Page 28 of The Pumpkin Spice Cafe
Jeanie belly-flopped onto her bed with a groan, emerging from her pillows to find her brother’s face staring at her from her phone.
‘Because, Ben, I didn’t just come here for the café. I came to ... to...’
Jeanie rolled onto her back, taking her phone and frowning brother with her. It was hard to explain now that Ben was looking at her like that, but she had her reasons, damn it.
‘I came here for a new life. One that is slower paced, and you know, quainter ... or something.’
He huffed. ‘You’re looking for something that doesn’t exist.’
‘I will die if I stay in my old life, Bennett! Do you want me to end up like Marvin?’
‘Okay, first of all, Marvin was at least thirty years older than you. Secondly, the man ate primarily bacon. And third, wasn’t he balancing like a wife and two mistresses? That’s a lot of undue stress, Jeanie. That’s not your life.’
‘My life was balancing his life!’ Jeanie tried to erase the image of Marvin’s lifeless eyes staring at her from atop his spreadsheets from her mind. ‘And I can’t go back to that.’
‘So, don’t. I think it’s cool that you’re a small-business owner now, but just because you moved to some small town doesn’t mean you need to be a totally different person.’
Jeanie sighed. Her brother was so dense sometimes.
‘Close your eyes,’ she said. Time for a different tactic.
‘Why?’
‘Just do it.’ She seriously needed friends that were not her younger brother. She waited for Ben to close his eyes before she continued. ‘Okay, now picture the café, do you remember it? It looks the same. Old wood floors, lots of art on the walls, big ceramic mugs from the art school.’
‘Yep, got it.’
‘Now picture Aunt Dot.’
A small smile crept onto Ben’s face. They’d always loved their eccentric aunt, so different from their own strait-laced mother, with her long skirts and big colorful earrings, she just always seemed so interesting, so vibrant. So perfectly at home running her café, living her life on her terms.
‘Okay, now picture me.’
Jeanie was still wearing her work clothes from the day. Gray on gray. She literally could not look any less like the woman she was trying to become.
Ben opened his eyes. ‘You look fine, Jeanie. You don’t have to be a hippie to run a coffee shop.’
‘I’m not trying to be a hippie.’I’m just trying to be as far from my old self, my old life as possible.‘I just want to fit in around here.’
‘Are those locals bullying you, Jean Marie? Because I’ll come out there and...’
‘And what?’ she said with a laugh. ‘You’re going to fly here and beat up the townies?’
Ben’s frown deepened. ‘If necessary.’
‘Well, I appreciate the sentiment, but actually everyone has been very nice so far.’ Her thoughts immediately drifted to the deep blue of Logan’s eyes and the way he’d leaned closer to her as she talked. Very nice.
‘See, so everything’s fine. The locals like you. You’ve got Norman helping you figure things out. And I just read that having a pet lowers blood pressure. You’re well on your way to living forever.’
Jeanie glanced down at the cat that had taken up residence on her stomach. She supposed he had some calming qualities, like the gentle vibration currently emanating from him now. But that wasn’t really the point. She wasn’t so much afraid of dying as she was of forgetting to live her life.
Somewhere along the way, she’d forgotten to figure out who she was or what she wanted to be when she grew up. She’d graduated college all shiny and optimistic about her future with her nose ring intact, and then spent the next seven years having her soul sucked out one ten-hour day at a time.
And now here she was, grown up and without a single clue who she was without someone else demanding every second of her time. Without Marvin to manage, Jeanie didn’t know what to do with herself.
Or who she even wanted to be.
But a new wardrobe seemed as good a place to start as any.
