Marriage For One

I had known the last few days leading up to Monday, my opening day, would be hectic and maybe not so easy, and I wasn’t wrong. If Jack hadn’t been dropping by to pick me up, I would’ve probably ended up sleeping on the floor inside the coffee shop just so I could make sure everything was ready. But, Jack…he had been…Jack was…a whole other subject.

I had deemed Friday the second biggest day next to the opening day. It was the day the coffee shop’s sign was going to go up and all the people of New York would be able to see it.

The black and white striped awnings had been installed around noon, and the sign was up only a few hours after that. I might have shed a few happy tears looking up at that thing.

Around the Corner Coffee Shop.

I knew I was officially freaking out about the opening when I started making lists for everything I could think of: what kind of freshly made sandwiches I would prepare, the first week’s pastry menu, the first day’s pastry menu…the lists just went on and on. While I was happily busy with all of that, a slow drizzle of rain had started, a pretty soundtrack in the background. As much as some people hated winter in New York, I loved it.

Jack showed up earlier than his usual time. I wasn’t surprised to see him when he showed up anymore, and it felt normal to have him in the space. I was looking forward to it even. It was the first time I’d realized I was starting to enjoy his grumpy company. It’d been three weeks since he had returned from London and started to come around every night. That was a lot of help I hadn’t expected to have, and I thought somewhere along the way something had changed between us.

This time, before he could ask me, I asked for his help as soon as he stepped over the threshold.

“Good, you’re here. Can you help me put the custom decals up on the windows?”

He hesitated only for a moment, as if he was surprised. “Sure. Why not? I’m here anyway,” he said at last, as if he wasn’t there specifically to help me. As he took off his coat and then suit jacket, I settled in for my daily show: the sleeve roll-up. And what a show it was, every single night. You’d think it would get repetitive, but no. Just no.

“Slow day at work?” I asked after wiping the invisible drool from the side of my mouth. He took the word Around from my waiting hands and climbed up the ladder until he could reach the top left corner of the window facing north.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re here early.”

“I was in the neighborhood, had a quick meeting with an old client, so I thought I’d drop by.”

I smiled up at him, but he wasn’t looking at me. “You seem to have so many meetings around here. There was another one the other day, right?” He frowned down at me, but before he could say anything, I pushed forward. “Anyway, as I keep saying every time you’re here, I appreciate the help.”

“I can see that.” He opened his palm, waiting for me to give him the next decal.

I sighed. “I marked where that’s gonna go.”

He didn’t reply or even acknowledge that I’d spoken, but placed the exactly where I’d marked for it to go.

I took a deep breath. “So, how are you, Rose?” I started. “I’ve been pretty busy with work these last few days, and so have you. How are you? Did you manage to get a good night’s sleep last night? Are you excited about the opening?”

Then I answered myself. “Aww, thank you so much for asking, Jack. I have a killer headache right now, but I can’t complain too much. I did manage to sleep the entire night last night, thank you very much for asking. It was one of the very few good sleeps I’ve had since moving in with you. I guess you went back to your office again last night—how late did you get in? I think I was fast asleep. Also, did you have a good day at work today?”

Finished with the second decal, he glanced down at me with that look of superiority featuring the arched eyebrow he had probably perfected in a meeting room or wherever. It wasn’t helping that he was literally standing over me.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his hand open, waiting for the last one.

I placed Corner in his palm.

“Just having a conversation,” I answered, shrugging.

“With yourself?”

“With you. Since you don’t find me interesting enough to talk to, I’m making it easier for both of us and just doing it by myself. This way you won’t have to trouble yourself with asking random questions and making small talk. Plus, you’re up there, which means you can’t run away from me. So…win-win.”

For a long time, we stared at each other, and I did my best to look innocent. Then he just sighed and shook his head as if I’d lost my mind and he was astonished with himself because he’d married this weird person willingly. He turned back to the window.

