Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Natalie
Ipulled open the door of The Switchback Cafe. The smell of vanilla and cinnamon instantly filled my nose. God, that smelled good. Exactly like I remembered.
Scanning the coffee shop/bakery, everything looked the same.
My gaze caught on an old- time black-and-white photo of a woman bundled up for winter sitting in the back of a sleigh.
The smile on her face was contagious, and a wave of longing filled me.
That’s what I wanted. Simple. Happy. Comfortable. And safe.
“Nat,” I heard my name called, and I turned toward Beth’s voice.
“Hey.” I gave her a little wave, then weaved my way past a couple sitting at a scarred wood table with mismatched chairs. Even that was the same. Nothing matched. I had always loved the homey, eclectic feel in here, like no one would care when I set my cup down without a coaster.
Beth stood as I approached and wrapped me in a hug. “Ah, it’s so great having you in town.” She squeezed me tightly before letting go.
“It’s good to be back.” I sat down opposite her and eyed the giant cinnamon roll filling the plate. Had they always been that big?
“Sorry, I ordered already.” Beth winced sheepishly. “It’s the smell. I just couldn’t sit here and not eat something.”
I chuckled. “Don’t worry about it at all. I get it.” I looked around. “Does she have a fan blowing to hit you with that smell when the door opens?”
“Probably.” Beth chuckled. “I wouldn’t put it past her. Mae is an evil genius and has everyone in town addicted to her baking.”
“Mae’s still here?” I asked, looking around. A young brunette woman was working behind the counter.
“That’s Mia,” Beth said, nodding at the woman serving a couple at the counter. “Mae is around here somewhere.”
Getting grilled by Mae had been a rite of passage each summer growing up. Before she’d give me my first cinnamon bun of the season, she had to have all the dirt about the previous year. I glanced at the cinnamon roll. It really was ridiculously large. How had I ever eaten one of those on my own?
“Are you sharing?” I asked.
“No. And don’t judge.” Beth pointed her finger at me. “The kids were monsters this morning. I’m surprised I made it out alive. This is my reward.”
“I wasn’t judging. I just don’t remember them being that big when we were kids.
” I paused and looked at my friend. Really looked at her for the first time today.
Bags darkened the skin under her eyes, and her shoulders hung wearily in a way I hadn’t noticed the last couple times I’d seen her. “You okay?”
“Yeah, fine.” Beth waved me off, then picked up a piece of cinnamon bun. “Nothing this won’t solve,” she said and popped it in her mouth. Her eyes closed as she savored the flavor. “Oh my God, you have got to order one of these,” she mumbled around the mouthful of food.
“I’ll be right back.” I shook my head at her and laughed. Making my way to the counter, I scanned the little bakery again. Noticing more photos on the walls, some I remembered, some were new.
As I walked up to the counter, I glanced at the woman crouched down behind the counter arranging cups on a shelf. A long gray braid trailed down her back. She stood and turned around. Mae.
A smile instantly spread across my face at the sight of the familiar face. “Hi Mae.”
The older woman looked at me, her eyes narrowed before recognition lit her face. “Natalie?”
“Yep.” My shoulders rose and dropped quickly.
Mae rounded the counter. “Oh my goodness, Natalie Walsh, as I live and breathe,” she said as she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into her familiar embrace. “I never thought I’d see the day when you’d come back to our little town.”
“How could I stay away?”
Mae pulled back and smiled sadly at me. “I was really sorry to hear about your grandpa. He was a very special man.”
“Mmm.” I nodded. “He was.”
“You back to clean out his place?”
“Yeah, I am. I didn’t realize he was such a pack rat.
The place is small, but he sure did jam the stuff in there.
” I’d been prepared for the storage cellar under the house.
The attic was a whole different story. I’d spent most of yesterday going through boxes of old pictures I’d found shoved up in the attic beneath old clothing from God knows when.
Mae chuckled. “Never know when you might need something.”
“Apparently. Although I’m pretty sure no one ever needed those running shorts.” I shuddered when I imagined my grandpa in the shortie shorts I’d found more than one pair of beneath the rubble.
Mae waggled her eyebrows. “Speak for yourself.”
“Ew.” I laughed.
Mae wandered back around the counter. “What can I get you, sweetheart? One of those cinnamon buns you always loved?”
