Casey clapped her hands lightly. “Awesome!” She glanced at Janet. “I don’t mind covering extra shifts. I don’t want you to think I’ve been complaining.”
Janet rounded behind the counter again. “I know you don’t mind working extra, but it’s a lot. It’s always good to have enough staff so that when someone’s sick or I need to move things around, I can. What’ll it be for you today, Josie?” Janet asked as she stopped beside the espresso machine.
I tapped my fingers on the counter. “I’ll take a Chai tea. I already had coffee this morning, so I want the caffeine but not the bitter. And are those donuts?” My eyes shifted over to the display case.
“Thosearedonuts, and they are special,” Casey enthused.
I grinned. “And a donut.”
I started to pull out my wallet, but Janet shook her head. “You’re an employee, remember?”
“Janet! I haven’t even started yet,” I protested.
She shrugged, flicking her long braid off her shoulder. Her hair was more silver than pepper these days, and my heart twisted a little at that.
“Consider it from me.”
While Casey began to get my drink ready, Janet’s eyes narrowed as she studied me. “So what brings you home? I haven’t seen you in…” She drummed her fingertips on the counter.
“Too long,” I interjected.
I had left Willow Brook, metaphorically speaking, as though I was on fire. My family was here, and I still came to visit, but Ididn’t have a ton of money, so it had been longer than I would’ve liked between visits.
“I was here two Christmases ago,” I added. “Last year, Mom and Dad came out to see me.”
“Are you going to stay with them?” Janet asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I may have to for a little while, but I’d prefer to find my own place.”
“If anything I have opens up, I’ll let you know. Let me think about it because maybe I know somebody who has something. What’s your number?” She pulled out her cell phone.
“Janet, you have a smart phone,” I teased. I glanced at Casey with a grin. “When I worked here in high school, Janet had one of those little flip phones. She swore she would never get a smart phone.”
Janet rolled her eyes. “I didn’t realize they were going to take off the way they did. I have to admit I do like the fact I can read my books right on my phone. I don’t do it at night because I know that’s not great for my eyes. But now I have something to read when I’m waiting at the doctor’s office.”
“Is everything okay?” I asked quickly. Janet was like a second mother to me, as she was for many people in town. She was warm and kind, and it was pretty much impossible to live here and not know her unless you hated coffee.
“Everything is fine. It was my annual physical. Your number?” she prompted.
I was reciting my number when the bell chimed on the door behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Tate Hall walking in.
“Tate!” I exclaimed.
He turned away from the door, and his head whipped up. “Josie Steele,” Tate drawled as he crossed the café quickly and pulled me into a hug.
My belly felt funny when I stepped back and took a good look at him. Tate and I had been good friends in high school. There hadneverbeenanyzing there. Or I sure didn’t think there had.
This version of Tate was something else. High school Tate had been tall and lanky, almost as if his arms and legs were too much for him. He’d bordered on thin then. He was still lanky and still tall, but he had filled out. I mentally cleared my throat. His once thin body was now all kinds of muscle and impossible not to notice when he hugged me.
He still had teasing blue eyes and a smile that kicked up higher on one corner of his mouth. His dark locks were still straight and a little glossy, but he’d let his hair grow out to where it brushed his collar. When his smile stretched to the other corner, my belly did a little swoop.
What in the ever-loving hell is going on?
“When did you arrive in town?” Tate asked as he rested his hip against the counter.
When he dropped his hand to the wooden counter, I noticed that his hand was strong and weathered. I couldn’t believe it, but I kind of thought my old friend was, uh, sexy.
“I literally just drove into town right before I stopped here. Janet already offered me a job.”