“Did you hear that Damian is coming home next week for a visit? My best friend, a decorated Green Beret, unreal,” Cam announced.
It had been four years and I waited on news about him like a greedy child. I had done as I promised and no longer held onto the hope of Damian and me together, but I needed to know he was safe and well. I had a whole new appreciation for the spouses of servicemen and women and their families. It took a special kind of person to not only put their life on the line for their country, but for those loved ones who stood on the sidelines supporting even while fearing that dreaded call.
I wrote to him, every day. Shared every part of me in those letters. I even addressed and stamped them, but I never mailed them. It was how I coped with letting him go when my heart demanded to have him close.
“Mom will want to make him dinner,” Dad said.
“Yeah. She’s already planning the menu. You’re coming, right Thea?”
I wanted to go to dinner because I wanted to see him, but it seemed wiser to stick to the status quo, so I hedged. “When?”
“Next Saturday.”
Then I lied. “I have plans.”
“You can’t change them? You haven’t seen Damian in four years,” Dad added.
“I really wish I could.”
Neither of them bought my lie but I was saved from a grilling when our food arrived.
Kimber and I were on the hunt for the perfect cup of coffee. The large coffeehouse chains were great, but we wanted something more intimate. A new place had opened in the neighborhood, Cup of Joe, and we were on our way to investigate.
“You’re being ridiculous.” Kimber had spoken those very words at least twenty times since learning I was blowing off the dinner with Damian.
“I’m not ridiculous.”
“It’s been four years.”
“I still love him but the situation hasn’t changed and seeing him will only bring it all back.”
And that was the truth of it. I wanted to see him, but I had finally managed to tuck my feelings for him away, stored them in a figurative box much liked Dad’s special box in his office. I loved Damian, I would always love him, but I had learned to find happiness without him. It seemed stupid to stir it all up, to open that Pandora’s box and let all those emotions out only to have to wrangle them back in when he returned to his life overseas.
Kimber studied me for a minute. “It will force you to feel things you don’t want to feel.”
“Exactly.”
“Love scares the shit out of me.”
“Love hurts, but those magical weeks when Damian and I were in sync…I doubt I’ll ever feel that way again.”
Kimber’s eyes looked a bit bright but she had moved on because we had found Cup of Joe. “We’re here.”
As soon as the door opened, I knew we had found heaven on earth.
“Holy shit. Do you smell that?”
The combination of rich, roasted coffee and something buttery and sinful wafted out to us. “Oh yeah.”
It was a small place and the tables were tightly packed together. We reached the counter and were greeted by an auburn-haired woman about our age.
“Hi. What can I get you?”
“Everything,” Kimber said before she looked at me for confirmation then said again, “One of everything.”
The woman didn’t know what to make of Kimber’s order, so I added, “We’re serious. One of everything.”
“Looks like I’m closing up early today. I’m Ryder Chase. The owner.”
“Thea Ahern and Kimber Green, coffee drinkers and pastry eaters. We’re on a mission to find the best damn cup of coffee in the city and if your coffee tastes as good as it smells, we just have.”
She stopped bagging up the pastries and stared at me. “You’re not kidding.”
“Ryder, I suspect we’re going to become fast friends, so let me state right now. There are two things I do not tease about—coffee and sweets. Both are like a religion to me.”
“That is true,” Kimber added.
“Good to know.”
“If you’re really closing early, maybe you’ll join us so I can pick your brain on how you made the sweets we’re about to enjoy.”
“You’re serious.”
“As a heart attack.”
Ryder’s smile came in a flash, but lingered before she said, “I think you’re right, Thea Ahern. We’re going to become fast friends.”
My own brother outmaneuvered me. I had successfully dodged the dinner with Damian. A week later, Cam invited the girls and me out with him—as predicted we bonded to Ryder like a long lost sister. Accepting his invitation was a no-brainer, but what he had failed to mention was that Damian was still in town and would be joining us.