I glanced at the giant rolls. I couldn’t even imagine how many hours in the studio it would take to burn off one of those. “No.” I shook my head. “Can I get an almond milk latte with…” I scanned the line of syrups on the shelf. “Do you have any sugar-free syrup?”
“Vanilla.”
“Perfect, and one pump of that, please.”
Mae eyed me. Her gaze roamed down my body in the way it often did when I ordered my coffee. When she raised her eyes, I stared back at her with my eyebrow raised, daring her to say something, and of course she did.
“Honey, a little sugar never killed anyone. You sure you don’t want the cinnamon bun? You used to love them,” she pressed.
“Mae, we both know there is more than a little sugar in one of those cinnamon buns, and yes, I’m sure I don’t want one. They smell great though.”
“Honey, life is meant to be lived.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Mae, respectfully, mind your business,” I said using my grandpa’s favourite term.
She rolled her lips between her teeth. Her nostrils flared as if it was taking every bit of strength not to say something to me. Finally, she spoke, “One almond milk latte with sugar-free vanilla coming up.”
“Thank you.”
A moment later, she set my latte down on the counter.
I pulled out my wallet, and she waved me off.
“First one’s on me, sweetheart. It’s really nice having you back in town.
” Mae reached out and grabbed my hand as I reached for my cup.
“I’m sorry if I overstepped. I remember what your Mama was like, and I shouldn’t have…
” Mae’s eyes filled with emotion as she looked at me. Memories swarmed between us.
How many times had I come in here to eat my feelings after my parents dropped me off for the summer?
My mom’s parting words had always been something along the lines of “make sure you don’t get fat,” which immediately led to me consuming a cinnamon bun, followed by guilt and running myself into exhaustion once I got back to my grandpa’s house.
“Thanks.” I gave her hand a small squeeze back. “I’ve found healthier ways to cope with her disappointment.” I flipped over my hand and showed her the small tattoo I had hidden on my wrist.
Mae leaned in close and read it. “Strength. That seems fitting.”
“I thought so.” I picked up my latte and took a sip of the foamy, hot liquid. Vanilla and creamy coffee hit my tongue. “Mmm, perfect. Thank you, Mae.”
“Anytime, sweetheart. Welcome home.”
My chest tightened. Home. That’s exactly what Hollow Peak had always felt like. Home. For a few weeks every summer, I felt at home in a way I never did in my own house.
I carried my coffee back to the table and sat down across from Beth. She eyed my coffee and groaned.
“What?” I asked.
“Of course you didn’t get a cinnamon bun. Now I’m just gonna look like a big pig alone,” she grumbled.
I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t getting dragged into whatever was going on with her. If she’d been worried about it, she wouldn’t have ordered without me. She did. So this was clearly about something else. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” She sighed.
“Come on. Talk.” I nudged her with my foot. “You know you want to, and it’s a lot better for you than eating that entire thing.” I pointed at the half-destroyed cinnamon bun.
“It’s just Brian.” She rubbed her hands over her face. “How did I ever marry such a loser?”
“You were sucked in by big muscles and a good tan.”
Beth snorted.
“So, what did your asshole ex do this time?”
“He’s not paying his share of the daycare like we’d agreed.”
“What? Why?”
She shook her head. “Because why would he pay someone when his mom would do it for free for him? Oh, and she’d charge me less than the going rate, so I’d save money too.
” She tore off a piece of cinnamon bun and shoved it into her mouth.
“Seriously? So, he gets free childcare, and I’m still paying? Hell, no.”
I can’t say I was all that surprised by the suggestion. Brian had always been notoriously cheap.
Beth shoved her palms into the edge of the table. “There is no way I’m letting that woman look after my kids. I can’t rely on her for daycare. I can’t control who he leaves them with when he has them, but there is no way I’m putting that woman in charge of my kids.”
“Understandable.” From what I remember of Brian’s mom, she wasn’t the most reliable person.
“Right? Just because his mom is free doesn’t mean she’s the safest choice. What happens when she disappears with nothing but a note on the door that says ‘girls’ trip’?”
“What did he say about that?”
“That my family could just do it on those days. And take their turn. It’s not my family’s job to raise my kids,” she growled. “I said no, we needed to pay for a daycare spot, and he said he’s not paying for something he can get for free, so if I wanted that I was on my own.”
