his jaw was clenched, and I had no idea what was going through his mind. I just looked at his face, taking in his features, my favorite blue eyes and straight full lips. Still not a smile in sight. I dropped back to my soles and wiped my tears with the back of my hand. I looked around the coffee shop to the three tables that were occupied. No one was looking at us, and even Sally had her back turned our way.
I smiled at him, a big happy smile. “Okay. If you’re sure you want that many, we’ll get started on them for you.”
His eyes stayed on me. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t sure, Rose.”
My smile widened. “Of course you are. Okay.” Walking around the counter, I asked, “Do you know what anyone drinks or are we just making a mix of everything?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what they drink.”
“Right. Okay, we’ll do a few different things. How do you want yours?”
“Just…black with a splash of milk, if you can.”
I picked up my flowers, smiling. “Of course I can. I’ll collect all the vases and change out the artificial flowers with these after you leave. I love them. Thank you, Jack. You have no idea what this means to me.”
He cleared his throat but didn’t say anything. I helped Sally and we did a mix of everything: a few macchiatos, a few lattes, four black coffees, and two matcha lattes, just in case someone preferred that. When Sally started on the extra black coffee, I gently took over. It wasn’t that it required any extra attention, but I wanted to be the one who prepared Jack’s coffee. When the whole order was ready, I started packing the free muffins and lemon bars. “These are free,” I explained without looking at Jack. “For the first day, I’m giving everyone a lemon bar or a muffin, whatever they prefer.”
“You don’t have to—” he started, but I was already closing the box.
“They’re free, and you will take them. Otherwise I’m not giving you your coffee. Don’t argue with me.”
“The roses look great on the door,” he said after a moment, and I looked at him.
“Really?”
“How did you put it up?”
“I did it this morning, with Owen’s help.”
His face hardened a little for some reason. “I woke up early to see if there was anything I could help you with, but I guess I missed you. When did you leave?”
“Around five, I think.”
“How did you get here that early?”
Confused, I gave him a brief look over my shoulder and started on making another quick coffee. “Like I always do—I walked through Central Park.”
“On your own.”
“Well, yeah. That’s how I get here. I won’t come in that early every day, but it was the first day, so…”
We fell silent as I finished the second cup I was preparing.
“Everything is ready to go, Rose,” Sally said, sliding four bags toward me on the counter.
“Okay. Thank you, Sally. Just one more second, Jack. I hope I’m not making you late.”
“It’s fine,” he muttered as a new customer walked in and started to look at the food and ask Sally questions. I welcomed the newcomer and put the lids on the two coffee cups I had prepared myself, grabbed two small paper bags that had our logo on the front, and quickly put two lemon bars inside each one along with an extra chocolate muffin in one of them. “Okay. We can go,” I announced, smiling at Jack.
He held out a credit card to me between two fingers. “I hope you don’t forget to ask for payment from all your customers.”
“My husband gets a free pass,” I pointed out softly as we stared at each other and I ignored the credit card. Sally walked behind me toward the espresso machine. “Ready to go?” I asked Jack.
“Rose, I’m not taking anything if I’m not paying for it.”
My smile started to melt off my face as he spoke.
“It’s your first day—if you start giving away free coffee to everyone you know on the first day, you won’t have this coffee shop for very long.” There went the rest of my smile. “I wouldn’t have ordered so many if I’d thought you weren’t going to accept payment for it.”
He extended the credit card farther forward and I reluctantly took it.
Before pushing in the amount, I glanced up at him. “I’m not taking payment for your coffee, Jack. I’m…just not.”