Page 59 of The Coffee Bar on Camellia Court

Juno didn't quite know how to respond. She offered, "Lena brings out the best in him."

"You both do," Mrs. Frampton said simply. Before Juno could process this, she added, "He was heart-broken when you left, Juno. And then when Jason… when Jason died… well, I think it was just a lot of loss for him to process on his own.”

The words felt censorious, like Mrs. Frampton was somehow accusing Juno for abandoning him. “I—I wish I’d been here for him,” she managed to say. “If I’d known, I would have been.”

“You couldn’t have known, could you?” the older woman replied, and Juno was bemused to hear a note of self-recrimination in her tone. “We knew, though. We knew, and we weren’t exactly there for him, either. Granted, we were a little lost ourselves for a while. For a lot more than a while, to tell the truth.” She dried her hands on a dishtowel and hung it on the oven door, spending an inordinate amount of time straightening it before turning back to Juno. “I don’t think he ever really got over you, no matter how hard he tried."

The frank admission left Juno momentarily speechless. What should she say?I never got over him either? He’s the love of my life? He’s the reason I chose to make Autumn Lake home?But those were all things she should say to Alex first. He deserved to hear them first.

When she couldn’t come up with a response, Mrs. Frampton continued. “I’m glad to see you two finding your way back to each other. It does my heart good.”

"I... we're taking things slowly," she finally managed.

Alex’s mother nodded approvingly. "Slow isn't a bad thing. It gives you time to build something that lasts."

Alex returned then, saving Juno from having to formulate a response. "She wants to say goodnight to you too, Juno," he said.

Touched, and relieved for a reprieve from the uncomfortable conversation with Mrs. Frampton, Juno headed down the hallway to Jason's room. Lena sat cross-legged on the bed, surrounded by the stuffed animals Alex had picked up from his apartment, and with Ralphy curled beside her. She held a framed photo in her hands. Her face lit up when she saw Juno.

"Look at the baby pictures of Daddy and Uncle Jason," she announced, holding up the picture. "They are cuties."

"They sure are," Juno said, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed and studying the picture. Wow. The genes in the Frampton bloodline ran strong. There was no denying that Lena was one of them.

"Grandma says you've known Daddy since you were young like me."

"Well, we met in high school," Juno corrected gently.

Lena considered this. "That's still a really long time." She looked up at Juno earnestly. "Are you going to get married to him?"

Juno bit back a knee-jerk ‘No!’ response and smiled, unexpectedly moved by the child's question. "We’re friends, Lena, which is a really good place to start.” She leaned closer and whispered, “Can you keep a secret?”

“I’m very good at keeping secrets,” Lena declared. Wasn’t that the truth, Juno thought. The child had kept her very existence a secret from the world of Autumn Lake.

“Well,” she continued softly, as if relaying a very important message. “Sometimes friends start dating, and sometimes people who are dating end up getting married. In fact, I personally think that’s the best way a marriage should happen.”

“So you guys are friends. Are you going to date? And then get married?” Lena asked, her tone careful.

Juno studied her, realizing there was more to this question than she’d first assumed. “Well," she began slowly, treading carefully with her words. “Now that Alex has you in his life, I think he’d have to ask you if you were okay with it first.”

Lena looked up at her, eyes wide. “Ask me?”

“Of course. If Alex gets married, that person would be marrying you, too, wouldn’t she? So you’d better be okay with her!” Juno smoothed a curl, so like her daddy’s, away from her face. “You’d better be more than okay with her, in fact. You should probably love her as much as your daddy does, you hear?”

“My mommy never asks me if I like her boyfriends.”

Juno fought back the urge to say something cutting about the woman. Instead, she just reached over and hugged Lena. “Well, I know your daddy, and he will always want to know how you feel, no matter what.”

“You smell good,” Lena said after a few moments of letting herself be held close. “Like coffee and milkshakes.”

Juno laughed. “That’s about the nicest thing anyone has said to me all day.”

Lena yawned widely, then settled back against the pillows. “Goodnight, Juno.” Then she wrapped one arm tightly around a large plush ladybug and kissed the top of its head. “G’night, Lena-bug.”

Juno heard a sound behind her and turned to see Alex in the doorway, his expression soft and adoring.

“I sent her that ladybug for her birthday,” Alex explained as Juno joined him in the hall. “She named it after the name I call her and she told me last night that she always kisses it goodnight and pretends it's me kissing her goodnight.”

“Good grief, Alex,” Juno said, pressing her palms to her cheeks. “How can you bear it?”

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