“Can he do that?” That didn’t seem right. Wasn’t this kind of thing exactly why people made custody arrangements?
“No, he can’t. We have a custody agreement, but when I told him that he said, sue me.” She threw her head back. “Ahh, he’s such an asshole,” she roared.
The people at the next table looked over, and I smiled apologetically.
“What are you going to do?”
When she glanced back at me, her eyes were filled with tears. “I’m going to have to ask Saint Asher to rescue me.” She rubbed a tear that had fallen. “Again.”
Saint Asher? The bite to that comment sounded a bit harsh. “Does Ash help you a lot?”
“Yeah.” She sniffed. “My parents won’t help me at all with money. They’re big on the whole ‘I made my bed; I can lie in it’ philosophy. Which is true, but being a single mom is hard, and Brian screwed me when he left. I just…”
“And Ash rescued you?” I said, using her words, not mine.
“Yeah. He bought me my house.”
“He bought you a house?” I yelled.
“Shh.” Beth glared at me. “Yes, he bought me my house, okay.”
“Wow.”
“I know. He wanted to make sure I didn’t have to depend on Brian, so he bought me this cute little house a couple of blocks from the school. It’s small and old, but…” She smiled. “It’s mine.”
“Oh.” If I wasn’t already a little bit in love with Ash, I definitely would be now. Could the man be any sweeter? “Hang on. That sounds amazing. So why do you sound annoyed to ask him for help? Clearly, he doesn’t mind.”
“No, he doesn’t. Ash isn’t the problem. It’s my parents.
You’d think they were the ones who bought me the house.
Every time I need anything, I get a lecture about why can’t I be more like Asher?
He’s so responsible.” Beth’s eyes filled with unshed tears again.
“I’m responsible too. I’m raising three kids.
All I do is be responsible.” She blinked back tears.
“It’s not like I planned to get pregnant and drop out of school.
I did the responsible thing and got married.
I’m not the one who cheated. And now I’m a single parent.
” She angrily swiped her face. “What about me is not responsible?”
What was I supposed to say? Nothing I could say would help here.
Beth sighed. “Everyone knows Ash is practically a saint. Who the hell can measure up to that? But it doesn’t mean I’m not trying.”
I didn’t think saints did the kinds of things Ash did in the bedroom, but it wasn’t exactly appropriate to say that to his sister. “I’m sure they know that, honey. Ash sure seems to. And from the looks of that rec room he built, he obviously enjoys having the kids around.”
I wrung my hands together under the table.
I’d planned on talking to Beth about Ash and me today in person.
The kids had been sick last week, so we hadn’t been able to meet, and I hadn’t wanted to tell her over the phone.
Now it was over two weeks since Ash and I had gotten together but now didn’t exactly feel like the time to bring up the fact that I was also a little starstruck by Ash and how amazing he was.
“Yeah, he loves having the kids over. But that’s what I mean. Who builds a playroom for their niece and nephews at their house? How am I supposed to compete with that? Of course I don’t measure up by comparison.”
“Who’s comparing you?”
“Everyone.” She looked around. “Every person in this town compares me to Ash.”
“I don’t,” I said, and I meant it. What I felt for Ash had nothing to do with my friendship with Beth. They were completely different people. One was a ride-or-die friend, and the other was the man I was falling in love with. There was no comparing.
I just prayed I didn’t have to pick.
Beth snorted. “Yeah, but that’s because I know where the bodies are buried.”
“True,” I agreed. I grabbed her hand and rested it against the table in mine.
“Honey, my point is. Everyone who knows you and Ash loves you both. I don’t imagine there is a single person in this town, besides Brian maybe, who wouldn’t do anything for either of you.
It’s not a competition. You’re both amazing people.
You need help. Your brother is in a position to help you. So let him.”
Beth closed her eyes and exhaled audibly. After a few breaths, she opened them. “Yeah.” She sighed. “Can we not talk about my brother any more today? Please?”
Crap. Now it felt like I was hiding our relationship from her, and I didn’t want to do that. “Um—” I started, but Beth cut me off.
“Please, no more talk of Ash today. At all.”
I slowly nodded. Clearly this wasn’t the time to tell her anyways. There’d be plenty of time for that.