Page 48 of Not in the Plan

“Okay, now you’re just flirting.” Charlie grinned. “Pizza?”

Mack yawned. “Yes, please.”

Charlie reached for her cell. “Let me guess. Thin crust. A respectable New Yorker wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“I’m starting to think you know me.”

The sky shifted to a darker hue, and few words were spoken as the women devoured pepperoni, black olive, and jalapeño pizza. Between yawns, stretches, and four additional water bottles scattered across the floor, Charlie was officially done.

She reclined on the couch and stared out the window. “Your dad’s a rock star.”

“He’s pretty great.” Mack burrowed into the side of the couch. “Sometimes, I take him for granted. I get so wrapped up in my writing world that my parents fall off the priority list.”

Charlie didn’t say anything. If she were born into a family like this, would she take her parents for granted, too? Seemed unfathomable. Right now, Mack’s dad was on par with Superman.

“Can you believe this is the first time I visited them in a year?” Mack asked.

She couldn’t. Sure, she and her own dad sometimes went a year without seeing each other, even though they lived in the same state. But her dad was, well, her dad. Not a man like Andrew. “Why did you wait so long?”

Mack’s face fell. A myriad of expressions bounced through her eyes. Sadness, maybe? Sheepishness?

“Long story.” Mack stood and tossed the pizza box in the compost. “So… um… I really don’t want to make this weird or overstep, but my dad texted. He’s wondering if he could look at the contract for the remodel.”

Charlie’s face heated. “Why?”

“He’s just offering to see if they’re liable for the installation,” Mack said. “He wants to show it to my mom. She can be a bulldog with these types of things.”

The paperwork contained a ton of private information, namely her complete incompetence in paying the bills. Fire spread in her chest picturing Andrew reviewing her paperwork with a disappointed frown. “I had so many dreams for this place. I kept thinking if I created a space that felt like a home, people would magically come.”

When she drafted the remodel plan, she studied every article she could and designed it herself before bringing it to the contractor. Every thought, every detail, surrounded making her coffee shop as homey as possible. The coffee stand in the middle like a kitchen island. The bookshelf and couches like a living room. She filled her Jess void for a year with blueprints, wood furniture, and books, and found a purpose.

Mack wiped her mouth with a napkin and balled it in her hand. “I love the space you created. The second I stepped in, I immediately noticed the warm feeling.”

Her eyes dropped to Charlie’s lips, and she pulled back up. The zing from that look reached Charlie’s toes.

“And then I saw you.” A blush swept Mack’s cheeks. “And you were the only thing I noticed.”

Charlie was a certified hot, stinky mess, but every cell in her body wanted to pull Mack into her lap and taste her mouth again. Her legs tightened, and her neck grew warm. She wanted this. She didn’t want this. She couldn’t think and needed to think and didn’t want to think.

Dammit.

Stop. Too soon. Too much. Too scary. Two years passed before she got over Jess. Did she really want to throw all that healing away?She leaped off the floor. “We should have Italian sodas. Cherry?” She didn’t wait for an answer.

Mack slumped back into the couch as Charlie dug out the supplies.

The ice rattled against the plastic as Charlie mixed the club soda, cream, and cherry syrup. “I don’t want to lose this place. My shop is my heart, you know? I genuinely thought that when people walked in, they’d love it as much as me, and I’d have to set up outdoor seating to accommodate. But… I need more customers.”

Mack moved to the counter and leaned her cheek into her hands. “What’s your social media presence like?”

“Next to none.”

Charlie slid the soda to her. The way Mack’s spectacular deep pink lips wrapped around the straw made Charlie crumble. Needing a safe space between them, she dragged her chair out from under the till. Everything from gratitude to Mack’s honey mouth tiptoed the emotional highwire, and she didn’t trust herself. “I’m not great with social media, and I totally overthink my posts.”

“I get that. We have a social media team that takes care of all the posts ’cause I hate it, too. I like prose. Short snappy words are not my thing.” Mack took the straw out and licked the cream from the bottom.

Charlie nearly lost her cool watching the motion. Her fingers itched to reach out and slide across Mack’s silky skin.

She had to shift focus. She and Mack were nothing but friends. Friends who kissed. But the fiery burn in her belly persisted. An uneasy combination of potential rejection, lust, wanting to be held, and disappointment in herself for feeling those things all left her restless.

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