Close to You

going there, no
other coffee tasted as good. She’d ruined him. Remembering the way
she’d kissed him last night, he was pretty sure coffee wasn’t the
only thing she’d ruined him for.
    His mom poured herself a cup of coffee
and picked up the shaker.
    “ That’s salt,” he
said.
    “ Yes. Thank you.” Frowning,
she set it down and reached for the sugar bowl.
    “ Don’t you drink your
coffee black?”
    She shot him a look he couldn’t
interpret as she set the sugar aside. “Sometimes you need something
different.”
    “ Since when?”
    “ Since now.” She took a sip
of coffee, her gaze never leaving his, as if challenging
him.
    “ Are you okay,
Mom?”
    “ I’m fine,” she snapped.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
    “ I’m just concerned,” he
said in a careful tone. “You’ve been acting unlike
yourself.”
    “ And how would you know
when you never visit?” she asked coldly.
    He shook his head. “I’m not going to
let you make this about me. This is about you and how you’ve
been.”
    “ How have I been?” she
asked sharply, setting her mug down with a loud clack .
    He winced, surprised the cup hadn’t
broke. “You’ve been edgy.”
    “ I have a lot of stress,
but you don’t seem to appreciate that.” She glared at him. “I told
you my business is being threatened, but you aren’t taking me
seriously.”
    “ Because I have a hard time
believing a small coffee and book shop is a problem.”
    “ It is,” she bit
off.
    Taking a deep breath, Treat softened
his tone. “Grounds for Thought is completely different from
Crumpet.”
    “ And I’m going to keep it
that way.” She lifted her cup and downed some coffee like it was a
stiff drink.
    “ How?”
    “ How what?” she asked
warily.
    “ How are you going to keep
it that way?” The sinking feeling he’d had all night worsened.
“Does it have to do with Daniela Rossi?”
    Her silence was incriminating. She
clutched her pearls so tightly he was surprised they didn’t snap.
Finally she asked, “What do you know about Daniela
Rossi?”
    “ I know that the owner of
Grounds for Thought is also bidding to host the event.”
    His mother’s expression darkened. “How
do you know that?”
    Truth was the best way to go, but he
didn’t have to tell her the whole truth. “The owner told
me.”
    “ When?”
    “ She and I discussed some
renovations.”
    His mom set down her cup with a clank.
“You’re doing renovations for me.”
    “ I do renovations for a lot
of people, Mom.”
    “ What sort of renovations
are you doing for her?”
    He mentally winced at the
way she spat the word her . “She has a slanted courtyard in
the back that doesn’t have good drainage. If it rains a lot, she
could have water damage in her store.”
    “ And you’re going to fix
it,” his mother said accusingly.
    He shook his head. “It’s undetermined,
but that’s not why I’m here. I know that you passed out flyers in
front of her store and about this Daniela Rossi thing. What are you
up to?”
    “ Nothing.” She glared at
him.
    “ Somehow I don’t believe
that.” He sighed and stepped forward to take her arms gently. “I
know you feel like she’s competition, but she’s really not. You
didn’t attack Starbucks when they moved in.”
    “ They’re a few blocks away
and not across the street, and they’re no threat.”
    “ Eve isn’t a threat
either.”
    Her gaze narrowed.
“ Eve ? Do you want to tell me what’s going
on?”
    “ I told you, this isn’t
about me,” he evaded. Telling his mother about his love life was
the last thing he wanted to do, especially when it involved her
nemesis. At least not until he got her to see that Eve wasn’t an
enemy. “I’m trying to stop you from doing something
foolish.”
    “ I don’t do foolish
things.” She broke away from him, her gaze accusing and hurt.
“You’re abandoning me too.”
    He hated that he put that look in her
eyes. “Of course I’m not, Mom.”
    “ You’re taking that girl’s
side, just like my customers.” She pointed at him, her voice
rising. “I’m going to be stuck with nothing, alone, forgotten, old,
and shriveled.”
    “ Mom—”
    “ I’m not old!” she
shrilled. “I’m not ready to be put away, buried. I’m not dead
yet.”
    “ No—”
    She picked up her coffee cup and
raised it like she was going to throw it. But then she paused,
blinking like she woke up from a daze.
    Shocked, he was sure he gaped at her.
It took him a moment to come