Page 10 of Of Literature and Lattes
She mustered up bright expectation and was a little confused by his steady stare back.
Then it came...
“You can’t stay here.”
Four words and nothing more.
Alyssa blinked. Her dad now held her gaze—without blinking. She felt her mouth drop open, but no words came.
He leaned forward and tapped her knee. This time it was gentle. It was the kind of tap you give a five-year-old soccer player rather than one falling apart on the field in college. “It’s not that I don’t want to help, Alyssa, but it’s not what’s best. I have only that pullout chair in the other room and... You need to stay with Mom. She’s got that whole house and... That’s it. You need to stay at home.”
Alyssa smashed the heels of both hands into her eyes. If she rubbed hard enough, maybe the exhaustion, the conversation, or best yet, both, would disappear. When the stars dimmed in her dark blue inside-eyelid sky, she opened them. “It’s true then, isn’t it? Chase said you two are dating.”
Seth’s ears tipped red. “I never thought my children would gossip about my love life, but yes, and if you had been willing to talk about it, I’d have told you directly.”
“Mom tried.”
“You talked to your mother?” Seth’s voice lifted in approval.
Alyssa bit her lip and shook her head. “She left a couple messages.”
“I see. Then this will be good for you both.”
“How is this happening? She cheated on you. You divorced her. How can you just forget that?” Alyssa pressed her lips shut. She sounded like that five-year-old.
Seth moved his head in a slow nod. “While true, that’s too simplistic. Don’t make her the bad guy and let me off the hook. And I haven’t forgotten. I’ve forgiven her and she me.”
“What’d she have to forgive you for? You weren’t the one playing Hide the Paintbrush with the art teacher.” Alyssa gasped. Sharp, snarky comments usually resided in her head. If there was one thing her mom had drilled in deep, it was to never let them out, to never give less than a perfect impression of herself.
And besides all that—had she really just said that? To her dad? “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that. That was horrible.” She held up her hand, fully expecting her dad to deliver a well-deserved lecture on rudeness and respect to his thirty-one-year-old daughter.
Instead he chuckled. “I can see you and Mom are going to have a wonderful time together.”
“You can’t be serious.”
Seth stood, and that was lecture enough. Alyssa knew the conversation was over.
She looked up at him. “Can I have a day? Can you let me crash here, then I’ll head home tomorrow morning?” She offered a shaky smile. “Sometimes we don’t say things the right way when we’re tired, and Mom and me, we’re not...”
He raised a brow.
“Again, I am sorry I said that, Dad. I promise I will go tomorrow.”
“Of course.” Seth sighed and moved toward his front door. “Before you sleep, let’s get your bags inside and make up that pullout.”
“I’ve only got my purse... Everything else got stolen on the way back here.”
He turned around. “You have had it rough.”
Alyssa managed a weak nod. Anything more would have brought the tears again and the only four words she wanted to say.
Don’t make me go.
Chapter 5
Andante eased into an afternoon lull at one thirty. The morning wasn’t as busy as Jeremy had hoped, but it wasn’t dangerously quiet either. He consoled himself with the thought that Winsome was a slow burn kind of town and that any grand opening might naturally take on a moreadagiettopace, and certainly never anallegro. It would all be okay... He was only a week in. There was no need to panic. More than that, he could make it great.
With that pep talk, he looked to the counter where his new hire, Brendon, stood chatting with a customer. Perhaps he was taking a little long, considering a few more waited to order, but wasn’t that what Jeremy wanted? An employee who knew the town? Brendon flicked his head, and his long bangs swept out of his eyes. Tall, clean-cut, and captain of the high school lacrosse team, he possessed an easy charm and confidence—and a hair flip—Jeremy envied.
