Chapter 13

ChapterThirteen

Wait, I’m confused. Why does running Aunt Dot’s café require a full personality makeover?’

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.

‘I’m pretty sure Norman hates me,’ she said, picking up the only part of Ben’s comments she felt like dealing with at the moment.

‘Why would he hate you?’

‘I don’t know, but he seems to always be annoyed with me or something. And I’m apparently supposed to set up a tent at the farmers’ market this weekend and he didn’t even mention it.’

‘Farmers’ market? That’s adorable.’

‘Shut up. It’s part of my new image.’

‘I happen to like your old image.’

It was Jeanie’s turn to frown. ‘Don’t get all sentimental on me now, Bennett.’

He stuck his tongue out, transforming into his seven-year-old self so perfectly that Jeanie couldn’t help but laugh. ‘I just don’t see anything wrong with being the high-strung but cheerful, slightly paranoid café owner that almost took off the head of the local hottie farmer,’ he said.

‘I never should have told you that.’

‘Honestly, I’m proud of you. A woman on her own needs self-defense skills.’

‘Yes, so you’ve told me many times, which is probably at least partly to blame for my gross overreaction to a produce delivery. Also, I never said he was hot.’

Ben laughed. ‘Pretend to be New Jeanie all you want, but I know you. As soon as you mentioned him, your face turned bright red.’

Jeanie rolled her eyes. Something about talking to her brother reverted her back to her childhood. Cozy and nostalgic, but terrible for having a serious conversation.

‘Well, he’s beloved here so the townsfolk probably would have come after me if I hurt him.’

Ben lifted a curious eyebrow. ‘Beloved, you say? Tell me more.’

Jeanie shrugged, her hair rustling against her pile of pillows. ‘They’re just a really tight-knit community. They all grew up together and stuff. I think if you’re born here, you’re not allowed to leave.’

Ben laughed.

‘Anyway, I need to steer clear of the hot farmer. The last thing I need is angry townspeople with pitchforks outside my door because I broke his heart at the town square dance or something.’

‘Okay, you lost me. What the hell are you talking about, and is there really a town square dance?’

Jeanie sighed. All the conversations from the café today ran through her mind simultaneously accompanied by the memory of Logan’s shocked face when she told him she thought Lucy was a fool. Shocked and hopeful.

‘There’s no square dance. At least not that I know of.’ Although she would not be at all surprised if there was. ‘It doesn’t matter. Logan, the farmer that is, is off-limits. Way too much pressure there.’

‘Right and you’re all about that low-key life now,’ Ben said, with a sarcastic smirk. But Jeanie didn’t let that get her down.

‘Exactly. Easy breezy Jeanie. That’s me.’

‘Well, I have to go. Some of us still have high-stress jobs we need to attend to.’ Her brother worked in tech, and if she was honest, she still didn’t really understand what he did. When people asked, she just said ‘computers’.

‘Okay, good luck. I’m going to go take up knitting or something. Maybe hiking? Hiking could be fun.’

‘Not hiking. You have a horrible sense of direction.’

‘Maybe New Jeanie has a great sense of direction.’

‘She definitely doesn’t. Stay out of the woods. Love you.’

‘Love you, too. Bye.’

Ben’s face disappeared from the screen, and she was alone with her ghost cat and her book about sexy farmers. She stared at the cover pretending to deliberate for only a minute before cracking it open.

Reading was probably safer than hiking, anyway.