“It’s not about not finding you interesting to talk to, Rose. You are probably the most interesting person I’ve ever met. I just don’t think we should get—nevermind I’ve had a long day, too—a long week, actually. That’s all.”

And didn’t that made me feel like a jerk.

“Oh,” I mumbled, shifting in place. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. Anything you want to share?”

“No need to apologize. It’s nothing specific, just lots of meetings and phone calls.”

“I baked some brownies to test out a recipe for opening day. Would you like some? Brownies always make me happy.”

“Maybe after we finish this. Why Around the Corner?”

I tried my best to keep my grin to a minimum but wasn’t sure if I quite managed it. “As Tom Hanks would say, the entrance is Around the Corner.”

“Tom Hanks?”

“I’m a big fan of the movie You’ve Got Mail. I love Meg Ryan’s character and her bookshop was called Around the Corner in the movie. It’s also simple, elegant, and sweet, not just because of the movie, but on its own. I like it. You’ve seen that movie, right? It’s a classic.”

“Can’t say I have.”

“No, Jack. Just no. No husband of mine can answer that question with a no. You have to watch it. Maybe we can watch it together one day when you’re free.”

“Maybe.” He paused, and I thought that would be the extent of our conversation. “It’s good,” he muttered.

“What?” I asked absently, looking out the window as people passed by with their umbrellas. The rain was starting to pick up.

“The name—it’s good for a coffee shop.”

That had my eyebrows rising and my attention going back to Jack. “Really? You think so?”

“Yes, it suits you for some reason, and it sounds like it has a good memory attached to it. You did a really good job around here, Rose. You should be proud.” He looked down. “This is it?” I nodded and he got down. “Good enough?” he asked, looking up at the decals.

I backed up and stood next to him. “It’s more than good enough. It’s perfect. Thank you. Can we do the same for the window at the front?”

Instead of making up an excuse like any other guy would have and leaving when I kept coming up with stuff I could use his help with, like arranging some of the tables and chairs—multiple times—he stayed put, and he complimented my brownies. When we were ready to leave, it had gotten dark out and the rain had started to fall harder. I still had the biggest smile on my face. Partly because of Jack, partly because of everything else. Like magic, Raymond was already waiting at the curb when we locked everything up, and we headed to Jack’s apartment.

On Saturday, I met up with Owen. Sally wasn’t coming in so I couldn’t introduce them, but it was Owen’s first time at the coffee shop with all the furniture set up nicely. I basically held my breath the entire time he was looking around and let out the longest sigh when he finally said he thought it looked amazing. We spent hours talking about what we wanted to do for the first month and created our menu together.

After Owen left, I sat down in the middle of the coffee shop and started working on the shopfront flower installation, which I hoped would be rather striking. I’d seen it in several shops in New York and in cities like Paris—thanks to Pinterest—and I’d fallen completely in love with the look and the way it transformed a space. Since we were living in a social media age, I wanted to do everything in my power and budget to make my coffee shop eye-catching, comfy, cozy, and beautiful.

Of course, this was all rooted in the hope that I would get actual living customers on opening day, and every day after that.

When Jack knocked on the door, I’d been waiting for him to show up for at least an hour. I had a big smile on my face when I opened the door for him, and he had a bewildered expression on his own.

“Hi. Hey. You’re late. Where were you?”

Those thick and prominent eyebrows drew together, but it still didn’t dampen my enthusiasm. This was Jack—frowning was like his version of saying hello.

“I’m late?”

“You always come around earlier. So…you’re late.”

“You were waiting for me?”

“Jack, I wait for you every day. It’s been almost three weeks.” I shrugged, not even realizing what I had just blurted out. “Come in, come in, it’s cold outside.” I opened the door wider and grabbed his arm, pulling him in since he was too busy staring at me.

“What do you mea—what is this?”

