Chapter 25
749 Words
CHAPTER 25
Shannon drifted awake and smelled the coffee brewing. She luxuriated in the cozy feeling of being naked and buried in a still-warm bed beneath a fluffy comforter.
She sat bolt upright in bed, her heart pounding. Wait a minute. Not her bed!
Today was opening day for Higher Ground. Where was Lucas? Had she missed it? Dammit. She really wanted to be there for him, and here she’d slept in.
In fairness, it was Lucas’s fault she was so tired, since he’d kept her up half the night. But still. Why hadn’t he woken her up before he left?
She needed to get her butt out of bed and downstairs to help out.
A quick look at her phone showed her it was still thirty minutes to opening time, and a look in the mirror over Lucas’s dresser confirmed that time would be best spent in the shower if she didn’t want to scare the customers away.
She hopped in the shower, the water jolting her the last few yards towards wakefulness. She preferred to wake up slowly, but today was a special day.
Lucas felt stunned and a little panicked at the line that stretched down the sidewalk. He’d spent the past half hour chatting with people and making sure everything was in place.
He’d never expected so many people to show up for opening morning. Clearly word had spread after the week-long fix-up party, and his “soft launch” date hadn’t been kept all that quiet. Looks like they were skipping soft launch and jumping right to the real deal.
Maybe he should have woken Shannon up after all. He’d left her sleeping because she’d been up early on the weekdays to teach and he’d kept her up a good portion of the night. In between, she’d spent her evenings with him, helping him get the shop fixed up and ready to open.
He hadn’t thought it was going to be that busy today.
Lucas debated quickly running upstairs, but the size of the line told him that he needed to get things started with or without her.
He checked the bakery case one more time, blessing Oona’s double order of cookies. He might just have enough to keep the crowds happy.
The heckling got his attention. “Hey, where do you think you’re going? No line jumping.” Shannon stuck her tongue out at her brother as she passed him. “I have special privileges. I’m dating the owner.”
She walked right past the lineup looking just about as excited as he felt. Oh, good. She’d found her shirt. “Do you like your uniform?”
In answer, she stepped in and planted a kiss on him that had the waiting crowd cheering. Someone wolf-whistled and shouted, “Get a room!” He was pretty sure it was Marcie, but no way was he going to turn his head to check.
When they finally came up for air, she whispered, “I love you, too. Now let’s get this party started.”
Lucas felt a bit tipsy—drunk on adrenaline, nerves, and Shannon. Those magic words on this magic day had his head, and his heart, reeling. So this was what happiness felt like. He told himself to just settle into it, and the jitters calmed a little. He’d have plenty of time to process everything later.
He wasn’t alone. He had friends, and family, and a community to belong to now. And he could do this. They could do this. In fact, a glance at the clock confirmed they were going to do this right this very minute.
He strode towards the front door. “Okay, everyone. If you’re having your coffee here, make sure you choose your favourite mug by the time you get to the front counter. My clever and beautiful assistant will be happy to take your money… I mean your orders… and I’ll do my best to keep up with them. But be gentle with us.”
And with that, he flipped the sign on the door to Open. He laughed at the scattered cheers from the crowd. “Welcome to Higher Ground, everyone!”
He walked back through the room, giving the odd high-five or hug as he passed people in the line and joined Shannon behind the counter.
She straightened her T-shirt, making sure “You + Me + Coffee = Happily Ever After” was clearly visible to the crowd as she took up her position behind the cash register. “Now, ladies and gentlemen, step right up and prepare to make your taste buds weep. The man is an artist.”
One day, he was going to marry that woman.
But today? He had coffee drinks to make.
- Writer
