Authors: Audrey Dacey
Don't Explain
Text
© 2012 Audrey Dacey
All
Rights Reserved
Cover
design and images © 2012 Clayton Smith
A
Publication
This
book is dedicated to my husband, Clay, who has been my rock, keeping me sane
through all my struggles and grounded through all my successes, and to my son,
Seamus, who taught me about love at first sight. I love you both forever.
1
The bell at the top of the door rang, and Kyle Anderson walked in with a
smile on his face. Caitlyn Murphy’s heart fell to her stomach when she saw his
soft brown eyes staring back at her. Starting out with a customer right at
opening was good, but since he was likely her only real customer of the day,
the hours were going to drag.
“So, this is what all the fuss is about,” he said, looking around the
small building.
“There’s fuss about this place?” Caitlyn felt a flutter in her stomach,
and she bit her lip hard.
“Well,” he stopped smiling, “I’m sure someone has made a fuss about it.”
Caitlyn sighed. “If anyone did, it was Alexis. She’s one of the few
locals who’ve stepped inside the door. Most everyone else is passing through.”
Caitlyn shrugged and looked away. In the three weeks that the Fine and Mellow
Cafe had been open, Caitlyn had made exactly forty-eight drinks for paying
customers and sold a dozen muffins. Her only regular was her best friend, and
Caitlyn wasn’t sure she should count. If Alexis Connor hadn’t insisted on
paying, Caitlyn would have given her the drinks for free.
“What can I get for you, Kyle?”
He looked up at the chalkboard menu hanging behind the counter. “Do you
do those chocolaty Frappa-thingies with the ice and coffee?”
Caitlyn smiled when he looked back down at her. “I do, but I can’t call
it a Frappa-anything. You hungry? I just pulled some muffins out of the oven.”
Kyle pursed his lips and hummed. “Why not? Do you mind if I work in here
for a while? It’s quieter than my house.”
“Not at all. Why don’t you go sit down and I’ll bring you the drink and
the muffin when I finish them.”
Kyle nodded and then paid Caitlyn before walking to a table by a window.
She was only as quick as the espresso would brew, but for her, making the
drinks was like the steps of a dance. She was graceful and fluid.
She learned everything she knew while working in a fine dining restaurant
during her final year in college. She was student-teaching during the day and
serving nights, so one of the best and worst things that happened to her was
that she learned how to make all of her favorite drinks without the five dollar
price tag. It’s when she fell in love with coffee, and it’s the only love that
had lasted.
She was startled out of her thoughts by a greeting from a familiar voice.
Alexis slid behind the counter with her. “How’s business?”
Caitlyn looked up and stared blankly at Kyle. “I’m almost at a full month
of negative income. I don’t know how much longer I can hemorrhage money into
this before I have to close and go back to teaching. It serves me right for
opening a novelty business in a town of under 4,000 people.” Caitlyn poured the
contents of a blender into a glass.
Alexis put her hands on her waist, “Whatever. You’re being dramatic. Who
doesn’t drink coffee or at least tea? It’ll pick up.”
“And if it doesn’t, I’m 50 grand in the hole.” Caitlyn opened the little
refrigerator under the counter and pulled out a whipped cream dispenser.
“You know I could give you some money.” Caitlyn glared at her, pointing
the nozzle of the dispenser at the center of her friend’s chest. Alexis raised
her hands in submission. “Fine. Fine.” Caitlyn lowered the nozzle to the top of
the beverage. “Need any help?”
“You can put a doily on a small plate and a muffin on top of that.”
“What kind of muffin?”
Caitlyn searched her mind. “I forgot to ask.” She was really going to
have to start paying attention. If she couldn’t handle one customer, she had no
right to ask for more. “Will you go ask Kyle?”
Without a word, Alexis walked over to his table.
Alexis was beautiful. Despite the lack of single men in their small town,
her athletic build, warm hazel eyes, and shiny deep brown hair turned heads as
she walked down the street.
“Blueberry,” Alexis said when she returned. Then she leaned across the counter
so that she could whisper. “Have you heard about Jonathan and Becky Sampson?”
Caitlyn had heard it at the drug store and immediately knew where her
friend was going to go with it. “No. Forget it.” She shook her head vigorously.
“They have been separated for a week. I am not going to go out with Jonathan.”
“Why not?” she asked, grabbing a muffin and putting it on a plate. “He's
cute for an engineer, and I fully expect him to hold on to the hair he has left
for the next five years.”
“Knock it off. He's not my type.” Caitlyn grabbed the plate and coffee,
and started toward Kyle.
“Your type doesn't exist.” Alexis said it jokingly, but both women knew
that she was speaking a small truth. Alexis was man hungry. She often went to
bars in a nearby town to meet men. Caitlyn didn’t bother going with her
anymore. It was a waste of time, energy, and makeup.