I came up behind him and bounced on my feet. He gave me another look, one that said he thought I was being weird. I ignored it completely. “It’s the flower installation that’s going to go outside. It’ll start on the ground and arch over the door. I’ll also add the group of flowers that’s over there to the back of the door so from the inside, it will look as if the flowers kinda went through the glass and bloomed on the wall inside.”

He nodded and I smiled again. I couldn’t contain it for some reason. “That’s a really great idea,” he said.

I was still bouncing, smaller bounces, but still…I was bouncy.

His forehead creased and his eyes looked me up and down. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked, and I burst out laughing, unable to contain myself.

“Nothing, Jack.” I shook my head, keeping the smile. “Absolutely nothing. Too much coffee, maybe?” I walked around the fake flowers that were covering almost every available surface. “Come help me?”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

I got on my knees and grabbed a bunch of roses from the ground. “You always help me.”

His jaw clenched. “Yes. Yes, I do, don’t I?”

“So? You’re not gonna help because helping with flowers isn’t manly enough? I won’t tell anyone, promise.”

He looked around the shop, around the floor, taking in all the shades of pink. Then he sighed and took off his black coat, followed by the black suit jacket.

“You can sit on the chair,” I said when he looked around as if he wasn’t sure where he should go. After a moment of hesitation, he pulled up the closest one and sat down to my left, his back to the door. “Why are you on the floor?”

“I started on the chair, but it goes quicker from here. You can hand me a wire with every flower.” I grabbed the wires from my right and handed them to him. “Different shades, though, okay? Don’t give me the same shade or shape back to back.”

He looked so lost with a small frown on his face, I couldn’t help but feel something in my chest. He wasn’t uttering any objections so I didn’t feel the need to let him off the hook, not to mention I really needed his help if I wanted to get out of there before the sun rose. When he took out a wire from the package and bent down to reach for a fake—but beautiful—rose from the pile, I cleared my throat.

“Ah, aren’t you gonna…”

He met my eyes. “Am I gonna…what?”

I was an idiot. “Your sleeves…you always roll them up.” I was a gigantic idiot, but…it was always one of the highlights of my day, so why should I have to suffer just because he forgot about it? It was my daily forearm porn, and I had started to look forward to it.

His frown got a tiny bit deeper as he looked down to his wrists and then—thank you God!—he put down the rose and the wire in his hand and started the process. I watched him the entire time without him even noticing it. When he grabbed the rose and the wire again, holding them straight up in his hands, I couldn’t hold back my grin.

“Something funny I should know about?”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “You’re all dressed up. Did you go to your office today?”

“Yes.”

“Do you work every weekend?”

“Usually.” He paused. “I don’t have to go in on the weekends. I only do if I don’t have any other plans.”

I reached for the rose he was holding and secured it to the fake branch with the wire, making sure it wasn’t at the same level as the others. I wanted some of them to stick out and some to be farther back so it gave the illusion of a big explosion of roses blooming.

“Do you make plans with your friends?” I asked, not looking at him because I had to pick up my pace.

“My best friend moved to London. Work keeps me busy as it is.”

“You?”

“Me?”

“I haven’t seen any of your friends around.”

“Oh, I’m usually busy with work, too. To save money, I had to spend a lot of time at home and that doesn’t help you have a social life.”

After our admissions, we worked along in a comfortable silence, and with his help, it started to go a lot faster. I’d done a lot of it before he showed up, but it looked like we’d be out of there in an hour at most.

“Isn’t this something a florist would do?” he asked after quite some time.

I gave him a quick look then focused on the flowers again. “Yeah, but the budget thing, remember? I scrolled through Pinterest, watched a few YouTube videos, and read some blog posts, and I think it’s turning out just fine. I know the florists do it with fresh flowers sometimes, but that would be extremely expensive. Extremely. These look all right, don’t they? I mean, it’ll look better once it’s up and arched over the door, but…”

“It’s beautiful,” Jack said softly. It was soft enough that it got my attention, and I noticed his eyes were on me, not the flowers. “What are those for?” he continued, gesturing toward the yellow roses I had on the side farther from us.

