line would still be out the door if you hadn’t stepped in.”
“Just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.” Diana went to greet the next person in line.
Nina stepped up beside Emma. “Well, that worked out perfectly. It was almost like fate.”
Emma side-eyed her. She’d had enough talk of fate and fortunes with Dawanda and her cappuccino reading.
“Oh, come on.” Nina leaned a hip against the counter. “You have to believe in fate after the way you and Jack got together this summer.”
Emma didn’t want to talk about Jack right now either. Or think about him.
“Anyway, I know you’re tired after today. I’ve got Diana to help me close tonight,” Nina said.
Emma nodded. “Thank you.”
“And there’s something else.” Nina wasn’t smiling anymore. She gave Emma a hesitant look. “You told me to tell you if another bad review popped up on the A-List site.”
Emma didn’t like the way this conversation was going.
“But maybe you shouldn’t look,” Nina suggested.
Emma’s heart dropped in her belly. “That bad, huh?” She started toward the back room where her laptop was waiting for her. Then she sat down and quickly pulled up the A-List site, clicking on the Sweetwater Café. She scrolled down, seeing a two-star rating and review:
The two women who run that counter chat constantly as they work. It makes me wonder if they’re spitting into my coffee as they laugh over the cups.
Emma gasped. “Spit into the coffee?”
“I told you that you might prefer not to read it,” Nina said. “And now that you’ve read it, it can’t be unread.”
“I would never spit into the coffee. Is this the same reviewer? Am I being trolled?” Emma felt like strangling the reviewer through her computer screen. “If people read this, they’ll never come to my café. This is awful. I can’t even fix this complaint unless we start wearing masks as we work.”
Nina frowned. “Sorry, but I’m not wearing a mask. Besides, you can’t please this person. They’d just complain about something else. Some people are just so unhappy that they want to spread it around,” Nina said. “It’s sad, really.”
It was sad, and Nina was right. They couldn’t wear masks. Emma was done catering to a few bad reviews that were possibly all coming from the same person. “I’m not going to stop laughing with you up there either. Life is too short not to laugh whenever possible.” She pressed a hand to her heart as emotion surfaced. “My mom used to say that.”
Nina tilted her head as she looked at Emma. “Smart lady.”
“She was,” Emma agreed.
Nina nudged her softly. “I was talking about you.”
Now Emma’s eyes were burning. Today was one big roller-coaster ride. “You know, I think I should create my own Life List. Just like my mom did. Number one on the list, laugh even more.”
Nina grinned. “I like the sound of that.”
Also on the list, keep the 5K she’d started in her mom’s name going. Never miss another annual checkup—her health was too important. Be her own best friend just like her mom had put on her list. Emma could start by not letting a little criticism take her down.
They were both alerted by the bell on the door, signaling a new customer up front. Emma’s Spidey sense went off. “I’m not here,” she told Nina quickly. “Whoever it is, tell him I’m not here.”
“Him, huh?” Nina grinned. “Okay. I’ll lie to Jack for you, but you have some explaining to do once he’s gone.”
Emma smiled gratefully and stayed in the back while Nina walked up front.
Her mom was right. Life could be short, especially for the women in the St. James family. And the men who loved these women were left picking up the pieces after they were gone. Emma wasn’t going to let that be Jack.
* * *
Jack’s mood lifted as he walked into the Sweetwater Café. It’d been several hours since he’d seen Emma. Since he’d told her he loved her.
Nina offered a wobbly smile. “Hi, Jack. How was the run?”
“I’ll be sore for a week, at least. It was a good reminder that I should get back to daily jogging.”
“Yeah, I take a run every morning when I wake up. On the mornings that I have to be here, I’m out and running before the sun is even up yet.”
“Is that safe?” Jack asked, looking past Nina for Emma, who he didn’t see anywhere. He’d have sworn this was where she’d be right now.