Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Presley
M y official grand opening day was Saturday, five days after the soft opening.
Planned by Magnolia, the day included hourly raffles to benefit the animal shelter, free reusable travel mugs with The Bean Counter logo, good for unlimited discounted fill-ups, and a photo backdrop tied to a social media giveaway.
By eight a.m., we’d sold out of our entire selection of savory breads, bagels, and English muffins.
By noon, we’d raised over five hundred dollars for the shelter.
By two p.m., my mind was blown, and my mood was elated, enthusiastic, and excited.
It seemed this town agreed with me on the need for good coffee, and that’s what we served them.
We consisted of me and my three employees. Glenda Thomas was the fire chief’s wife. She’d been a stay-at-home-mom of their son, but now that he was out of the house, she’d needed something to do with her time and wanted an extra income source.
Hadley Ballantine, the second youngest of the Ballantine family, had recently moved back home after college and a job in her field that she’d hated. She and Glenda were hoping for full-time hours at the shop.
My part-timer was Dalton Kaye, who was a senior in high school this fall and needed money for college.
We were open seven days a week, from six a.m. to three p.m., subject to change as I figured out what the heck I was doing.
For now, the only food we offered was the bread, much of which was baked by our own Glenda.
We’d received numerous requests for lunch options, so I hoped to figure that out in the next month or two.
“People are loving the latte flights,” Hadley said as we scrambled to restock during a lull.
“And the bread,” I said, making sure Glenda heard me.
“I could use a loaf of that bacon and onion bread right about now,” Dalton said as he wiped one of the counters clean.
“Or the cornbread poppers,” Hadley added.
“I don’t even know what I’d pick. All your flavors are incredible, Glenda.” I stacked more travel mugs in their spot.
Glenda laughed. “I never dreamed I’d find such a good fit for my baking addiction. I’m so happy you did this, Presley. This town needed it. I needed it.”
“One more hour,” Magnolia said from the other side of the counter.
Though she wasn’t an employee, she’d been here all day, overseeing the grand-opening pieces of it as well as manning The Bean Counter’s social media.
“I sent out a ‘last chance for the raffles and free mugs’ message a few minutes ago, so we’ll probably see one more stream. ”
I went around the counter and gave her a big side hug, one of several today because I was so happy. “You’re amazing, and I owe you so many favors it isn’t funny. I hope you’re keeping a tally.”
“I’m doing no such thing,” she said. “This is publicity for my business too.” She gestured to the Moments by Magnolia brochures and business cards next to the raffles. There weren’t many left.
“It feels like the entire town has been through here today,” Hadley said.
“Plus half of Runner,” Magnolia added.
Judging by the coffee we’d gone through, I could safely say we’d sold several hundred servings. I’d met so many people my head was swimming with names.
The one person you wanted to see most didn’t show.
I’d had no reason to think he would, but it hadn’t prevented me from wanting to lay eyes on West anyway. I hadn’t seen him since that Sunday I’d been so cold to him. I knew he’d taken the girls on their trip last week, but I was surprised we hadn’t run into each other.
I noticed the napkin dispenser was empty, so I headed to the storage room to grab another sleeve.
I went through the kitchen, noting it was in a lovely state of disarray that spoke to how busy we’d been for the past eight hours.
We’d likely be here for a couple more hours, putting the place back together, but I wasn’t complaining.
Flipping the light on in the storage room, I skimmed the labels on the shipping boxes, trying to remember where the napkins were.
Once I located them, I grabbed two sleeves.
When I turned back around, I startled at the sight of West standing in the storage-room doorway, holding a large vase of flowers, his eyes locked on me, looking so familiar and gorgeous and… unsure.
“Oh,” I said, pressing my free hand to my chest. “West. Hi.”
“Hi, Presley. These are for you.” He held the vase out.
I stepped closer, set the napkin sleeves down, and took the vase. “Thank you.” My heart hammered, and I reeled, trying not to drink in the sight of him like a girl who was dying of thirst. “They’re beautiful.”
“They’re masquerading as grand-opening flowers.”
“Masquerading?” I sniffed the bouquet, more as something to do than because I wanted to smell the flowers. I wasn’t thinking straight, too busy trying to figure out why he was here. Was it just to deliver flowers to a shop he’d built out?
“To everyone else, they look appropriate for a grand-opening gift,” he said, stepping farther into the room, out of view of anyone in the front room or kitchen. “But they’re actually to say I’m sorry.”
My gaze popped up to meet his as my heart sped off in yet another direction like a runaway horse.
West swallowed as he peered down at me, those green eyes so intent. “I’m sorry, Presley. I ran scared.”
“You don’t need to apologize.”
“I hurt you.”
“I’m doing okay, West.” I frowned, utterly confused. “I’m not angry anymore.”
