Chapter 24

HANNAH

“Good morning! How did your writing go last night?” George, who’d been putting something away in the fridge, shut the door. She walked up to where I was standing at the entrance to the kitchen, a giant smile on her face, and kissed my forehead.

“It went really well. I think you might be my muse.” I wrapped my arms around her waist and looked up at her beaming face.

“Oh, really? Exactly what type of scene were you writing?” George’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

I giggled. “No comment.” I was pretty sure when George read the book, she’d be able to work out exactly what scene I’d been writing, as I’d liberally incorporated last night’s events.

There was a faint bang from downstairs.

“That must be the carpenters,” George said. “Can we please revisit this conversation later today? I’ve got to head down to the café. But there’s a pot of coffee on the stove, bread on the counter, and cereal and spreads in the cupboard. I’ve put an extra towel and toothbrush for you in the bathroom, and if you want to borrow any of my clothes, feel free. Just help yourself, and if you have any questions, you know where to find me.” George kissed me gently on the lips, gave Max a head rub, and started to make her way toward the front door.

“Oh,” she said, turning. “And I should check. Are you okay if I tell the café crew that we’re dating?”

A warm glow lit my belly at George’s use of the term dating, closely followed by surprise as her question sank in.

“Today?” I asked. It was exactly the sort of awkward conversation I’d put off until there was a pressing need to disclose the information.

“Unless you have any objections, that was my plan. I think it’s better to just get it over and done with before people start gossiping or feel like we’re trying to hide something.”

I stood in silence, thinking it through. While my gut reaction was to delay as long as possible, George’s reasoning was sensible. From what I’d overheard in Novel Gossip, Sapphire Springs’s gossip grapevine was just as bad as the rumor mills in the small-town cozy mystery and romance novels I loved. Word we were dating would almost certainly spread like wildfire as soon as we were spotted in public, making any displays of affection, so it made sense for George to get out in front of it and control the message. And while we were moving quickly, I felt serious enough about George already that I wasn’t worried about things fizzling out before they’d even begun. Since George was the one offering to tell the others—which made sense since she was their boss—I couldn’t think of any valid reason why she shouldn’t just tell them upfront.

“If you don’t feel comfortable, that’s okay, Hannah.” George stepped back toward me, her eyes soft.

“No, no,” I said, shaking my head and smiling. “That’s fine. I think it’s a good idea. I’ll see you downstairs in a little bit.”

I watched George leave with some regret, memories of last night flooding back. In a perfect world, I’d drag George back into bed, and we’d spend the day there. But we were adults with responsibilities, and today, those responsibilities involved us both working at the café. I poured myself some coffee, made toast with raspberry jam, and curled up on the couch next to Max to enjoy it. More bangs sounded from downstairs, and I wondered what the carpenters George had mentioned were up to. I hadn’t noticed anything in need of repair.

Once I’d finished eating, I investigated George’s wardrobe. The large quantity of button-down short-sleeve shirts and chinos made me chuckle. I couldn’t go downstairs wearing them, or the café staff would immediately get suspicious before George had the chance to debrief them. I found a plain black t-shirt and charcoal-gray pants and decided they would do. They were slightly too baggy, and I had to roll up the bottom of the pants, but given loose-fitting clothing was in right now, no one would likely notice. At least the outfit didn’t scream, “George and I slept together last night, and now I’m wearing her clothes.” Although, Romina would already be in the kitchen, so the chances of her not noticing me exiting George’s staircase were low. I frowned. Hmmm. Hopefully George was planning to talk to her early.

When I got out of the shower, George had messaged me.

Hope you’ve found everything okay. Romina is in a terrible mood this morning because the hollandaise sauce didn’t emulsify, so I haven’t told her about us yet. If you want to avoid her, there’s a fire escape out the back room window you can use (but it’s also okay if you just want to use the normal stairs!).

I smiled. Given Romina’s tendency for taking cooking failures extremely personally, I didn’t blame George for wanting to wait until she’d calmed down. I was also relieved there was an escape route that didn’t involve coming face to face with Romina in a bad mood.

