Semi-Psychic Life (Glimmer Lake #2) - Elizabeth Hunter Page 0,80
happily independent, legally speaking. Now that all the details were out of the way, Val was starting to feel excited. Eve would be managing the new stand, and JoJo would be taking over as head barista at the main shop. Eve was excited about the promotion and the profit sharing idea Val had dreamed up. JoJo was excited about the raise.
And Val?
Val was… still busy.
She had her boys and her parents. She had the coffee shop and a new stand at the fancy-schmancy boutique hotel on the shores of Glimmer Lake, which would need to be up and running in only a few weeks.
She continued to take her antianxiety meds and felt like she was finally gaining control over the psychometry—she’d finally done some research into her gift—that had become a part of her life. It was starting to feel less like a curse and more like a superpower.
That’s what her newest tattoos were about. She glanced down at the lightning-like branches inked from her inner arms down onto her wrists. The ends of the lightning ended under the fine black gloves that had become her signature fashion accessory.
This power wasn’t going away, so Val was claiming it. It was hers, and she wasn’t going to hide it from the people she loved.
Well, maybe her boys. For now. The last thing they needed was a complex about how much their mom could spy on them.
Not that she did. Much.
“Hey, boss!” Ramon called from the kitchen. “I’m finished cleaning up back here. I’m heading out.”
“Good man.” Val took a breath and quickly signed her name. “Tell Honey I said hi.” Just another day in the coffee shop. Minding her business. Opening a second location.
Ramon said, “She’s making bear claws tomorrow morning.”
Monica caught Val’s eye. “Save me one, or I will break your wrist.”
Val blinked. “Um, a little violent over a bear claw, don’t you think?”
Robin shrugged. “I mean, it’s one of Honey’s…”
To be fair, Honey didn’t make bear claws every week. It was more a once-a-month thing because they were so huge and took so much work.
The bell rang again, and Val looked up from leaving her signature on the papers spread across the table. This time it was Sully walking through the door.
“Wow,” he said. “Someone plan a party and not invite me?”
Monica said, “Honey’s making bear claws tomorrow morning.”
“Oh shit.” Sully’s eyes went wide. “What time do you open?”
“For Pete’s sake, they’re just pastries, people.”
“I don’t know who Pete is,” Sully said, “but he doesn’t make bear claws like Honey.”
“Bye, all!” Ramon waved at the crowd and disappeared into the back.
Val put the cap back on her pen. “Okay, there is officially another branch of Misfit Mountain Coffee Company.”
A cheer went up from Sully, JoJo, Robin, Monica, and the boys.
Sully’s smile was wide and generous. “That’s awesome.” He looked at Monica and Robin. “So I’m gonna be able to get decent coffee up at Russell House when I have to come break up the fights there, huh?”
“Ha ha.” Monica rolled her eyes. “That was one guy who brought a flask to a business retreat. It’s not exactly Chaco’s bar up there.”
“I don’t blame him for the flask,” Robin said quietly. “Who does trust falls in the snow?”
“We did warn that manager about the slush,” Monica said. “She overruled us.”
Jackson walked over to Sully. “Hey, check out my new ink.”
Sully glanced at Val, who nodded, before he looked at Jackson’s arm. “That’s cool. Science stuff, huh?”
“Yeah.”
He was good with her boys. Sully hadn’t spent a ton of time around Jackson and Andy yet. They were keeping things pretty casual for now. But when he did run into them, Andy was his usual bursting ray of sunshine and Jackson played it cool, but Val could tell he liked having Sully’s opinion on things.
She put her copies of the contract in the folder Monica brought and stared at it, thinking about everything that had changed in the past year.
New business.
New perspective.
New man in her life.
She looked up to see Robin and Monica smiling at her.
Some things never changed. Some things didn’t need to.
She stared at the two greatest friends in the world.
Love you, she mouthed.
Monica blew her a kiss and Robin mouthed, Love you more.
Val was still staring at the folder with her shiny new contracts when Sully sidled up next to her and leaned down. “So can a hardworking law-enforcement officer get some coffee this time of day, or am I out of luck?”
“I don’t know. Did you bring your own mug?”
Sully gave Val the secret smile she loved. “Of course.”
He’d taken to leaving hidden messages on his coffee cup. Well, hidden to everyone but Val. Sometimes the images she saw when she touched his coffee cup were sweet. Sometimes they cracked her up. She slipped off her right glove and reached for his silver travel mug, letting the metal warm in her hand as the image became clear.
As soon as Val saw the memory on Sully’s mug, she burst out laughing so loudly she clapped a hand over her mouth.
There was Sully, freshly showered and dressed only with a bath towel around his waist, shaking his hips in front of his foggy mirror to Sophie B. Hawkins’s “Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover,” and singing into his travel mug like it was a microphone.
“Val?” Robin looked up with a curious expression, but Val couldn’t stop laughing. There were tears running down her cheeks.
Before she could slip away, Sully pinched her ass and cleared his throat. “Jeez, Valerie, get a handle on yourself. All I asked for was some coffee.”
She shook her head and walked behind the counter, still wiping her eyes.
Robin and Monica were watching her with amused expressions. Jackson was rolling his eyes, and Andy was listening intently to whatever JoJo was talking about. Probably some new meme on YouTube.
Sun poured through the windows, and Val took off her gloves, pressing both her hands to the counter behind the register.
It was warm. The counter shouted memories of laughter and frustration and yelling and singing. Voice after voice of employees she adored, customers she cherished, and the cacophony of love that filled her life.
She poured Sully’s coffee and added cream to the brim before she looked around the business and life she’d built.
In a world where she’d never fit in, she’d somehow managed to build a family like no other. Silence? Who needed it?
Her coffee cup runneth over.