“I tried to tell myself I did the right thing. That I’d get over it.
” He shook his head and chuckled quietly.
“I was fooling myself. Protecting myself. I used my children as an excuse, but the truth is, you make me feel so much. It scared the hell out of me. Because getting more deeply involved with you would be different than the two women who broke my babies’ hearts. With you, my heart is in danger too.”
He took the vase back and set it on a nearby shelf, which left nothing between us and made me fidgety.
He held out his hands, palms up, like an invitation. I hesitated for several seconds, looked from his strong hands up to the sincere expression on his handsome face, then slowly pressed my palms against his. He grasped them, then wove our fingers together.
“I’ve been a miserable bastard for three weeks,” he continued. “Just ask my daughters or my coworkers or even my mom. Because I screwed up astronomically with you.”
“What are you trying to say, West?”
“I’m in love with you, Presley. Crazy in love. Stupid in love. I want to be with you. I want to make us work. I told my daughters I had feelings for you, and I wanted to date you, like for real date. In public. Not in secret.”
I stood there, staring up at him, my mind staggering to catch up, to understand, to believe. “You love me?” A smile was beginning to tug at my lips.
“I do.”
“You told the girls that?”
He nodded. “I did, but I explained that didn’t automatically mean we were gonna get married, because that’s where their minds go. I told them people need to date and really get to know each other and see whether it would work to be a family.”
I stepped a little closer, feeling light enough that I might actually lift off the ground like a helium-filled balloon. This man loved me? “Tell me again.”
“I love you, Presley.”
I breathed in his scent, feasted my eyes on his familiar, beloved face, sliding my hands up his solid chest and settling them at the back of his neck. “I love you too, West.”
The next thing I knew, his arms were around me, pulling me in tight to him, and his lips were all over mine. That familiar taste of him, feel of him… It intoxicated me, made me dizzy in the best possible way.
We both pulled back at the same time, breathing hard. Then we laughed.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he said.
“Same.”
“I drove hundreds of miles away on a trip that should’ve been nothing but magic, but all I could think about was you.”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t know how you got under my skin and into my heart so completely and so quickly, but you did. I don’t want to live without you anymore, Presley.”
I gazed into his eyes. “I had a really super-good day, but I have to say, you’re blowing it out of the water.”
“Congratulations, by the way. This place looks incredible. You, Presley Holiday, are inspiring and amazing and exactly the kind of woman I want my daughters exposed to.”
“That’s a giant compliment.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I flicked his chest at the ma’am . “So where do we go from here?”
“Ah. Come with me.” He took my hand and pulled me toward the kitchen, then out to the front room.
Magnolia looked between West and me, noted our entwined hands, and sent me a knowing smile. “You found her, I see,” she said to West.
“Yes, I did, and thank God for that,” he muttered as he kept walking out from behind the counter.
That’s when I noticed Nova, Sienna, and Scarlet at the raffle table with Hadley, each of them apparently writing their names on tickets to put in the kids’ drawing.
“Miss Presley!” Scarlet abandoned her entry and ran over to us.
She threw her arms around my legs, and a crazy, happy laugh burst out of me.
“Hey, girls. It’s great to see my favorite smart-girl brigade,” I said.
Nova was next for hugs. Sienna painstakingly finished her raffle ticket, stuck it in the box, and turned to us with a wide smile.
“Miss Presley, your coffee shop looks beautiful,” Sienna exclaimed.
I hugged her, aware that everyone in the place was watching us, but if West didn’t care, then I didn’t care. Judging by the gorgeous smile on his face as he watched us, he was not bothered one bit.
“Girls, do you remember what you’re supposed to say?” he prompted.
With deliberateness and fanfare, they lined up, side by side.
“Miss Presley, would you please,” Scarlet said.
“Do us the honor,” Sienna added.
“Go on a date with us!” Nova yelled.
Everyone laughed, including West and me.
“That was supposed to be a question instead of a command,” he said as I met his gaze, both of us grinning wide. “We’d like to take you to dinner for a family date.”
“I would love to go on a date with all of you,” I said. I bent down for a four-way hug with the girls, pulling them into me, inhaling the scent of little girls who’d apparently drunk our kids’ version of a latte flight. “You finish up your raffle entries while I hug your dad, if that’s okay.”
“It’s more than okay,” Scarlet told me earnestly.
I turned to West and hugged him, several people cheering us on.
“Family date first,” he said into my ear so no one else could hear. “And after that, we’ll steal some adult time, I promise.”
I nodded, overcome with elation. The day had gone as well as a grand opening could possibly go, and then it’d gotten twenty times better when West walked back into my life. “That sounds like a perfect date,” I said as we ended the hug.
“Then we’ll take it one day at a time,” he said. “Together.”