Page 105 of Coffee Shop Girl
Maverick laughed but showed her the label on the bottle of sparkling cider.
“Nice try, Liz.”
He poured the cider into five flute glasses, then passed them out. I winked at him, grateful to have him back. He’d just returned from buying a house in Jackson City that we’d start flipping in early January, after our first holiday together. Lizbeth already had Pinterest boards for the interior. Ellie couldn’t wait to build a chicken coop in the back before it sold.
He’d consulted with two other companies in Jackson City over the past four months. Their business revenue was on track to double within the next five months. He liked it well enough to continue, but his real heart-and-soul was in home restoration.
Ellie sniffed the cider, then recoiled and shoved it back. I chuckled as I accepted mine. My aversion to sweet food must be somewhat genetic. For this kind of celebration, I’d make a happy exception.
“To new beginnings,” I said, lifting my glass. Hung on the wall in a position of honor was the official declaration Kinoshi had brought over this afternoon.
I was a mama-sister.
Lizbeth grinned. “To new parents. May you pay me more in allowance than the former ones did.”
Ellie just lifted her eyebrows, as if she merely tolerated our celebration. Devin leaned over to whisper something in her ear. She grinned a megawatt smile, giggling under her breath. Maverick put his hand on the small of my back, pulling me against him.
I silently toasted Jim’s sentencing, which we celebrated in addition to the finalization of the girls becoming my legal dependents.May he rot in prison for decades,I thought to myself. Maverick and I would toast to that later, when the girls weren’t around.
“To—”
A motorcycle revved its engine in the parking lot. I rolled my eyes. What idiot drove a motorcycle in the middle of winter, anyway?
“Do they not see theclosedsign?” I muttered, glancing out the new windows.
Then my blood turned cold.
A twentysomething guy with dark hair pulled to a stop just outside. Maverick’s younger brother, Benjamin. I’d met him twice now. He threw his legs off a very familiar motorcycle. I straightened.
“Is he...”
Maverick grinned as he took a sip of sparkling cider. “Yep.”
My feet propelled me forward several steps. “That’s a...”
“Yep.”
Lizbeth, Ellie, and Devin flanked me at the window as Benjamin pulled his helmet off and set it on the bike. His shoulder-length hair shifted in the wind as he strode toward us. Benjamin had never been charming like Maverick. He was more intense. Brooding. His budding career as a jiu-jitsu fighter meant he stalked instead of walked. Still, he’d been the warmest person in Maverick’s family so far.
Meeting Mallory loomed on the horizon, but I felt no fear.
All words fled my mouth when Benjamin peered into the coffee shop. A half-smile tugged at his face when he saw me pressed against the glass like a two-year-old.
“Maverick,” I whispered.
“Yes?” he drawled from right behind me.
“That’s not just any Indian Boulevard motorcycle.”
“Nope.”
I turned around to ask how he’d foundmybike. Dad’s bike. The exact bike I had sold to a total stranger months ago. And Maverick was kneeling on his left leg, a familiar blue box in hand. A squeak peeped out of me when I recognized the unique color.
Thatwas a Tiffany’s box.
Lizbeth, Ellie, and Devin stood behind him now, grinning from ear to ear. Maverick smiled. The certainty and depth in his eyes made my heart hum.
“Mav?” I whispered.
