Page 14 of Crossing the Line
The two of them had a nice co-existence as it was.
Half of the building.
Half of the parking spaces.
Half of the land they'd bought.
Half of the house they'd both fallen in love with.
Was it worth it to threaten the balance that they'd fallen into?
Bixby knew about a dozen couples who’d broken up in the time that he'd known them, and a handful of couples who'd divorced. None of them were able to live near each other, let alone work side by side with each other.
It was just safer to keep some things quiet.
Locked away.
He didn't want to rock the boat.
After all, he'd never learned to swim.
Three
JANICE
When she pushed open the door to the The Tap, the pub across the street from her market, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the air conditioned chill that washed over her.
"Ahem..."
Janice felt her friend nudge her, close to her shoulder.
"Move it, lady. I'm baking out here."
Smiling, Janice stepped inside and aside so that Taylor and Caroline could step inside the pub.
Taylor Engel, oh... Janice had to remind herself that Taylor was Taylor Donovan now.
She had been Taylor Donovan for over a year, marrying best selling author Vance Donovan who'd fallen head over heels for her awesome friend and decided to move to Saint Raphael instead of going back home. Janice had to admit she was happy that the couple were in Saint Raphael. Taylor had been a great friend over the years and she was one of the people who Taylor enjoyed spending time with away from the store.
"I see a table over there, near the windows." Caroline Brierly gave Janice a nudge. "You're taller than me, take a look."
Janice looked in the direction where Caroline had pointed and nodded. "There's one table open. Let's grab it. I'm dying for some high fat, fried foods."
Caroline took her hand and nodded. "Me, too."
As Caroline led them through the maze of round tables in the pub, Janice shook her head at the oddity of it.
Caroline had come to Saint Raphael as Caroline Franzen, a kick ass chef who'd made her rounds in the U.S. as a celebrity chef. Every restaurant she worked with was destined to be amazing and wildly popular. When she'd come to town, she'd opened a restaurant that was still thriving and attracting diners from miles and miles around. The local chamber of commerce had been very thankful for the boost in tourism that could be attributed to Caroline's work.
And more recently, Caroline had opened a new restaurant with her husband, Lucas Brierly.
The man was hot, silver fox hot. He was also British and reminded Janice of a taller, sleeker Gordon Ramsey. They were both famous for the same hot temper, but Lucas was also a local star now.
He'd moved to Saint Raphael for his daughter, Nadia. She had wanted to stop moving around from place to place and spend her high school years based in one place.
Janice grinned to herself as they took seats around the table.
Nadia had come into the market quite a bit during her time in Saint Raphael and had bought a few of the plants that Janice had for sale in the corner of the entryway, but every time she came into the market, Nadia always had a question to ask or a story from school to tell, so Janice always forgot to ask about her plants.
