40. Tessa

“Well?” McKenna pressed, her eyes twinkling with a sly gleam.

“Well, what?” I countered.

My friend rolled her eyes and nudged me with her elbow before she shifted her gaze to Adam who stood on my other side holding my hand.

“Can you just admit it? Are you engaged? What’s the plan?” she asked.

A laugh sputtered out. “What do you mean?”

McKenna let out a little sigh. “I admitted it when I broke our pact.”

“Pact?” Adam prompted.

“Tessa and I had a pact.” Out of reflex, we bumped fists quickly. “Neither one of us was ever going to have a relationship. And then, I met Jack.” McKenna’s cheeks went a little pink as Jack strolled up behind her, slipped his arms around her waist, and dusted a kiss on the side of her neck.

“Ohhhhh,” Adam said slowly. I felt my own cheeks heating when I met his eyes. “It completely makes sense.”

Although his eyes twinkled, I could feel the sincerity threaded within the laughter. It did make sense for me at the time.

I glanced back at McKenna. “I broke the pact, but I have no idea when we’re getting engaged or anything like that.”

McKenna let out an impatient sigh. “I would love to plan another wedding.”

“You got a black eye at the last wedding you planned,” Blake said as he approached our group.

McKenna giggled. “It was totally an accident and all Jack’s fault.”

Jack chuckled. A woman waiting in line nearby looked askance at Jack. “I did open a door into McKenna’s face, but it was truly an accident.”

Adam reached over, tugging lightly on the end of McKenna’s ponytail as he commented, “When the time is right, we’ll let you know.”

I smiled up at him just as Rhys and Haven came walking in. We hadn’t planned to meet this way, but Spill the Beans Café was the heartbeat of Fireweed Harbor, so it wasn’t a surprise that we all ended up here on a chilly autumn morning.

“Where is—” Blake began just as Kenan and Quinn walked in with Wyatt and Griffin behind them.

I glanced among the Cannon siblings, rolling my eyes slightly. “There’s no shortage of you all,” I quipped.

As if on cue, Fiona and Rosie came walking in. Rosie was clearly on the way to work, wearing a pair of hot-pink nursing scrubs while Fiona had her apron on.

Blake glanced over and burst out laughing. “Babe, you forgot to take your apron off. You better be careful, or —”

Phyllis cut in from behind the counter. “We could use you for some help with the baking.”

Fiona smiled as she untied her apron. “I went in early this morning. We have an event tonight, but I wanted to get things prepped to be baked later. For what it’s worth, I’m going back as soon as I get some coffee.”

My heart felt warm. I was still marveling at the sense of relief and peace I felt. Rich was awaiting his trial in jail. Despite his father’s attempt to get him out on bail, the court had denied it. I couldn’t help but experience a little flare of satisfaction when I was present in court when the judge refused to grant bail due to the severity of his charges. Rich’s charges were even more severe since he committed them with a firearm.

Colin had filed for me to have full custody without any visitation rights the day after the whole fiasco. He’d already sent over a proposal to Rich’s attorney for him to relinquish his rights. Colin had assured me that if I felt like Rich was safe in the future, I could support visits with Eric, but this would prevent him from being able to take me back to court again and again as he’d been doing.

In a surprise, at least for me, Barb had left Rich’s father. We’d had a few tentative lunches together. While she loved her son dearly, his actions had shocked and frightened her. Even though she had yet to be open about it, I suspected the trauma she experienced being with her husband for so long would take her some time to get over. She was very reticent to speak of it, but she seemed genuinely remorseful for not supporting me when I left before.

Adam squeezed my hip lightly where his palm rested on it. I glanced up. All it took was a subtle touch from him, and I went all gooey inside. Sweet hell. I loved this man, and there’d been a time I didn’t even think love was a possibility.

“Tessa?” he prompted in his clear, low voice.

“What?”

“Do you want to sit down?” A slight smile teased at the corners of his mouth.

I got that warm and tingly feeling in my belly. That feeling was specifically connected to Adam.

“Yes, please,” I finally said.

Rosie had stopped beside us, and she glanced from me to Adam and back again. “If I didn’t know better, I might think you were tipsy. You look loopy.”

“She’s in lo-o-o-ve,” Haven teased.

I smiled among my friends, feeling happier than I could’ve imagined. It was hard to consider I’d be this happy simply getting coffee. I recalled the way I used to feel back when I was still married to Rich. I was constantly alert and anxious when I was out in public, always worried somebody might notice something was wrong. Even when I was alone, I’d kept my guard up.

Now, I just wanted to hug all my friends and shout out my joy to the universe. Which, given the recent events, maybe seemed too much, but traumatic events tended to bring things into sharp focus.

On the heels of a shaky breath, I smiled back at Rosie. “I’m not tipsy, but I just feel good.”

My friend’s gaze sobered. “You deserve it.”

Adam’s palm shifted to the center of my lower back, coaxing me toward a table. Over the next hour or so, we chatted and had coffee. It was one of the best mornings I’d ever had.