Page 12 of Second Chance with Seth
“Why don’t you ask him if he’d like something to go with his coffee?” Aunt Clare asked, keeping her voice quite low, so no-one would overhear.
“Who?”
“Who do you think? The man who can’t take his eyes off of you.”
She smiled as she was speaking, her eyes glinting with mischief, and I shook my head.
“He’d have asked if he wanted something else.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know what’s on offer.”
I held out my hand to the display of cakes, cookies, and pastries. “You don’t think it’s obvious enough?”
“Not necessarily.”
She nudged me toward the end of the counter and then gave me a positive shove in the back, so I almost tripped over. I glared back at her, but she looked a picture of innocence and rather than turn back, I made my way over to table eight.
“I—Is everything okay?” I asked as the man looked up at me. His eyes were a deep shade of blue, and although I was trying desperately to treat him like any other customer, it was impossible when I just wanted to sit and stare at him… for the rest of my life.
“Everything’s just great, thanks.” His smile lit up my world, and I nodded my head.
“I can’t get you anything else?”
“No. But you can sit with me for a while.” He glanced around at the two other tables that were occupied. “You’re not exactly rushed off your feet.”
I hesitated, but not for very long, and then pulled out the chair and sat opposite him. “Okay, but if we get busy, I’ll have to go back to work.”
He added his head. “Sounds like a fair deal.”
I half expected there to be an awkward silence between us, but there wasn’t. He introduced himself as Seth Roberts, asking how long I’d worked at the coffee shop, and before I knew it, I’d told him about my parents’ deaths, and how Aunt Clare had taken me in when I was five. He asked questions about how it had been growing up in the town, and I told him a little about life in Hart’s Creek and that it was the only home I’d ever known.
“I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”
“What about when you went to college?” he said.
“I didn’t. I couldn’t face all those strangers.” It felt odd to have told him that, but he nodded, like he understood.
“So you came to work for your aunt?”
“I already did,” I explained. “Just on Saturdays. But once I graduated high school, I switched to being full-time, and she gave me half the business.”
“So you co-own it?” he said, raising his eyebrows.
“Yes.”
“Impressive.”
“Only because of my aunt’s generosity.”
“Don’t put yourself down. She could’ve just kept you on as an employee. She chose not to, and I’m guessing she had a reason.” I felt myself blushing, but I liked his compliment. It made me feel good about myself.
I noticed my aunt closing up and realized we’d been sitting there for nearly two hours.
“I should probably help my aunt,” I said, getting to my feet.
“You’re fine,” Aunt Clare said, having obviously overheard me, and Seth got to his feet.
“Are you doing anything for the rest of the evening?” he asked
