“I see. Well, if you ever want to set up at the back table like you used to in high school, feel free. You wrote a lot of words there.”
She remembered working late at the store with her father, and Danny would be there under the guise of doing homework. He might have done some studying, but most of his time was spent writing, spinning tales of his own, and Jane had felt special that she and her father were the only people who knew his secret. Dad didn’t say much about it, though. Instead, he kept Danny in hot chocolate, coffee, and all the leftover baked goods he could pack away. The store didn’t have a café back then, but Dad always had a pot of coffee on, and at least a dozen pastries or donuts from the bakery around the corner.
Of course, Danny had been her crush. He was a high school girl’s dream. Tall and athletic, smart and creative, he didn’t fit the mold of the typical jock, and their friendship baffled everyone at school. Maybe that’s what made it so perfect.
They went in opposite directions for college, putting a lot of miles between them. They called each other, wrote letters—well, she wrote letters—Danny was the one who called. When he did, they talked for hours. There was a change in their relationship between high school and the end of college. Something Jane thought was rather magical.
However, the wall he’d put up a long time ago told her he didn’t feel the same, and it did more than just ding her ego, it broke her heart.
He looked around the store and smiled when he spotted the large, round dark oak table. It sat in one corner, just like it always had with a green-shaded floor lamp nearby. “This place…it’s different, than I remember?”
“Well, nothing stays the same, and it has been a while. We added the small café five years ago, so while it won’t be my dad’s day-old coffee, the caffeine is at the ready.”
He laughed; this time it was full and deep. “That swill your father called coffee could remove paint, but it felt like home, you know?”
“It did indeed.” She missed her father at times like this. He would have given Danny hell for letting so much time pass without a word, but then he would have welcomed him like family. It took a long time for Jane to get over that he never reached out when her dad passed, that he ignored her calls. Whatever he felt, or didn’t feel for her, Danny had owed her dad some respect.
She caught him staring at the corner table again. “I’m going to get back to work,” she said. “Just give a holler when you’re ready to make your purchases.”
“Will do.”
“Janie?” She turned and his voice stopped her. “How late are you open?”
“Tonight we’re open until ten. We have a book club scheduled in the meeting room in the back.”
“Is the table free? I’m thinking a change of scenery might be just what I need.”
Now Jane felt herself smile. “I’ll have the coffee on.”
Chapter Three
Dan didn’t know if going back to his old haunt would help with his writing, but it couldn’t hurt. So, after dinner, he slid his laptop into his battered leather messenger bag, added some pens and the leather notebook he’d been scribbling in for the last week, and headed out into the bitter cold November night. Always a creature of habit, he was having trouble finding his groove since he’d arrived at his sister’s house. He really liked the little cottage, he always had, and his sister and brother-in-law had done an amazing renovation. It was perfect really, and no one was going to come looking for him here. But his writing mojo was off. Something wasn’t clicking.
His assistant was the only person who knew how to reach him, and even she wasn’t sure what to think about him going off the grid. His cell was the bane of his existence, constantly pinging with texts and emails. So, two days ago he shut off his phone and got a second line. He wasn’t going to be found until he was good and ready.
Granted, hiding out felt cowardly, but it was necessary. This was his chance to slip into his writing bubble and find satisfaction in his words again.
He was happy to climb back into his Audi after the stint in his sister’s vehicle. Her