Page 31 of If This Was a Movie

“No, stay,” he says, his eyes locked on me. “Please.” Something about him saying please—both the word and the way he says it—has me nodding before moving to the stool furthest from him and sitting quietly. “Coffee?”

“What?” I ask, distracted.

“Do you want some coffee?”

“Oh, yeah, I can—” I start before trying to move again, and he glares at me, making me shut my mouth.

“I got it,” he says with a smile.

“I feel bad having you do things for me. You were relaxing before I came in.”

“I was getting the courage to go wake up Sophie in a bit,” he says, moving to the coffee machine, putting in a capsule, then pressing the button to brew me a cup. It brings back memories I’ve long tried to forget, only carefully letting myself pull them out when I’m at my loneliest, to remember the precious, tainted moments before putting them back away.

“The courage?” I ask.

“Oh yeah,” he says with a smile. “She can be a bit of a terror first thing in the morning.”

“Not a morning person?”

He shakes his head, and I smile. We’re silent as he moves around the kitchen, and I make every effort not to watch. He’s dressed for the day, it seems, in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with Donovan Contracting on the back. It’s clear he ownsthe business, but I wonder how much of the work he actually does or if he hires it all out, doing clerical work most of the time.

I’m still lost in my head when he slides a cup in front of me, a light brown, the exact shade I prefer, a familiar vanilla-scented steam wafting up before I look at him, a bit confused. Then, on the counter, I see it.

Two bottles: one with vanilla syrup, the other with almond.

“One pump vanilla, one almond,” he says, and I shift my eyes to look at him. “That still how you take it?” I’d told him the morning I spent here that was how I liked my coffee and that I’d been taking it that way for as long as I could remember.

“I bought the syrup the day you left my place. Never had a reason to use it, though.” I continue to stare, unsure of how to respond before he fumbles on his words, shaking his head as if my scrutiny means something it doesn’t. “A few months ago, I replaced them. They’re not expired or anything.” Somehow, this shocks me even more.

“You replaced them?”

“I uh…” He puts a hand on the back of his neck, holding it there and looking at the mug with a small pink handprint on it in front of me. “I figured I’d make sure they were fresh. Just in case.”

He doesn’t finish his statement, but he doesn’t have to.

Just in case.

Just in case I came back one day. Just in case we met again.

He’s kept the syrups I like for my coffee in his house for a year just in case I made my way back into his home.

A year of remembering how I like my coffee after barely two nights together.

What the fuck does that mean?

Instead of thinking about it, I lift the mug to my lips, taking a small sip before closing my eyes and sighing. It’s perfect, exactlyhow I like it. A small smile plays on my lips when I slowly open my eyes again, only to see Nate’s gaze locked on me.

So hot and intense that it sends a bolt of heat through me that has nothing to do with the warm mug in my hands or the sip I took.

Thankfully, before I can say or do anything truly idiotic, a noise in the hall, a singsong little voice, trickles toward us and breaks the moment. “That’s Soph,” he says with a smile.

“Yeah,” is all I can reply.

“I’m gonna go get her, feed her breakfast, and whatnot. If you want some peace and quiet while you wake up, I suggest taking your mug to the cottage. She’s a bit of a tornado in the morning.” A moment passes where I think that’s his dismissal. “Though, you’re more than welcome to stay in the kitchen. Just wanted you to know you have the freedom to do…whatever. If you need time alone, you can have it.”

From the hall, I hear her singing again.

“I’ll drop Soph off at my mom’s on my way to work, and when I get to the office, I’ll call Mark. See if I can get a time when he’ll let us in so I can assess the damage, and you can grab more of your stuff to bring here. I’ll call you later and let you know what he says.”

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