Page 139 of Not That Ridiculous

“Seriously, Amalie, don’t. It’s not worth it. What are you going to do, anyway? Fly in, hang around for a few days, and then leave again?”

She was silent. In the background I heard a burst of laughter, the faint buzz of traffic, voices rising and falling and the clink of cutlery.

By my guess, she was at a restaurant or cafe. Probably chilling with the new BFFs she’d met at the latest hostel she was calling home base.

I’d looked at her Instagram a lot when she first left. After a while, I’d stopped. Pictures of exotic food I’d never eat and cities I’d never go to had limited appeal, after all. And she was sohappyin all of them. Big, wide smile. Bright, grey-green eyes, the same eyes that looked back at me from the mirror.

Only where hers were filled with life, mine were flat. Where the lines fanning out at the corners of hers were from laughter, mine were from exhaustion.

She was living her life. She was loving it. She was thriving.

The simple fact of it was, Amalie got that and I got to fund it. The money she was using to fund this quarter-life crisis came directly from my bank account, from a loan I’d more than likely be paying off for the rest of my life.

I didn’t blame her for it.

I could have done the same. We both could have said, no thanks, parents. Sell the business, I’ll take the money and live while I’m young.

But where Amalie wanted adventure and new surroundings, I had been born boring. Yes, my life stressed me out. I loved it anyway. I loved the coffee shop. I loved Phil. I even loved my house, despite the disaster it had turned out to be.

I hadn’t needed to leave Chipping Fairford to find interesting people. I knew them already. They came into my coffee shop every day, and every day, I got to do one small thing to make their lives better.

Most of all, I hadn’t wanted to leave Kevin.

Even when I’d thought my love would be unrequited, and that Kevin wouldn’t have cared or noticed if someone else served him his daily flat white…even then, I hadn’t wanted to leave him.

“It’s not a big deal,” I told her.

“Charlie, there is a dead guy in your house.”

“I’m aware of that. I saw him.”

“Ewwww. Oh my god, tell me everything. Right now, spill it.”

“Can’t.”

“Let Dawn handle the shop for another five minutes and give me some details,” she said. “Come on, I have to know.”

I shook my head and stared at the ground. “Dawn quit a year ago.”

“Oh. Well, whoever’s behind the counter.”

“That would be Jasper.”

“Jasper?” she screeched. “Connolly? You definitely can’t leave him in charge, he’ll break the La Marzocco again! What am I saying? He’ll break everything.”

“He’ll be fine. Pippa’s trained him. Besides, he showed up to help out. I do have people to help me out,” I said. “I’m not alone.”

Huh.

I mean, my boyfriend the corpse finder still wasn’t volunteering, but…

I smiled. Yeah. I had people.

“If Jasper wants to break a whole box of cups, I’d let him,” I said. Obviously, I’d tell him off about it, but as far as I was concerned, Jasper could break what he wanted.

Even the La Marzocco.

Although I hoped he didn’t.

---