AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tommy was right. Guests at one table were getting up, and the other two were almost finished with their lunches. Beth walked over and asked if she could get them anything else. It was the least she could do after abandoning Tommy and her business for two hours.
***
Chapter 3
Beth felt horrible. Tommy had been swamped with customers throughout the lunch rush. So much so that he didn’t have time to search for her. Luckily, since it was a Saturday, most of the lunch-goers were regulars. She had no idea what would have happened if she’d flaked during a weekday.
As soon as the last customer was out the door, Beth sent Tommy home. He’d protested, of course, but she put her foot down and made him leave. Besides, she needed a little time to herself.
It took her twice as long to wipe everything down and prep for Tuesday. Most of it was mindless work—cleaning surfaces, filling containers. Things she could do in her sleep. It gave her way too much time to think.
Drew had been in her café. He knew where she worked. And thanks to Nicole, he’d breached the careful boundary Beth had placed upon their relationship without even trying.
Nicole. Beth was still cursing her best friend. Then again, maybe she should be rethinking their entire friendship after Nicole threw Beth under the proverbial bus. She didn’t understand why Nicole was pushing so hard for her to get back in the dating scene. It wasn’t as if she had a vested interest in anything. It was Beth’s life, after all.
By the time she headed home, Beth was on edge. She’d promised Nicole she’d put in an appearance at Serpent’s Kiss later, but she was rethinking that plan. All she wanted to do was go home and curl up on the couch with a bowl of ice cream.
Beth was still debating the issue three hours later when there was a knock on her front door. It was Nicole. “What are you doing here?”
Nicole brushed past Beth into the two-story house. She’d bought it the year before as a present to herself for her café making it past the five-year mark. At the time, Beth had envisioned kids running through the house laughing—kids she’d planned to one day have with Ben. Realizing having children might never happen for her was depressing. She was thirty years old with no real prospects on the horizon.
The memory of Drew sitting beside her the night before flashed in front of her eyes. Her pulse began to race thinking about him. It was crazy. Nuts. She had to be out of her mind reacting like this to a man she didn’t even know.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Nicole asked.
Beth shut the front door and forced the memory of Drew out of her head. She leveled a not-so-pleasant look at her friend. “I’m thinking of all the ways I can torture you for the stunt you pulled today. What the hell were you thinking bringing him to my café?”
Nicole shrugged as if it were no big deal. “We were in the area and it was lunchtime. Where else would I take them?”
“Why not let them fend for themselves? They seem capable enough. I’m sure they could handle it all on their own.”
Her friend chuckled. “I’m sure they could. But where would be the fun in that?”
Beth threw her hands up. “Why are you doing this?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Doing what?”
“Trying to throw this guy at me.”
Nicole turned on her heel and headed in the direction of Beth’s bedroom. “Did you already have something picked out to wear tonight?”
Beth followed. “I haven’t decided if I’m going or not. And stop avoiding the question.”
“I’m not avoiding anything. What I’m doing is making sure you get out of this house and back into the land of the living.”
Nicole’s comment hit its mark. Beth had been living like a hermit these last three months. When she wasn’t at the café, she could usually be found at home, sitting in front of the television. Beth couldn’t say how many movies she’d watched in that time. More than she’d probably watched the first thirty years of her life.
“I’m not ready.” It sounded feeble even to Beth’s ears.
Her friend threw several items onto the bed, and lowered herself to the floor to go through Beth’s shoe selection. “No one says you have to do anything more than socialize. Not even with Drew, although I could tell by the way you reacted to him last night and today he must do something for you. Be that as it may, Drew’s working tonight so he won’t be there. You’re safe.”
For some reason that made Beth feel better. She wasn’t ready to see him again.
“Besides, I need some company. Jeff had to go help his sister move into a new apartment, so I’m on my own tonight.”
Beth sighed and picked up the dress Nicole had selected. It was sexy, but certainly not the most provocative thing Beth owned. “Girls’ night?”
Nicole smiled. “Girls’ night. Now come on. Katrina is giving a demonstration tonight, and I don’t want to miss it.”