The banging downstairs intensified. Itching to find out what was going on, I threw on George’s clothes, ran a comb through my hair, and went to the back room. Thankfully, the fire escape didn’t look anywhere near as rickety as the ones attached to my old apartment building in Manhattan, and I made it down without a hitch. I’d been planning to enter Novel Gossip through the back door, but I spotted a gate that let out onto the cobblestone lane behind the café and decided that way was safer to stay under the radar. Knowing my luck, Ben would arrive early, or Romina would leave the kitchen and notice me sneaking in the back. I went through the gate, walked back around to Main Street, and then let myself in through the front door.

The source of the noise was immediately clear. Floating wooden shelves were being installed on the exposed brick wall of the café that wasn’t already covered in bookshelves. Some of the shelves were long, others short, and they were being placed at different points up the wall, giving that section of Novel Gossip a cozy, eclectic vibe.

George, who was directing the carpenters on where to install the next shelf, turned around and grinned when she saw me.

I walked over to her and admired the shelves up close. “They look great! What are you planning to put on them?”

“Books, mainly. I might use the lower shelf for storing communal magazines, local flyers, that sort of thing. After talking to you, I realized just how noisy it can get here, so I looked into ways to reduce sound, and it turns out, happily, books can help. Since we can always do with more bookshelves, it seemed like a win-win solution. And I’ve ordered a rug for the armchair area and some rubber caps to put on the chair legs to stop them from scraping so loudly on the floor, which should hopefully help as well.”

Warmth flooded my body. “Oh, wow. That’s incredible, George.”

I still hadn’t found my damn hearing aid. I’d basically accepted that I needed to just buy a new one, but in between working at the café, writing, and spending time with George and her friends, I hadn’t had a chance yet. But even with a hearing aid, I knew I’d still find the background noise at Novel Gossip a challenge. The fact that George had gone out of her way, and invested money, in trying to improve things for me and other people who were hard of hearing meant a lot.

“It’s not much, but hopefully it will make it easier for you to hear things—and also for my patrons too. As the name Novel Gossip suggests, I want this to be a place where someone can enjoy a book by themselves or meet up with friends or family to chat, and if it’s too noisy, doing either of those things will be challenging.”

I resisted the urge to wrap my arms around George and beamed at her instead.

Her eyes dropped from my face to my body and lingered there for a moment. “My clothes look good on you,” she murmured, sending my body humming with desire. Damnit. I hadn’t thought about how challenging working with George while dating her might be, when all I wanted to do was to jump back into bed and continue what we’d started last night.

Eager for a distraction, I offered to get Hugo ready for the day. However, as I switched him on, checked the water levels, and made sure the steam wands were working, I couldn’t help thinking about George. George had done so much for me, welcoming me into her café and friend group, giving up sleep to help me sign 841 books, inspiring me to write again, and now this. I wanted to do something to show her how grateful I was, to repay some of her kindness. But what?

In between helping George clean up after the carpenters left, serving customers once the café opened, and hoping that there was a slice of cherry pie left by the time I went on my lunch break, I spent the morning brainstorming ideas. In the early afternoon, a woman in her mid-seventies came in asking for fantasy recommendations for her teenage grandson. I leaped at the chance to assist and walked her to the fantasy section, where my eyes landed on a title by Chris Chen, and an idea hit me. Not only would the first book in Chris Chen’s series be perfect for her grandson, but Chris Chen themself could be the perfect thing for George…

I’d never met Chris, but they lived in New York, and we’d exchanged multiple emails, raving about each other’s work. They’d been very appreciative that I’d blurbed their book, which had come out recently, and I knew they were still in publicity mode for it, so perhaps they’d be willing to travel to Sapphire Springs to do an event at Novel Gossip. If Chris said yes, I’d have to deal with revealing my identity to yet another new person, but I was willing to push myself out of my comfort zone if it meant doing something nice for George. The first spare moment I had, I would email them.

GEORGE

“Shit!” I muttered under my breath as my foot caught a backpack lying on the floor near their chair, causing my heart to leap into my throat as I nearly lost balance. I steadied myself, apologized to the customer and started walking back to the kitchen.

