putting on,” Lucy said.
“You know what? Fine. Here’s where I’m at in life… there’s a guy my sister wants me to date. He works with her husband. This guy can help with this building and get me out of the lease I’m stuck in here. Miranda wants me to sleep with the guy because she wants out of the building too. And if I do that and get out of here… I can be happy. And you two can do something better with your lives. And, fine, I spent the day with Liam and had a weird dream about him. So I’m a little rattled today. Okay?”
Lucy and Ember looked at each other and nodded.
They backed off and let me out of the office.
“Do you really want to close this place down?” Ember asked.
“It’s hard to explain. I would never do anything to screw you over though, okay?”
“What kind of dream did you have about Liam?” Lucy asked with a smile.
“I think you can guess,” I said.
I walked to the front of the bakery.
I stood at the counter all of two seconds before I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.
A text from Liam waited for me.
Long day, Em… meet up for a coffee?
When I saw Liam waiting for me, I couldn’t help but smile.
He stood there holding a leather briefcase type bag by its handle.
He smiled back at me.
Then he pointed to the cafe. “Is this no good?”
“What?”
“You sell coffee and I’m asking you to go to another place for coffee.”
“Oh, you’re worried about me cheating on my own business?” I asked.
Cheating… why’d you have to use that word?
After that dream…
Heat moved across my cheeks and I shook my head.
“Sorry,” I said. “That sounded stupid. We’re fine, Liam. We can have coffee here.”
“I swear I won’t buy anything but coffee,” he said. “No baked goods. They’re the worst here. The worst ever.”
I laughed. “Now you’re just trying too hard.”
He opened the door for me and pointed to a corner table. “Grab those seats and I’ll meet you there?”
“You know what I want?” I asked.
“Same as always, right?” Liam asked with a wink.
The same heat rushed back to my cheeks.
The last time Liam got me a coffee was… a long time ago…
I swallowed hard, moved to the table and sat down.
I watched him in line.
It wasn’t that big of a deal.
It wasn’t like I was getting some fancy order.
My order wasn’t that special.
Coffee. Three sugars, two creams. And cinnamon.
All mixed together. Obviously.
A few minutes later, Liam came to the table, tossed his bag toward the window then sat down.
“That bad of a day?” I asked.
“Just long, Em,” he said. “Sometimes things line up perfectly. Sometimes they don’t. I’m working on a trademark case and a really vital piece of the case managed to vanish off my desk. Or better yet, it was never given to me. So I prepared all of this paperwork only to find out it’s worth nothing because I was missing a deposition. And the information in there…” He waved his hands. “It doesn’t matter. I got my head chewed on for a minute. Then I chewed on a few heads. Everyone was just in a bad mood.”
“Sorry to hear that,” I said.
“How was your day?”
“Better than yours,” I said.
Liam laughed. “Good. Hope you don’t mind me bothering you for a minute or two.”
“Not at all,” I said. “Truthfully… today was weird for me. I had a sleepless night. The day went by slow. Lucy and Ember were all over me and I snapped at them.”
“Nothing that can’t be fixed, right?” Liam asked.
“Probably not. I just… I said some things about the business I maybe shouldn’t have. I can’t lose them, Liam. But at the same time, they could be doing something better.”
“Says who?” he asked. “You have a good business. Maybe things aren’t perfect, but I’m sure there’s…” He laughed again. “Look at me. Telling you what to think and feel. That’s not going to end well, is it?”
“Not at all,” I said.
“You know what? Fuck your business, Em. It’s failing. How’s that?”
“Better,” I said. “And, hey, you know what? Fuck that deposition. And all your paperwork. It’s all garbage anyway.”
Liam rubbed his chin. There was a little extra stubble on his face. Meaning he hadn’t shaved this morning.
Why? Did he have a dream about me?
I looked away so I wouldn’t blush.
“We have to shake this day off, Em,” he said.
“I agree,” I said. “Last time I had a day like this, Jon and I went