The Long Way Home (Corps Security #6)(4)

Now nothing about my world is colorless.

Between the shop and Riley, the only thing that would make it better would be having my sister back. Unless you ask Ella, and then she’d tell you what I was missing was a man.

With a laugh, I wrap my hand around the iron pull on the door and step into heaven. The first thing that assaults me is the scent. Nothing on this earth is better than the smell of ground and roasted coffee beans. The sweet scent of different foods intermingling make it almost too euphoric.

I step around the eclectic mixture of couches and chairs I hunted down to fill the vast floor area, each carefully placed to break the room into different seating areas. A variety of tables are sprinkled between. A large area serves as a workspace for those who prefer to relax while working as well as ones that take up a decent chunk of the room on each side, just to the side of the front windows. My eyes flit up, and I smile at the three chandeliers above me. So classy, my coffee heaven castle.

“You’re late!” someone bellows from farther back in the room, where the bar of coffee machines and food display counters are.

I shake my head and glance over at our large clock, complete with coffee mugs as number placeholders, and roll my eyes.

“I’m ten minutes early, just like I always am,” I call back to Ella.

“Morning, Olivia. Lovely morning, isn’t it?” someone says from my side.

When I see who spoke, I can’t help the smile that grows.

“Well, good morning, Mr. W! It’s a wet one, that’s for sure. How are you feeling today? I missed you here last week, but I heard someone wasn’t being a good boy about taking his medication.”

My favorite customer just laughs, his weathered voice heavy with age and the pneumonia his caregiver, Grace, had told me he had last week.

“That nosy little girl doesn’t know what she’s talking about. You know she isn’t even a doctor!”

I pat him on the shoulder. “She’s qualified enough to know when you need your medication, you stubborn man.”

“In my day, you just took a few shots of Jameson to get rid of a little cough.”

“Well, in my day, you still do the same, only you make me hide it here so Grace doesn’t know you’re being a bad boy.”

He grumbles under his breath, but smiles nonetheless.

“You doing okay? How about the wee one?”

“We’re doing just fine. She’s just as energetic and opinionated as ever. Reminds me of someone I know,” I respond with a wink.

His grin gets mischievous, and he grumbles out a laugh, his face showing every one of his eighty-three years.

“She reminds me of my beautiful Rachel. So full of life, she was. That little girl is going to take the world by storm one day. Mark my words.”

“I don’t doubt that for one second. You’ll let me know if you need anything, okay? No rowdy for you today, Mr. W.”

He gives me another one of his famous winks and goes back to his morning paper. I don’t miss the bottle of Jameson tucked at his hip, the one I keep behind the counter just for him. What can I say? I’m a sucker for his beautiful soul and stories of a life well lived. There isn’t much I wouldn’t keep hidden for him if it keeps him here for hours on end. And Grace, bless her heart, can use the break from her full-time charge.

“The rush came just as soon as I hung up with you.” Ella sighs, leaning against the counter and tossing the towel over her shoulder that she had been using to wipe off the counter next to the vintage register.

“Was it bad?”

“No. Just a little more crazy than normal. It must have been a party night for every damn college kid around us. I’m convinced those Ivy League brats who come in here just to talk about which boy they’re going to sleep with that night pay for their passing grades. No way they can be passing if they party as hard as they talk. One of them looked like she had been ridden by the entire MIT senior class, and if her words were true, she was damn well close to it.”

“Someone’s in a good mood,” I respond, not even touching the rest. She isn’t wrong for the most part. A few groups of girls are regulars after a long night of partying, and it drives me nuts when they loudly boast about their “conquests” when I have Riley here.

“I’m good. Just didn’t sleep well last night.”

“You want to talk about it?” I ask, focusing on my friend.

“Nothing to talk about, just the usual.” She lifts off the counter and straightens her back. “Anyway, look alive. Incoming.”

I don’t even need to look toward the windows to know what she’s talking about. My body acts instinctively, too. My back straightens, I brush my hands down the front of my camel-colored blouse and slip off the cardigan I pulled on to keep the chill away on my walk to work. Ella laughs under her breath but takes it from me.

I grab a white apron from the hook, drop it over my head, and move to the coffee machine, the large monstrosity that looks like a work of art. Even as I hear the door chime, my movements don’t stall as I continue the task I set myself to complete. My heart picks up with each heavy-booted step. Even through the low hum of people enjoying their time around the room, I can hear them.

I feel his energy the moment he’s near. It hits me like a battering ram. If he’s ever felt it, he’s never let on. If he ever noticed my reaction, he’s never let on to that either, though.