Chapter Thirty-Three
Lucy
“Here is where it all began.” I hold the door to the shop open for Colton. I flick on the lights as Colton steps inside. He stands in one spot looking everything over. Colton has been asking to come see the coffee shop for the past week. I wanted him to see it at its quietest time of the day, before we open, so he could get a chance to really look the place over.
Colton lowers himself down to the floor and runs his hand over the dark herringbone floors and smiles to himself. Probably remembering all the design magazines I searched through trying to find a picture of this very pattern to hang on my coffee shop vision board. This was long before Pinterest came along. I watch as he examines every light fixture and built-in bookshelf. He even checks each of the souvenir coffee mugs, running his hands over the lettering stamped on the front that says Lucy’s Books and Coffee.
“You did it, Lucy.” He smiles proudly. “I always knew you could.” He reaches in his back pocket and pulls out his wallet. “I need one of these.” When he starts to open it, I stop him.
“Nope, I won’t accept your money. This coffee cup never would have happened if you hadn’t given me the courage to go after it. It was always a dream then you made it feel attainable, because you believed in me. Even after everything that happened, I could still feel you rooting me on. So, keep your money.” I smile and push his wallet away. “Come on I’ll make you your favorite latte to go in your new mug.”
“Oh, how I have missed your salted caramel lattes.” He hums as he says the words.
“I’ve made them even better since the last time you had one.” I slyly grin at him as we walk over to the coffee bar. I grab my apron from under the counter and slip it on before I collect my ingredients. Colton was my taste tester when I was developing my barista skills. He drank more bad coffee than good in those early days. It was a good year before he could eat anything with pumpkin after all the pumpkin spice lattes I made him try. Colton was a trooper. Eventually I found groove and created some pretty damn good coffee flavors. One of them being Colton’s favorite, Salted Caramel.
“How could you improve on perfection?” he teases and takes a seat at the bar.
“Well, I infuse the whipped cream with the caramel.” I flash him a wink as I turn on the milk steamer.
“Damn, Buttercup, that sounds amazing.” He catches what he just said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to call you that. You aren’t my buttercup anymore.”
“It’s okay. Old habits are hard to break. It took me a good two years to stop baking a cake on your birthday.” I spray a mound of whipped cream on top of Colton’s coffee. “We all have things to get used to. For me, it’s you being alive and for you, it’s us not being married. We will find our way through all of this. Until then, we have good coffee and caramel whipped cream.” I tilt my head back and open my mouth wide and fill my cheeks with the whipped cream.
“Give me a hit of that.” Colton opens his mouth and I spray the cream all over his mouth and his face. I almost choke on the whipped cream in my mouth from laughing. It feels good to laugh with Colton again. This is something I never thought I would ever get to do again.
It’s going to take some time for all of us to adjust to this new way of life. There isn’t a guide for how to handle your dead husband coming back to life. I think if all of us work together as a team we will find our way.
Colton sweeps the cream off his face and down to his mouth. “Damn, that’s good,” he says, licking his face. I toss him a towel and he wipes the last of the stickiness off. “What would you think about me moving to Seattle?” he asks.
“I think that would be great. You’d get to see Bailey more, but what about Kara? I thought you were going to try and work things out with her.” I would love for Bailey to be able to see Colton more, but I don’t want him running away from something that could be so good for him. The way he talks about Kara, I know he still loves her deeply. They have already gone through so much, with him getting his memories back, that I wouldn’t want to see his moving away cause another rift in their relationship.
“Right now, I really need to focus on getting my head on right and getting to know my daughter again. I love Kara, but I am not in the condition to be the man she needs right now. She understands that I need this time to get my life in order.”
“I know how hard this has been for you. I just don’t want you to use this as an excuse not to be with the person who makes you happy.”
“I promise you, that is not what I’m doing. I just need a little more time. Kara has been strong for me for so long. I need to get back to where I can be that for her. Kara deserves the best, and I want to be that for her, but I’m not at that place right now.”
I can understand that. Hunter did the same thing before he pursued me. Granted, it was because he was a bit of a man whore before me, and not quite what Colton is going through, but he wanted to be his best self before we got together. “If moving here is what you want, then I support it, and I know Bailey will be happy to have her father here. What are you going to do for work?”
“I already talked to the Chief about getting a transfer to a house here in Seattle. It may take a few weeks, but I have savings to get me by until then. I’ve already started looking for an apartment.” Not surprising that Colton would already be getting his ducks in a row. Once he set his mind on something there was no stopping him from getting it. That’s how we got married so quickly.
“Until you get a job you can spend the afternoons with Bailey while I’m at work. I know she would love that.” Most of Colton’s time here has been spending time with Bailey. Hunter takes Bailey to school in the morning, and Colton picks her up after school and she spends the rest of the afternoon with him. Bailey is getting the best of both worlds with Hunter and Colton. She is one lucky girl to have them in her life.
“I would love that too. You’ve done an amazing job raising Bailey on your own for all these years. She is an incredible girl.”
“Some days I feel like I’m doing everything wrong, so to hear that makes me feel a little bit of relief. I just want her to grow up with a good head on her shoulders and make sure she keeps that big heart of hers. If I can do that than all the ups and downs will be worth it.”
“You have nothing to worry about. She has you as a mother, which makes her the luckiest kid in the world.” He warmly smiles. “Now, give me another shot of that whipped cream and try to get more of it in my mouth this time,” he teases.