years now, and those have been the happiest of my life.
I have a loving woman to share my ups and downs with each day.
I have a new purpose in life, taking care of those who come into my coffeehouse.
I know I’m where I’m supposed to be, with the woman who is my soulmate, and I make certain that she knows every day just how much I love her. ”
“It’s a beautiful story, Ben,” Summer said, blinking back tears. “Thank you for being so open and sharing it with me.”
“I don’t want to say that I wasted the other part of my life.
I worked in an important industry. I helped hire a lot of people and made a lot of money for our investors.
My life is richer now, though, living in Hawthorne and giving residents a place to gather.
I have people who stop by for coffee before they head to work.
Carpooling moms who drop off their kids at school and head over to socialize here for an hour. ”
Ben paused and indicated the group of old men laughing. “You see those guys? They come in every weekday morning. Talking over old times and sharing their memories. I give people like them a place to go. A home away from home.”
He rose. “I need to let you get busy now. That book isn’t going to write itself. Feel free to use any little part of my story down the line.”
Summer had already decided to do that very thing. There was a need in the world of romance for books featuring older couples. She decided Ben and Becky’s story would be worth fictionalizing.
“Thanks for sharing with me, Ben. At some point, I’d like to talk with you and Becky together and hear more about your love story from her perspective. I don’t know when I will write this, but what you told me has really intrigued me. I’d love to put my own twist on it.”
“Just let me know when you want to get together, Summer. I can’t wait to share this with Becky. She’ll be thrilled to meet you.”
She opened her laptop and signed in and then created a new document.
Quickly, she bullet pointed the basics of Ben and Becky’s love story and then closed the file.
She would need to mull over an older couple romance and decide if she wanted to include it in the series she was now writing or make it completely separate.
Going to a document which contained her outline for the new book, she read through the first page before starting the prologue. She was only two paragraphs into it when she was interrupted.
“Summer Sutherland. I hear you’re a big-time author now.”
It was a one of the members of her mom’s book club, and Summer politely chatted with her for a few minutes.
She went back to work, reading the two paragraphs she’d written to get back into her story.
This time, she only completed two new sentences before she was interrupted again by a busybody from her parents’ Sunday school class.
The woman talked for over ten minutes, asking Summer a question and then proceeding to talk instead of waiting for a reply.
By the end of their conversation, Summer was ready to scream.
The woman would probably have talked another hour, but Summer told her she needed to get back to her prologue.
Two hours later, she had written less than two pages.
Ben Craft had created a warm, homey atmosphere at Coffee Hour, and plenty of people dropped by it.
Summer knew far too many of them, and with Hawthorne being a small, friendly place, every single person had felt the need to come and chat with her.
It frustrated her that she had so little to show for the entire morning.
She decided she would have to leave the coffeehouse and find another place to work.
Slipping on her jacket, she gathered her things and placed her backpack on her shoulder.
She waved goodbye to Ben and stepped outside.
She could walk the mile or so to the library now, but she was afraid the same thing would happen there.
Plus, she would have to walk the mile back to meet Chance at Coffee Hour by two.
Frustration filled her. She supposed she could stay home and write at Autumn and Eli’s house each day.
Eli had even offered his office to her. Summer had actually gone in and sat at his desk, but she decided it wasn’t a place conducive to creativity.
She preferred sitting somewhere casual, in a chair, with her feet propped up, if possible.
She decided to go into a few of the stores along the square and allow her temper to cool a bit, stopping at stores with clothing, antiques, and crafts.
She left the square and walked a half mile to one of the local parks.
With it being near noon on a February weekday, only a couple of moms were present with strollers and four toddlers, sliding and swinging.
Summer found a bench away from the playground and opened her laptop again, calmer now.
Surrounded by the quiet of nature, she was able to begin writing again.
The sun was so bright that even wearing her sunglasses, she couldn’t read what was on her screen, so she closed her eyes and ran a movie in her head, capturing with her fingers what she saw in her mind’s eye.
She finished the short prologue quickly and now felt creatively on fire, hitting return several times and typing Chapter One.
She could worry about correct spacing later.
Summer immersed herself in her story, new details coming to her about her characters.
She knew the more she wrote, the better she would get to know them.
At least, that was how her first book had turned out.
It had caused her to go back and rewrite a few of the earlier chapters, but she felt that first book was stronger for having done so.
When she completed that chapter, she realized she was a little chilly and thought she might head back to Ben’s coffeehouse now and get a cup of hot chocolate to warm her up before meeting Chance.
Having dived deeply into her story, she hadn’t thought about him, which was a good thing.
She had been distracted by thoughts about him all yesterday.
Maybe they would talk now, and nothing would come of it.
Or they might decide simply to be friends.
What she really wanted, though, was to see if he might be feeling the same connection she did.
As she closed her laptop, she heard the bells from First Methodist Church, a few blocks away, beginning to ring. Once. Twice.
Summer realized it was already two o’clock now, and she was half a mile from the place where she was meeting Chance. Panic seized her as she jammed her laptop inside her backpack and zipped it up, slinging it on her shoulder as she took off running.
Hoping that Chance would still be waiting for her.