Page 1 of Ashes to Ink

Chapter One

Abby loved tea. She loved everything about it. The taste,the smell, the way it warmed her up on a cold day or cooled her down on a warmone. She’d even loved tea when she was a little girl, playing with air in herteacups and treating her stuffed animals and Cabbage Patch dolls to anafternoon tea party.

Her grandmother had taught her the basics of brewing theperfect cuppa, as well as the ratio of sugar cubesneeded. Abby had then learned to try tea with all additives: cinnamon sticks,lemon wedges, a dash of cream. Some might consider that ruining it, but Abbyhad wanted to try it all.

She loved tea bags but adored loose-leaf tea even more. Sherelished steeping it, blending it, and finding the perfect mix for the season.

So when she found herself looking for a way to createsomething that was just hers and start over after everything hadfallen apart around her, opening the tea shop had seemed like a no-brainer.

Teas’d specialized in loose-leaftea, but Abby also sold some bagged tea and different teapots and helpfulequipment.

It was Abby’s goal in life to make it so others coulddiscover the joys of tea like she had, and maybe find a new favorite along theway. She had always loved the idea of teatime, even if she didn’t have the timeto truly sit down and enjoy it herself every day.

Regardless, she adored the scents, loved the idea of fallinginto a cup—a different flavor every day. With the resurgence of tea drinkers,it was easier for Abby to find fellow tea lovers as time moved on. There werebig chain tea shops and smaller ones as well, but Teas’dwas just for her. She was a tiny little speck in the idea of tea and how itcould serve the needs of the people, but she was the best speck she couldpossibly be.

She’d had to be after everything changed.

She’d had to be when she lost everything.

Well, not everything. She still had her little girl. Abbygrinned down at her phone and swiped up so she could look at the photo on thehome screen.

Julia was growing every day and even looked slightlydifferent now than she had in the picture. Abby still couldn’t quite believethat she and Max had made this beautiful baby girl. Max might not be around tohelp raise Julia, but he had been there for the conception and had been thereto pick out everything the two of them as new parents would need to raise theirchild together.

It didn’t hurt as much as it once had to think about Max.Oh, it would always hurt, but at least it didn’t make Abby want to throw up andgrieve right then.

She could think about her husband and smile now. She couldthink about the fact that he had loved her with all of his heart, even if thathad been the thing to take him away from her in the end.

And she couldn’t say her feelings didn’t matter now though,because that would be a disgrace to his memory and the fact that she could seeMax in her little girl every single day.

Julia would never know her father, but Abby was doing herbest to make sure that Julia knew exactly who Max was, and how excited he hadbeen to have Julia in his life.

The two had never met, but Abby knew Max was always watchingover them.

There was no other way to think about it. Not when Abbyneeded to get up every day and breathe—try to be the mom and woman she neededto be.

But today was a new day, just like all the others. Today,she would make some tea, sell some tea, and maybe even have a cookie or two.Because it was Friday, and she was allowed to have a cookie if she wanted.

She just might have a little extra padding on her hips, butthat was fine with her. It wasn’t like she was trying to entice a man.

Oh, she’d dated a couple of times in the past year or so,but it hadn’t really amounted to much. She hadn’t been ready, and she didn’tknow if she was ready now either.

“What are you looking at over there?”

Abby looked up at the sound of her friend Adrienne’s voiceand smiled. Adrienne Montgomery owned the tattoo shop, Montgomery Ink Too, nextdoor and was part of a huge family—way bigger than just the set of cousins thatlived near Abby.

The Montgomerys were large, loud,brash, and the sweetest people Abby had ever known. They had taken her in withjust one look, much like their cousins in Denver had, and Abby loved everysingle one of them.

“Just looking at tea,” Abby answered, holding up a couple oftins. “I’m trying to see what I need to put on special. We have good stock ofmost things, but not all.”

“I don’t know how you do it. I mean, I know how to run abusiness, and I think I’m doing pretty well, but it takes the advice of twoaccountants for me to know what I’m doing.”

“Since I have the same two accountants you do, I totallyunderstand.”

Shea was Adrienne’s sister-in-law, and Roxie was Adrienne’ssister. Both were accountants, and pretty much helped run the businesses onthis stretch.

The Montgomerys owned two of thebusinesses—Montgomery Ink Too, and Colorado Icing. While Adrienne and Shep ran the tattoo shop, the Montgomerys’middle sister, Thea, owned the bakery at the end of the strip.

Abby had a feeling that if there had been more spaceavailable, the accountants of the family probably would have moved in as well.Or maybe even the mechanic, Carter, who was married to Roxie. In fact, Adriennewas dating one of the tattoo artists, Mace, and that just meant there was morefamily than ever. More Montgomerys.