Page 35 of Holiday at Home
Simon steps away and I turn to face him and when my eyes meet his, storm-thrashed gray meeting calm clear blue, my heart twists over what I see there.
A tantalizing blend of affection and desire.
“It’s late,” he finally says.
“It’s not that late,” I counter.
“You have an early morning. It’s important you get enough sleep.” He cups my cheek, his thumb caressing my cheekbone. “I’ll meet you outside the bakery after close.”
I nod, leaning into his touch like frost giving way to the first touch of dawn.
14
Simon
Violet steps out of the bakery, looking like a dream come true. Her hair is piled high on her head, her jacket pulled tight around her. She smiles when she sees me, and it feels like the answer to a question I didn’t know I’d been asking. Like everything in my life has been leading up to this moment.
Which makes very little sense.
This moment is borrowed.
This moment isn’t even the reason I’m here.
For that matter, I’m not supposed to behereat all. I’m supposed to be with my parents in Colorado, and then back in New York after the first of the year.
Stillwater Bay is not and never has been part of the plan.
But then there’s Violet…
…and something in me whispers that she was always part of the plan.
A plan I ignored.
A plan I shattered.
A plan I intend to repurpose into something selfish—Holiday Jitters rather than Holiday Coffee & Cake.
A stab of guilt twists in my stomach, but hot on its heels are thoughts I don’t know what to do with.
What if I don’t go back to New York?
What ifthisis where I’m supposed to be?
With her?
What if this is where I was always supposed to be?
What if I don’t ask her to sign away her intellectual property rights, but instead ask her to go into business with me?
Here’s the thing that catches me off guard.
I don’t immediately dismiss those thoughts.
Because as much as I’ve loved my life in New York, I’ve always felt like something was missing. I thought it was the business I’m building. That as soon as I opened the doors to my first coffee shop, I’d finally feel complete. But from the moment I saw Violet standing behind the pastry cases, that emptiness disappeared. I haven’t thought about Holiday Jitters even once. Actually, that’s a lie. I’ve had one thought:
I don’t want to do it without Violet.
And I don’t know what to do with that.