Working with Hannah had been distracting before we’d gotten together. Now, with memories of last night swirling in my brain—Hannah topless on the countertop, arching her back in pleasure, Hannah’s warm, naked body pressed against mine on the bed and then waves of orgasm washing over me—it was even more difficult to keep my mind on work. I’d already given two customers the wrong coffee order and now I’d almost tripped over holding a stack of dirty plates due to a flashback of me caressing Hannah’s breasts. But while it worried me that my concerns our relationship might impact Novel Gossip may not have been completely unfounded, my feelings toward Hannah were far too strong for me to entertain any genuine doubts about us. Last night had been incredible and I had absolutely no regrets.

I glanced over at the newly installed floating wooden shelves and smiled. I also had no regrets about the shelves either, especially after seeing Hannah’s reaction to them.

I made it back to the kitchen unscathed and left the dirty plates in the counter. Romina and Shane were busy cooking, Romina’s face still set in a scowl. Now was definitely not a good time to talk to them about me and Hannah. I felt uncharacteristically nervous about how the team would react to the news. Not because we were a same-sex couple—I had no concerns about that. But they might be justifiably concerned our relationship could affect the team dynamics or feel it was inappropriate, given I was her boss. And some of the information that had persuaded me that I wasn’t overstepping an ethical boundary—such as Hannah being a best-selling novelist who didn’t actually need to work in a café—I couldn’t share with the team. With Josie on board and Hannah still working most days, my staffing issues finally seemed to have been resolved. I just hoped this news didn’t disrupt the team’s equilibrium.

There was a lull in customers mid-afternoon. Romina and Shane had finished prepping for tomorrow and were cleaning the kitchen. Thankfully, Romina’s mood had improved as the day wore on, so it seemed like an opportune time to call a team meeting to tell everyone about me and Hannah. Josie wasn’t working today, but I’d speak to her tomorrow. Hannah had already left. She’d offered to stay for the talk for moral support, but I got the strong impression she was dreading it, so I told her it was probably better she didn’t attend, as the rest of the team might feel more comfortable airing concerns or asking questions if she wasn’t there. The look of relief that splashed across her face when I said that convinced me I’d made the right decision.

Unlike Hannah, I was more in the ripping the Band-Aid off quickly camp when it came to difficult conversations, especially since becoming a small business owner. Often, if I didn’t act quickly to have that awkward conversation with a supplier or an employee about an issue, it could directly impact Novel Gossip, and I loved this place too much to risk that.

“Ben, do you mind coming into the kitchen for a moment?” My hands were clammy, despite the air conditioning.

Ben followed me into the kitchen, and I cleared my throat.

“So, there’s something I wanted to tell you,” I said.

Romina continued scrubbing the stovetop, but I didn’t take it personally. She liked to keep moving. Ben and Shane leaned back against one of the kitchen counters, Ben eyeing me with interest, Shane staring at his feet.

I took a deep breath. “Um, so I just wanted to let you know that Hannah and I have started dating. This won’t affect anything at work—we’ll keep it very professional—but I thought I should tell you all, given how fast gossip moves in this town. Does anyone have any questions?”

Romina, who’d moved on to wiping down the range-hood, snorted. “Is that it? You don’t think we noticed she was wearing your clothes this morning? And how the two of you have been gazing at each other since Hannah started?”

I chuckled uncomfortably, dismay that we’d apparently been so obvious mixing with amusement at Romina’s reaction. Trust Romina to tell it like it was. But at least she didn’t appear to have any objections.

I glanced over at Shane. His expression betrayed no emotion. He looked at his watch, clearly eager to finish his shift. I guessed it wasn’t surprising that a teenage boy wasn’t too concerned with ethical issues or interested in his boss’s love life. My gaze continued to Ben, who was smirking.

“Ben?”

“Well, all I can say is thank god, because it’s been, quite frankly, painful watching the two of you acting all googly eyes over each other for the last two weeks without doing anything about it.”

I laughed, taking his feedback as a stamp of approval, and my shoulders relaxed. That hadn’t gone too badly at all. Any remaining concerns I had about the perceived power imbalance between me and Hannah evaporated.