The pumpkin spice cafe

Chapter Four

Logan had always thought hell would have fire and brimstone, but it turned out hell was a town hall meeting sandwiched between the woman he had been trying to forget since this morning and one of his nosy best friends. Every time he glanced at Hazel, she waggled her eyebrows at him in a way that made him very uncomfortable – and every time he looked at Jeanie, she smiled up at him like she was having a wonderful time. What had he gotten himself into?

He didn’t know why he’d told Jeanie about this damn meeting, or more importantly why he’d agreed to come. She’d just looked so flustered this morning, so confused. And tired. She was in over her head and, really, he was doing the town a favor. The Pumpkin Spice Café was the only decent coffee shop in town. If she didn’t get it up and ru

A

‘So, the guy up front with the hideous green tie is obviously the mayor.’

‘Hey! I got him that tie.’

‘Sorry, Haze, but that color is atrocious.’ A

Jeanie giggled. Logan ignored the way the sound curled up inside him and settled in.

‘And over there is my arch-nemesis, Macaulay Sullivan.’

‘The trivia guy?’

‘Don’t be fooled by the trivia, Jeanie. He owns the pub next to your café. Watch out for him.’

Logan scoffed. The only trouble between A

‘Anyway, he’s over there with Greg and Shawn, the owners of the pet store on the corner.’

Jeanie nodded, taking it all in, and Logan wouldn’t be surprised if she pulled out a notebook and started making a cheat sheet. She seemed like the note-taking type. Not that he cared what type she was. He was here for the coffee, to help the town, and to avoid a zombie apocalypse. Not to think about what Jeanie’s handwriting looked like, or if she would make little doodles in the margins.

She probably would.

‘And over there is the Sharmas, who just opened a new restaurant further down Main. They have the best tandoori chicken,’ A

Hazel jabbed Logan in the side, pulling his attention away from A

‘Just being helpful. You know, neighborly.’

‘Neighborly?’ Her voice rose incredulously, like he’d never done a neighborly thing in his life.

‘Yeah. I can be helpful.’

Hazel snorted. ‘Helpful, sure. But coming to a town meeting? That’s way above helpful for you.’ She pushed her glasses up her nose and gave him a thoroughly obnoxious grin. ‘I think you have a crush.’

‘I do not have a crush,’ he hissed through clenched teeth, ridiculously worried that Jeanie would hear them. ‘I am not a twelve-year-old girl. I just want a decent cup of coffee.’

His a

He glowered at her but all she did was smile i

He settled back into his rickety old chair, arms across his chest. A crush. Absurd. He barely knew this woman. Other than the fact that she wore cutesy pajama pants, had the brightest smile he’d ever seen, and held a baseball bat like a major leaguer. Other than that, he knew nothing. And that’s how he wanted to keep it.

The smoke had barely cleared from the last time he’d crashed and burned in front of the entire town. He wouldn’t be repeating those mistakes anytime soon. Next time he dated someone, he would keep the whole thing far away from Dream Harbor. Maybe one of those nice long-distance relationships everyone was always talking about.

Not that he wanted to date Jeanie.

He just wanted coffee.

Mayor Kelly stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat. Logan groaned internally.

‘Welcome, Dreamers,’ the mayor said with his signature goofy smile.

Kill me now.

‘First order of business.’ He pushed his glasses up his nose in a ma

Logan could feel the anger radiating off A

Mayor Kelly waited for the excited whispering of the crowd to die down. People were already calling dibs on team members. Mac had the balls to turn around and wink at A

‘Okay, moving on. Next up on the agenda is the proposed stop sign on the corner of Mayberry and Cherry Lane.’

‘Forget the stop sign, Pete! When are we getting our coffee back?’ Leroy yelled from the front row.

Logan felt Jeanie tense beside him.

‘Yeah! I can’t drink my wife’s weird herbal tea one more day!’

‘Okay, okay, Tim. Settle down. No one is making you drink Tammy’s tea.’ The mayor held his hands up to quiet the crowd. Logan was right. They were on the verge of a zombie situation. ‘I believe we have the PS Café’s new owner with us tonight.’ Pete smiled encouragingly at Jeanie. ‘Maybe she can come up here and enlighten us on her plans.’

Jeanie drew in a breath and Logan thought maybe she wouldn’t want to go up in front of everyone. In fact, he was ready to jump in and explain that she pla

He had been trying so hard not to notice her tonight that he’d missed how her hair was swept into a neat twist at the back of her head, and instead of hedgehog pajamas she wore gray slacks and a sweater the color of fresh cream. Her tall, black heels tapped loudly on the old wood floor.

He blinked. This woman was not the one he met this morning. This woman didn’t need rescuing. For the first time, he wondered who she had been before she moved here, what she’d done outside of Dream Harbor. He’d been so sure she needed him to help, to fix something for her. A bad habit of his.

She gave Pete one of her bright smiles and stood behind the podium. ‘Hi, everyone. I’m Jeanie. Dot’s niece.’ She cleared her throat, her smile wobbling slightly. So, she was a little nervous. ‘Sorry to have deprived you all of your caffeine for the week. I was ... uh ... just getting settled in, but the café will reopen this Saturday.’