“Oh, I’ll distribute them on the tables on Monday. Again, I can’t buy fresh flowers every week, so I’m gonna go with fake on those too. Hopefully, if things go well, I’ll upgrade to fresh roses on the tables in a few months and I’ll buy more plants to put around the place.”

His fingers grazed mine and I had the oddest feeling. Ignoring it, I kept working and secretly enjoyed every little touch, every little graze.

“You know I could lend you money, right? The place is mine, so it would be an investment, and since you’re going to pay me rent after the six month period has passed, I wouldn’t want you to close it down before that.”

I gave him an incredulous look. “Come on, Jack. Let’s be honest with each other—if I can’t make this place work, it’d work in your favor because you’ll get your hands on it faster. What did you say you were planning on doing with it? A restaurant?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

I was so curious, but he wasn’t giving it up. “Either way, thank you, but I couldn’t accept your money.”

An hour later, my fingers aching and a little scraped, I finally spoke up. “I think we’re done. This is it.” Groaning, I pushed myself up.

“Would you like to have dinner with me, Rose?” he blurted out.

“What?” I asked, looking at him with a puzzled expression as he stood up as well.

“Have you had dinner?” he asked instead of giving an answer.

“No. I think the last thing I ate was a small sandwich. I snacked on a few things, but not a full meal. But…” I looked down at myself and cringed. “I’m not really dressed for going out, and my hands…” Holding my arms out in front of me, I opened and closed my hands, looking at my red fingers. I hid them behind my back and tucked them into my back pockets, hoping they would warm up. “Would it be okay if we ordered in? If you don’t mind. If you have other plans, you don’t have to stay in with me.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to have dinner with me if I had other plans.”

“That’s true.” My mind was getting a little fuzzy.

Keeping an eye on me, he rolled down his sleeves, I really appreciated the view in silence. Then he grabbed his suit jacket from the back of the chair and put it on.

I just stood there in front of the flower arrangement, not sure what I should do next. It was dark outside so there was no way I could put it out and secure it before morning.

“Rose.” Jack interrupted my thoughts and I glanced at him. “Come on, let’s go home.”

“No, I should probably do…first I should…”

“Rose.” I looked at him again, meeting his eyes. “You’re going to crash soon. You’ve done enough. Let’s go.”

With perfect timing, my stomach grumbled, as if agreeing with him. I looked around again. “That sounds like a plan,” I mumbled, but I still didn’t move. “But maybe first I should clean the place up a bit.”

He ignored me completely. “Where is your coat?”

“In the kitchen. It must be in the kitchen.”

Wordlessly, he headed toward the back, walking around the huge rose explosion in the middle of the shop. I thought I heard him talk to someone on the phone, Raymond I think, but then he was back, and he was ordering me to put my arms into the sleeves. He pushed me all the way out, got the lights, even put in the code for the alarm, and locked everything up. With his warm hand on my back, he guided me down the road to where Raymond was parked.

Why did I always feel so safe when he was near me?

“I think I leaned down a little too much for too long. I’m just feeling dizzy, but I’m fine.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I stumbled on something and Jack caught my arm before my face could hit the ground. “Whoa. Really dizzy.”

I remembered getting in the car and maybe saying hi to Raymond, but I didn’t remember how I got up to the apartment and onto the couch. When Jack woke me up with a hand on my shoulder, I was feeling extremely disoriented. He helped me up and gave me two slices of pizza. It was cheese, pepperoni, and black olives, and he ordered me to eat up, and eat up quick. I finished in two minutes flat and even asked for another slice.

I had no recollection of what we talked about, but I did remember mumbling my answers and then wishing him a good night before stumbling to my bed.

The number of times Jack Hawthorne smiled: zero. (BUT…it’s coming soon. I can feel it.)