This only encouraged Alexis to hang around Caitlyn’s coffee shop all day
to play matchmaker. She didn’t have to work because her parents left her a substantial
trust, and she was free to harass Caitlyn about her lack of a love life all
day, every day.
“Here you go, Kyle,” she said as she placed the plate and glass on the
table.
He looked up from his computer at her and smiled. “Thanks.” His eyes
darted over to Alexis and then back to Caitlyn. “I’m not bothering you, am I?”
“Of course not, stay as long as you want, and let me know if you need
anything else.”
Caitlyn always imagined that Kyle, if that was even his real name, was a
secret agent. The tall, muscular man with sandy blond hair always wore a dress
shirts and slacks when he wasn’t on duty as a volunteer firefighter, and if she
squinted and turned her head just right, he looked a lot like Daniel Craig. He
hadn’t been in town for a long time, but he was an all-American man with a
sweet smile and a willingness to use his strong arms. Though this was his first
time in the coffee shop as a customer, he’d helped her put in a new wood stove
and inspected the building for fire codes.
When Caitlyn turned around, she saw Alexis, who was now sitting at a
table, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She bit her bottom lip as she
stared at Kyle seductively. As Caitlyn slid into the chair next to her friend,
Alexis asked, “What do you think of Kyle?”
“I
think
he's married,” Caitlyn replied. “Besides the Andersons
are moving.”
“I know.” She turned back to Caitlyn, “I was trying to think of an
appropriate going away present.”
Caitlyn watched Kyle, who hunched over and looked down at his keyboard when
he saw the attention Alexis was giving him. He failed to ignore her by doing
his work. Whatever that was.
Caitlyn knew that Alexis was only teasing; she would never sleep with a
married man. But she was not above unabashedly flirting with anyone who struck
her as interesting. Caitlyn wouldn’t even consider lusting after a married man,
or really any man. If they didn’t approach her because she wasn’t sexy enough,
that was their loss. She had a lot to offer, and she wasn’t going to spend her
time following some guy around like a puppy until he noticed she was awesome.
She’d done that in the past, and it didn’t work.
Caitlyn could feel a draft coming in through the window and shivered. “Do
you know how much Mick Kelley is charging to plow this year? I need someone to
do the parking lot, and I think it’s going to snow early this year.”
“You need someone to do a lot more than your parking lot. Take a lover.
He’ll plow everything for you. For free.”
“I’d rather pay Mick.” It’s not that she didn’t want a man, or sex—though
she was fine without it. “If I gave a man sex for it, I’d almost certainly be
overpaying.”
The bell rang again, signaling that someone had entered. Caitlyn jumped
up from the table and smiled. Two customers coming in so close together? The
day may not be wasted yet.
“I'll be back.” She glared at her friend. “Be good.”
Alexis glanced up at Caitlyn, gave her a devilish smile, and then turned
her attention to the new body in the room. “No promises.”
Caitlyn rushed over to the cash register. She retied the apron strings at
her waist a little tighter, and without looking up, greeted her patron in her
warm, practiced tone.
“Good morning. What can I get for you today?”
Her eyes rose up the long torso to the blue eyes of the man standing a
few feet away. He ran a hand through his hair, and his eyes became wide.
Caitlyn's stomach flipped; she caught her breath and felt herself swaying
backward slightly. In an attempt to jump herself out of this state, she voluntarily
sent a shiver through her whole body. She stared helplessly into the bright blue
eyes looking at her with such scrutiny she could feel her cheeks burning.
His slightly wavy golden hair was brushed away from his rigid face, exposing
the hard lines of a kneaded brow. The definition of his muscular arms and chest
was visible through a navy sweater, and his broad shoulders were overwhelmingly
familiar.
“Michael?”
This was all she could muster out of her shock. Her skin was set afire,
and her palms began to sweat. She blinked a few times to take him in. To make
sure that he was who she thought it was.
His mouth twisted into a fake smile, but the wide eyes and kneaded brow
remained. Caitlyn knew that he wasn’t happy to see her. Her stomach became
heavy and a sickness filled her throat. She tried to say something more, but
only a barely perceptible creak escaped.
“Caitlyn,” he said. For a few moments they just looked at each other in
silence.
“Can I get you something?” she managed, trying to use the sing-song tone
she used with customers, but the words tumbled out. Even she could hear the
disappointment in her voice.
Michael Fitzgerald’s gaze fell to the floor. “Coffee and a banana muffin.”
His hand dove into the back pocket of his jeans for his wallet. He threw a
twenty dollar bill onto the counter. “To go,” he added abruptly.
Caitlyn took the bill and smoothed it between her fingers as she stared
at it and then back up at him. She couldn't help herself, “What… I thought…”
her voice trailed when she realized that she hadn't thought about Michael in a
long time. “Never mind.”