Page 4 of Sexual Healing

“Are you sure you’re okay? I swore I could hear your teeth gnashing.”

She probably had. “I’m fine. I need to finish setting things up to open the café at nine.”

“Alright, Leah, I’ll talk to you later.”

•••

Reese sat at the café counter and watched as Leah filled several condiment racks for her customers who would soon arrive. He figured they would need to expand the place within a year if her business continued to thrive. He saw no reason it wouldn’t − Leah was an excellent cook, and word was getting around town about her café.

He made sure he was her first customer every morning, usually arriving thirty minutes before she opened. They would sit and talk over coffee and pancakes before her two staff members arrived. He always dropped in for lunch, and then at the end of their workdays—around three in the afternoon—he would come in and sit while she closed up for the day. Then they would either go to his place or hers for something to eat. Occasionally, they would dine somewhere in town.

A lot of her customers were people they knew, people they’d grown up with, and people who remembered that she’d fled town…and broken his heart. Still, their past wasn’t hurting her business at all. It seemed to him that, at least as far as the townspeople were concerned, all was forgiven. It was too bad his family didn’t feel the same way. He knew they were only holding a grudge because they didn’t know the truth. There was no doubt in his mind his mother and brother would come around if they knew.

He checked his watch. Leah would be opening her doors to customers in less than five minutes. Sliding off the stool, he said, “Time to go. I’ll see you at noon, sweetheart.” He placed a kiss on her cheek.

“Alright. Have a good day.”

•••

It was an hour before closing. Things usually slowed down around this time, but lately, that wasn’t the case, though breakfast and lunch were still her busiest times. Reese might be right about expanding. Ever since she opened this morning, she’d had a steady flow of customers. Because the buildings she and Reese had purchased were right off the interstate, they were also attracting truckers who stopped by for some home cooking. She thought it was time to discuss with Reese the possibility of not only expanding the size of her café but also extending her operating hours to include dinner. She knew Reese only closed his shop at three because that was when she closed her café.

Right now, the café could only seat twenty customers at a time. Some people left upon finding all the seats were taken, though often most people would return to their vehicles to wait it out. The same thing would happen during the lunch hour. Obviously, her meals were a hit.

An expansion of her café would provide the room she needed to feed more people. Reese had suggested she should think about doubling the café’s size, as well as consider building a covered patio so people could sit outside and eat when the weather was nice. Of course, expanding the place would also mean hiring more staff other than the two women she had working for her now.

Right now, the café was closed on the weekends, though she had a feeling that might change. Still, she was enjoying having time with Reese. Since he took the time off, she did too. It was their time to enjoy together.

Still, even if she opened on weekends, there was a good chance she could still take time off. She had great people working for her—people she was sure could use a few extra hours.

Her first hire had been Angie, an older married woman in her forties. She’d decided to reenter the job force when her twin daughters left for college. She assisted in the kitchen and Marie, Leah’s second hire, worked the tables. When Leah discovered Marie had a college degree in business, she extended her position to include some administrative duties. And she’d been a godsend. Marie was a twenty-six-year-old single mother who had moved to town six months ago. And because Leah offered her flexible hours, Marie usually worked the hours between getting her young sons to the bus stop in the morning and the time she picked them up in the afternoons.

Marie had confided during the job interview that she had divorced her husband after an abusive marriage and relocated to Newton Grove for a new life. Her ex-husband had remarried and was now living in Kansas. Neither she nor her sons had seen or heard from him in four years, and she preferred it that way.

“I’m leaving, Leah,” Marie said, heading for the door. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Okay, Marie. I’ll give Angie a call to make sure she’s okay.” Angie was to have a breast biopsy today after a recent mammogram had shown a suspicious area.

Leah was wiping down the counter when she noticed Marie pause when a car pulled in the parking lot, and a man got out to lean against it. He was smiling, but Marie was not. She couldn’t hear what the man was saying to Marie, but the way she backed up as the man began advancing on her clearly meant she wasn’t happy to see him. Could it be her ex-husband? Immediately picking up her cell phone, Leah called Reese.

“Hey, sweetheart, what do you need?”

“I don’t need anything, but I’m unsure about Marie. She just got off work, and a man is hassling her in the parking lot.”

“Okay, I got this.”

Since Reese’s warehouse was next door, she’d barely placed her phone down before he was walking out the warehouse door to stand in front of the café. And it wasn’t only Reese, but Johnny Parker, a man who worked part-time for Reese, as well as Silas Milner. Leah suspected Silas, who rented a portion of Reese’s warehouse for the production of his custom-made leather boots, was sweet on Marie.

All three men quickly walked toward Marie when the stranger seemed to be angry, moving closer and pointing a finger in her face. When he saw the three men approaching, however, he turned and high-tailed it to his car, then quickly drove away.

After making sure Marie was okay, Reese headed toward the café. Johnny returned to the warehouse, and Silas remained in the parking lot talking to Marie.

“Is she alright?” Leah asked Reese when he came inside.

“Yes, but it’s obvious she’s shaken up. The guy was her ex-husband. She hadn’t seen him in years, and hadn’t known that he knew where she was. Somehow he found out and came here asking for money. I’m sure Silas will help calm her down. He’s quite taken with her.”

Leah raised a brow. She hadn’t known Reese had picked up on that, too. “How do you know?”

Reese chuckled. “It’s obvious. Besides, he told me.”

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