Page 69 of Tides of Discovery
The gnawing tension in my gut only deepened and spread through my body like poison. My teeth clenched so hard my jaw ached, but I forced myself to relax.
Hayden had been close. And now he’d vanished again, a ghost slipping through our fingers. If he knew I’d found him, there was no telling what he’d do next. A cornered Shaw was a dangerous man.
The hours crawled by without a word from Garrett. I’d moved from pacing to sitting rigidly on my couch, then back to pacing again. My phone remained stubbornly silent, offering nothing but the slow progression of time on its screen. Each minute that passed felt like another opportunity for Shaw to strike, another moment where Cooper remained vulnerable.
By closing time at The Coffee Cove, the silence had become unbearable. I’d checked my security feeds a dozen times, run diagnostics on my systems, even refreshed my email obsessively as if I’d somehow missed an urgent message. Nothing.
I was still processing the failure when my phone buzzed again. Another message from Cooper, but this one was longer. My heart sank as I read the words that felt like ice water in my veins.
I’ve been thinking. These attacks have made me realize I need to focus on the coffee shop. Let’s go back to being friends. I’m sorry.
The phone slipped from my numb fingers and crashed onto the coffee table. I stared at it as if it were a venomous snake, willing the words to rearrange themselves into something that didn’t feel like my heart being ripped from my chest. Cooper didn’t want me anymore. After everything we’d shared, everything we’d discovered together, he was walking away.
My chest felt hollow, like someone had scooped out everything vital and left only an echoing void. I’d known this was too good to be true. Known that someone like Cooper would eventually realize he didn’t want me.
I stood at my window for I don’t know how long, numbly watching people walk past on the sidewalk, living their normal lives while mine crumbled around me. Part of me wanted to crawl into bed and never come out. But tomorrow was Valentine’s Day. Tomorrow wasA Latte Love, the event Cooper and I had been planning for weeks.
I picked up my phone with shaking hands and typed back.
I understand. I’ll still help with A Latte Love tomorrow if you want me to.
No response came.
Shaw might have won after all. He’d found a way to destroy the most important thing in my life from a distance.
But I’d be at The Coffee Cove tomorrow. Cooper might not want me as his boyfriend anymore, but I wouldn’t abandon him when he needed help. Even if it killed me to pretend everything was fine while my world fell apart.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Cooper
I woke up before my alarm, adrenaline already coursing through my veins. Valentine’s Day. The culmination of weeks of planning, the event that would either put The Coffee Cove firmly back on the map as Seacliff Cove’s premier coffee shop or prove that Shaw had won. I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. My mind ran through checklists, contingency plans, and potential disasters.
And it was the day I’d tell Jack I loved him and wanted to continue being his boyfriend past our deadline. Nerves twisted in my gut as I hoped desperately that he felt the same way.
Two hours later, I stood in the middle of The Coffee Cove and took one last look around before opening. Red and pink decorations and fairy lights transformed the normally rustic space into a Valentine’s Day wonderland. Flickering LED tea lights and red carnations graced each table. I’d written the special Valentine’s Day drinks menu on the chalkboard, and stacks of our custom coffee sleeves sat in racks on the pickup counter.
“It looks amazing,” Jack said at my side, but his voice was dull.
I frowned. Something was wrong—terribly wrong. He’d been like this since he arrived this morning, subdued and withdrawn, going through the motions ofA Latte Lovepreparation with all the enthusiasm of someone attending a funeral. There had been no kiss good morning when he walked through the door, no lingering glances across the counter, none of the gentle touches that had become second nature between us over the past few weeks. His responses to my attempts at conversation had been monosyllabic at best, and he looked like he hadn’t slept at all—dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his usually neat hair was disheveled, like he’d been clutching at it.
“Jack,” I said finally, unable to ignore the knot of worry in my stomach any longer. “Are you okay? You seem…off today.”
He didn’t even look at me. “I’m fine,” he said, his voice flat and emotionless. “Let’s just do this.” The words hit me like a slap, cold and dismissive in a way that was so unlike the Jack I knew. Whatever was wrong, it was bigger than pre-event nerves or lack of sleep. The man standing beside me felt like a stranger wearing Jack’s face, and I had no idea what had happened to change everything between yesterday and today. But I had to put my concerns aside for now. It was time to open.
I checked in with Jessica. She gave me a smile and a double thumbs-up from behind the register. “Ready.”
I flipped the sign toOpen, and almost immediately, the first customers arrived: a young couple holding hands, looking around with appreciative smiles.
“Welcome toA Latte Love,” I greeted them, and slipped easily into host mode.
The woman beamed. “We’ve been looking forward to this all week! Those coffee sleeves you’ve been teasing on Instagram sound so cute.”
As I prepared their drinks, Jack randomly selected a sleeve from the rack.
“We’re giving out ten different sayings today,” Jack explained to the delighted couple.
“Can we request specific ones?” the woman asked eagerly.
