Searching For His Omega - Harper B. Cole Page 0,5

and had a local gardening enthusiast help prepare the soil and plant rose bushes. I was looking forward to them blooming.

The phone dinged. Please don’t let it be someone calling in sick. But when I glanced at the screen, the day suddenly improved. Abrar!

“Stan,” he said before I could get a word out.

“It’s great to hear your voice, Abrar.” It was a little piece of home, even though my new home was where I wanted to be.

“How’s it going?”

“Great. I’m loving this place, and I’m confident I made the right decision.”

“I’m glad. Life’s not too slow for you after the big city?” I hesitated and Abrar charged on ahead. “Stan, if you’re not happy, I can bring you back and create a job for you.”

“That’s sweet of you, boss. No, I’m loving it here, but with a new town, home, coffee shop, and staff, I haven’t had much opportunity to get out and socialize. Apart from the meeting and chatting to customers.” It’d been a little lonely, but by the time I got upstairs to my place, I was exhausted. “Now that things are running smoothly, I can enjoy small town life.”

All of that was true. The slower pace was what I’d longed for. I changed from high gear to low, and instead of tearing around corners with two wheels in the air, I was chugging along, admiring the view and breathing fresh air. “People chat to one another on the street and there’s hardly hardly any traffic. Three cars is considered a traffic jam.

“I remember.” Abrar was a city guy. Small towns made him uncomfortable, thinking everyone knew his business. “Okay.” He didn’t sound convinced. “But one word from you and I’ll bring you back.”

“Not gonna happen, but thanks anyway.”

“Actually,” he said, “if you’re looking for a little excitement…”

I cut him off. “Please don’t tell me a group of criminals is heading my way ‘cause I don’t need that type of thrill.”

“Nope, no bad guys.”

“Nanny hasn’t run away from home and is trotting along Main Street, is she?”

He snorted, and I imagined him peering over his shoulder. “I hope not.” G once told me the boss wasn’t a huge Nanny fan after the goat had eaten his shoes.

“I give up.”

“How would you like to be on TV?”

My first thought was someone was making a documentary about the guys who caught up with Elliot and almost cost me my life. Warning bells clanged in my ears and I thought about hiding under the table. “I don’t want to relive that experience, Abrar. I see it in my dreams and that’s enough.”

I’d discussed it with my therapist, and since I’d moved away, we had online sessions. We’d examined it from every which way. I didn’t need a microphone shoved in my face while some idiot asked dumb questions about how I felt.

“I wouldn’t do that to you.”

I exhaled. “Okay.”

Four

Chet

Adorable didn’t even begin to describe the town. It was like a postcard from the past, only come to life. They even had cobblestones down Main Street...cobblestones.

I’d driven in ahead of the crew, wanting a small break from the hustle and bustle of work. Taking in the town just as it was, that was a bonus I was going to enjoy.

My room at the B&B was nice enough. It was a comfortable hodge podge of furniture and linens, and there was a comfort to it I enjoyed. But Ms. Bea recognized me and I wasn’t a fan of that. She was nice about it, but it made for some awkward moments.

“Not staying for breakfast?” She asked as I reached the bottom of the staircase.

“I’m really not a breakfast person,” which I had told her when I came in. Mostly so she didn’t try to fancy things up as a way of getting a mention on my show. I mean, I was going to mention her, of course. This episode was going to be as much about the town as it was about the coffee. It had to be.

When I convinced Glenn to give the place a go, I’d not realized that the new location had been an issue with the town being the first chain there. Goodness, they didn’t even have any golden arches. The town had not been pleased based on the records I’d been able to dig up on Google.

But something had changed. Somehow the café was now part of the community, not an outsider or something intrusive as the documents had indicated. The café stood there, completely blending in with