Page 73 of The Coffee Bar on Camellia Court

"It's being handled," she said quickly. "Thank you, though."

After ending the call, Juno sat in the privacy of her office and listened to the sounds of the busy café just beyond her closed door. Regulars and first-timers, locals and tourist, staff and business contacts… she’d worked so hard for so long to build her dream business. And she’d succeeded. Juno’s Coffee Bar was profitable, even during slow months, because her community supported her. Believed in her.

How could she betray their trust by telling anyone what a fool she was?

Her expansion plans were shelved indefinitely. Her father—the man she'd naively given a second chance—had stolen from her and disappeared. And Alex... Alex had tried to warn her, had seen what she'd refused to see, and she'd pushed him away for it.

The two men in her life were gone, one by his own betrayal, one by her stubborn pride. Her savings were decimated. And she couldn't even seek comfort from her friends because the thought of admitting how thoroughly she'd been deceived was unbearable.

She'd made her bed, and now she had to lie in it. Alone.

Juno wrapped her arms around herself, feeling smaller than she had in years. For the first time since she'd returned to Autumn Lake all those years ago, Juno felt truly, desperately alone.

29

Alex

Alexwipedsweatfromhis brow as he finished securing the last piece of crown molding. The heat in the attic bedroom of the Petersons' house was stifling, even with the portable fans they'd set up that morning. They were still waiting on the energy-saver window air conditioner that was supposed to be delivered sometime today.

"Looking good, Frampton," his boss said from the doorway. "Meticulous as always."

Alex stepped back to examine his work, checking for any gaps or imperfections. "Thanks. I should be finished up here by the end of the day."

"The Petersons are thrilled. They have been wanting this space finished for a long time." John moved into the room, running a hand along the chair rail that Alex had put up the day before. "It's a shame we had to push back the Coffee Bar project. I know Juno has been chomping at the bit to get that going, too. I was really looking forward to working on that one."

Alex's hands stilled on his tool belt. "What do you mean?" This was news to him, but then, he and Juno hadn't shared more than a few words in the last several days. He texted her a morning greeting each day and she called in the evenings, but then spent most of the phone calls talking to Lena. Juno had told her that she wasn't able to spend her evenings with them right now because her father was in town, and Lena had accepted the explanation without question. It was the truth, wasn't it?

It also felt like a line she was drawing in the sand for Alex. As long as Leonard was in town, in Juno's life, there wasn't room for Alex unless he could set aside his suspicions and accept the man.

But they weren't just suspicions. Alex had seen what he'd seen. So he'd stepped back a bit to give Juno space, hoping and praying that the truth of who Leonard was would be revealed to Juno on her own terms.

"Juno called yesterday to put her expansion on hold." John shook his head in sympathy. "Someone cleaned out her bank account."

The room seemed to tilt slightly beneath Alex's feet. "What?"

"Yeah, she sounded pretty shaken up." John eyed him, his brow furrowed. "Sorry, ma. Figured you already knew."

Alex's mind raced. Had Leonard—? The question seemed to answer itself even as he formed it. Of course he had. Leonard Thomas had played his daughter's heartstrings like a pro. He'd been scamming her all along, Alex was certain, stealing from the tip jar, maybe even from the register, and Alex was certain he'd been stealing from her customers, too, no matter what slight of hand Leonard had used to get away with it the other day. But then, apparently, he'd hit the mother lode with Juno's expansion fund. Alex didn't know how he'd pulled it off, but he had no doubt, whatsoever, that it was Leonard Thomas who'd emptied Juno's bank account.

Then another even more disturbing thought struck him. Was Leonard still working for Juno?

"I hadn't heard," Alex managed to say, the words tasting bitter. "We've both been pretty busy the last few days and haven't had much of a chance to talk."

John raised an eyebrow but didn't press. "Well, I told her to keep in touch about rescheduling. She's hoping for next fall, but she wasn't ready to commit at this point."

Alex nodded mechanically, his thoughts a whirlwind. How much had Leonard taken? How was Juno managing? And why hadn't she told him last night when she called?

The answer to that last question came to him immediately. Pride. The same pride that had made her defend her father so fiercely, that had made her push Alex away rather than consider he might be right.

He knew Juno, even after all these years. She would be suffering alone rather than letting anyone know she'd trusted the wrong man. She would carry the cost of that decision all on her own shoulders, and no one would know the misery she was enduring behind that friendly smile. She'd been that way from the day he'd first met her, which was why he hadn't suspected how horrific her life had been back then.

But back then, he reminded himself, she'd swallowed her pride and reached out to him, only to have him let her down, even if unintentionally, by abandoning her in her time of need.

Was it any wonder that Juno still had trust issues?

The rest of the workday passed in a blur. Alex's hands moved automatically through familiar tasks while his mind circled around Juno. By the time he clocked out and headed to his truck, he'd made a decision.

Their argument didn't matter. His hurt feelings didn't matter. What mattered was that Juno needed help, whether she would admit it or not.

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