He was right. Call it mother’s instinct, but she needed to make sure Ben was safe. “You don’t mind?”
“As long as I can get a rain check. I don’t know that I’ve ever frolicked in bed, but as long as it involves you naked, I’m all in.”
Harper muffled laughter. Bennett was a surprise on so many levels, not least of all the sly, sexual tease in his voice.
“Rain check it is.”
“But I’d also be good with some covert action in the dead of night if you’re up for it.”
“I might be up for hunting bear later.” She popped to her toes to press a kiss on his smiling mouth. “Grizzly.”
Chapter 24
Two months later …
Harper paced next to the coffee roaster in the back of the café. It was five in the morning opening day of Home Front Coffee. Sleep had been not just elusive but nonexistent. The aroma from the roaster filled the room. She and Joyce and Madeline had roasted countless small batches of beans, ground them, made coffee, and sampled it. They had agreed the medium dark roast was the most appealing. Eventually, Home Front might offer a variety of roastings, but keeping it simple at the start held its appeal.
Fresh beans for the first customers would be good PR. Except what if no one showed up? What if her tiny venture folded in Guinness world record time?
Thinking about the possibilities made her sick. Literally. On her run to the bathroom, she hit her shoulder on the doorjamb, fell to her knees in front of the toilet, and heaved. She cleaned up and rinsed her mouth out with water. The lights emphasized her sallow complexion and dark circles under her eyes. She’d been sick with nerves for the last week and tired. So tired. Stress was a killer.
One way or another, she’d feel better after today. It was the not knowing if her business plan was amateurish or brilliant or something in between that was taking a toll. The turn of the lock out front brought her out of the bathroom. Madeline had arrived. Energy and good humor and optimism crackled around her. Harper wanted to give her a hug. Without Madeline, Harper might have given up.
Madeline took a deep breath and hummed. “You’ve already got the roaster going. It smells divine in here.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
Madeline’s smile didn’t infect Harper. “I know. I’m excited, too.”
Instead of admitting her mood had shifted toward the dread end of the scale, she said, “Do you think I ordered too many bakery items?”
The bakery across the street had provided muffins and scones and coffee cake to Home Front Coffee at wholesale prices. In return, the bakery would stock bags of freshly roasted Home Front Coffee in their bakery for a tidy profit. Hopefully, a win-win in terms of advertising and making a name for themselves.
“You ordered the perfect amount. T-minus one hour. Let’s put several of each on display. We can restock as we sell out.” Madeline’s enthusiasm only made Harper feel like a Jenga tower one turn away from collapse.
She went into the back where a corner of the storeroom had been commandeered as office space. A safe held the petty cash she’d taken out of the bank to load the register. After she did that, she checked and rechecked the credit card reader link. Considering how few people carried cash these days, a malfunction would be disastrous. She still had nightmares about the defective machine at Wilbur’s when she worked at the ice-cream store during the summers.
Two young wives from the military support group knocked on the door. While Madeline and Harper’s job was to put out the inevitable fires and man the roaster the first day in operation, Harper had hired the two women to handle the behind-the-counter work. Both had experience as waitresses and in retail, plus they were friendly and excited about working at Home Front. Joyce would come toward the end of the shift and help with closing out the register and deciding what they needed to reorder and when.
Madeline let the two women inside and they put on aprons and chattered while they prepared for the opening. Allison was the next to arrive. She and Harper exchanged hugs.
The two months following Sophie’s release from the hospital had brought stability and healing to Allison and Darren and their family. Darren still struggled with PTSD, but through the combination of medicine, his Wounded Warriors group outings, and Allison’s support, he was managing his anxiety and depression.
Harper retreated to the coffee roaster. The smell of coffee was usually her morning siren song, but she couldn’t quell the roil of her stomach. The roasting cycle was complete and the beans were cooling. Some they would use that morning, and some they would bag to sell.
Allison joined her at the roaster. “Almost time, Boss.”
Oh God, she was in charge. The pressure threatened to crush her. She took a deep breath, but the freshly roasted coffee made her choke. She slapped a hand over her mouth and, knowing she wouldn’t make it to the bathroom this time, scurried around boxes for the back door. She made it by an inch. Not that she had anything left but bile.
She returned, feeling wrung-out and put-up wet. “Sorry. I’m battling a severe case of nerves.”
The worry on Allison’s face was replaced by amusement. “Oh, is that what it is? I thought you might be pregnant.”
Harper made a scoffing noise, but a roar had filled her ears, muffling whatever else Allison said. Pregnant? She couldn’t be. It was impossible. Yet was it?
She and Bennett hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other the last two months. Sure, they had been careful, but there was that one time on a secluded dirt road. Serious frolicking had taken place in the cab of his truck. Anyone could have driven by. It had been on the edge of wild and reckless, and she’d loved every minute.
When was her last period? It wasn’t something she normally tracked. They were irregular and on the light side, anyway. Had it been more than four weeks? Maybe.
At some point, Harper’s inattention registered with Allison. “Harper! Are you pregnant?”
“I don’t know.” She must have looked like she felt—scared, shell-shocked, but with a hint of wonder, too.
“Well, bless your heart.” Allison said it in a non-ironic way and seemed to possess knowledge Harper lacked.
“A baby is really unlikely.”
“Is it? You’re still young, and Bennett has been rocking your panties off for months now.” She waggled her eyebrows.
Harper shushed her between clenched teeth. Her stomach was trying to tear its way out of her body like in Alien. “What should I do?”
“Let’s have a great opening day. Then, we’ll grab a pregnancy test and some pizza on the way home.”
“I meant, long term if it turns out…” Harper already knew what the pregnancy test would say, and she’d been a fool not to suspect earlier.
“Tell Bennett. You don’t think he’s going to be excited?”
“He brought up marriage about a month ago.”
Allison grabbed her hands. “In general or specifically related to the two of you getting married?”
“Specifically us.”
“What did you say? Obviously, not yes, or he would have put a ring on it already.”
“It felt like less of a yes-no situation and more like he was feeling me out. Like he didn’t want to outright ask if I wasn’t open to the idea.”
“And are you?”
“Of course I am. I love him, but we haven’t been together long, and he’s never wanted to settle down.”
“That’s because he was waiting for you.” Even though Allison was only a couple of years older than Harper, she possessed a wisdom that far outstripped her. “How did you leave things?”
“I did some babbling about Ben and needing time and went to the bathroom to regroup.”
Allison burst out laughing. “Smooth.”
Madeline stuck her head through the connecting door. “It’s time, ladies.”
Harper grabbed Allison’s wrist as she was turning toward the door. “I’m scared.”
She wasn’t sure if she was referring to the prospect of an unplanned pregnancy or the opening of Home Front. In a few short months, her easy, boring life had been upended, by chance and choice.