Page 10 of Cups of You

A bang made them both jump, and they looked over at Benjamin. He gave them a small grin before holding up a silver container covered in milk.

“Sorry. Dropped my…Liv, the dishes. Amber, I’ll have your order ready in just a bit.”

Amber frowned but nodded. She stepped away from the counter, sank down onto one of the free couches and let herself relax. Soft music was playing and with the sun streaming in from the large windows, she found herself wishing she had more time to relax on the empty couch with a book to lose herself in. If this place had been around when she was younger, she would have spent more of her time and money here than probably even the library. There was something about the soothing sounds of steaming milk and the aroma of freshly roasted espresso that just made her stress melt away.

The sound of her cell phone ringing cut through the calm and she sighed before reluctantly pulling it out of her purse. When she noticed who was calling, she felt even more annoyed at the break in her peace. Amber looked up at the ceiling and summoned her fractured patience before connecting the call.

“Josiah, where have you been? I called you all day yesterday.”

“Hey babe. Yeah, sorry about that. I was in meetings most of the day and when I finally got home, I crashed.”

Amber huffed out a breath not feeling the least bit reassured, but she wasn’t trying to start a fight considering they had never quite finished the last one. She had known Josiah was a workaholic when she met him and the only thing about that that had changed in the three years they had been together was that somehow he managed to fit an affair into his busy schedule.

“You work so hard,” she replied carefully, consciously trying to select the right words that wouldn’t put him on the defensive and reignite their latest argument. “Are you making sure to get some rest at least?”

He laughed and Amber could hear muffled voices in the background.

“As much as normal. When you’re not here it’s a lot easier to continue working. Speaking of work, I know I said I was going to come down there next week to see your aunt, but something came up at work and I have to head to New York to meet with the execs of my upcoming project.”

“What?” The sharpness of her tone was impossible to stifle this time and Amber glanced around to see if she had attracted anyone’s attention. When she saw no one looking her way, she focused back on their conversation.

“Yeah babe. Sorry for the short notice.”

“Josiah, we talked about this multiple times before I left. You promised you would—”

“I know I did,” he interrupted. “But work comes first, you know that. If I want to move up, there have to be sacrifices on both our parts.”

Amber scowled at his words—the same words he always used when his job interrupted something they were supposed to do together. They were the same words he used when she had to turn down opportunities that came her way if they meant leaving Chicago. Truthfully, she was sick and tired of hearing him say those words when they only seemed to affect her and her plans.

“Look, baby,” he continued voice going soft in the way that he always used when he wanted to make her cave. That tone used to make her melt, now it just got her heated at yet another promise broken. “I have to go on this trip, but I will do my best to come down the week I get back. Okay?”

Amber pursed her lips but pushed down the words she really wanted to say. The café wasn’t overly crowded, but she still didn’t want to let loose on the off chance that someone might overhear.

“Fine.”

Josiah’s sigh was loud and tinged with annoyance. “I really don’t have time for this, Amber. You know I’m tired.”

“I said fine, Josiah. There’s not much I can do about it from here anyway. You clearly made your decision already.”

“No one told you to go back down to the middle of nowhere Georgia in the first place,” he shot back. “Your aunt said she was fine and that she could handle things. You were the one who decided you needed space.”

Amber pulled back in shock and looked at the phone. She could see Benjamin looking over at her from the corner of her eyes, but she was too incensed to care about an audience at this point. She put the phone back to her ear ready for the fight Josiah seemed determined to have.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now? You cheated on me and now you’re complaining about me needing a little space to try to deal with it?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Plus, you know how much my aunt means to me. Of course, I had to come down here to help her. She’s the only family I have left.”

“No, you chose to. You could have gotten Jackie a plane ticket to come up here.”

“So, I was supposed to have her figure out a way to get two hours to the airport on a broken ankle in the middle of winter?” She couldn’t believe he was even suggesting this shit again. When he did the first time, Amber thought he was kidding, but clearly, he was being serious, and she had been lying to herself about it. “And where would she have slept Josiah? Hm? We only have one bedroom.”

“The couch in the living room pulls out, you know that.”

“We were not going to put my sixty-seven-year-old aunt on a fucking pull out couch. Have you lost your fucking mind?”

“I don’t see what the—”

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