Beyond the Orange Moon (Mathews Family Book 2) (5 page)

and headed back into the kitchen.
 

“Seriously,” Grace began after Lydia left, “sell these cupcakes. And I don’t mean here in the café.”

“It’s just something I do for fun.”

Grace wiped her mouth and narrowed her eyes. “Exactly. Make money while you have fun.”

Lucy scrunched up her face and shook her head. “Now’s not the time to think about pipe dreams.”

Grace sighed and looked around the café. “Yeah, it’ll mess up this glorious thing you have goin’ on here.”

“Shut up,” Lucy said, and rolled her eyes.

Grace’s expression turned considerate. “You know what? I’m not going to push.” She smiled. “You seem to be making strides. These past two months have really been good for you.”

“What do you mean?” Lucy asked, knowing exactly what she meant. She just didn’t know how to explain it herself.
 

“You laugh now.” Grace shrugged and slid her finger against the side of her cupcake to gather up a dollop of frosting. “You’re coming back to me.”

Lucy let her shoulders fall as she looked at her thoughtful friend, who wasn’t usually so honest and sincere. “I’m starting to feel better,” she said, not caring to mention her rendezvous at the park.
 

“Good. Have you heard from Adam?” Grace asked between bites.
 

Lucy rolled her eyes and swiped more frosting before taking another lick. “No.”

Lucy’s ex-boyfriend was a med student and trust fund baby. He also happened to be the one she thought she was supposed to someday marry. Needless to say, her past year of depression was more than likely a tiresome experience for everyone involved. She did totally lose it, of course. Who would want to deal with that?
 

He was good-looking and driven—supposedly everything she should want. Her mother had begged her to get it together so she didn’t lose such a “great catch.” Looking back now, however, she was pretty sure his attraction was purely physical. That part had been really important to her when she first met him. Now, after witnessing such a true loss, it just made her feel shallow.
 

“Waste of a good-looking man, that one.” Grace sighed. “He wasn’t even that great in bed, though, Lucy.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Lucy asked, horrified.
 

“I never heard anything that sounded mind-blowing coming from your bedroom, so I just figured.”

Lucy blew out a breath and laughed. “You’re terrible.”

“Ain’t roommates grand?” Grace asked, wagging her perfect eyebrows, and took another bite.
 

“So grand,” Lucy said, and headed over to greet a customer.

She took the customer’s order for a raspberry white mocha. As the machines began to blast the ear-piercing sounds she had grown accustomed to, she blew out a breath that lifted the blonde hair from her blue eyes. Grace came to visit her at the café just about every day on her way home from the night shift. Once in a while, they would get to talking, making Lucy feel as though she was merely hanging out with her girlfriend over a cup of coffee. Each customer who approached the counter seemed to yank her out of this little fantasy, reminding her exactly where her life was now.
 

It was a long way from her nights as a nursing student. Here she was, a twenty-four-year-old barista with tons of student loans.
 

Grace had graduated and landed a job at the same hospital Lucy had left behind that horrible night. The only thing Lucy regretted was the fact that she hadn’t really made another plan after being a total failure in the nursing program. Thank God for Lydia, who insisted that Lucy help out at the café for a little while until she could get back on her feet. Unfortunately, a little while had morphed into a full year. The one thing she was sure of, however, was that serving coffee was not her future; it was simply her right now.
 

She swiped the customer’s card and gave him his receipt before heading back over to Grace, who was at the counter, silently buried in her cupcake.
 

“I’m going to wipe down tables in the dining area,” Lucy said, and laughed when Grace didn’t respond.
 

She moved from table to table as she picked up tiny pieces of paper and then wiped each table clean. She swept the piles of change that customers had left behind into her purple apron pockets and hoped the pennies and nickels weren’t left out of courtesy.
Gee thanks
.
 

Back at the counter, Lucy attempted to throw her towel into the bucket of bleach and water, but missed, spilling the water instead. She bent to clean up her mess, which had expanded to the floor.
 

“Uh, Lucy,” Grace said from the other side of the counter.
 

Lucy looked up and narrowed her eyes at Grace’s strange expression. “What?” she asked, confused.
 

“You have a customer,” Grace answered, her voice barely a whisper.
 

Lucy groaned as she got to her tired feet and approached the register. She was exhausted and it was only nine in the morning. “How may I—oh.”

It was only right then, when she looked into those familiar eyes, that she understood Grace’s look. “It’s you,” she said absentmindedly. Her mouth was wide open; she could feel it, but she just couldn’t seem to close it.
 

“Hello,” he said.
 

“Hi,” she said, still staring.

He slowly cocked his head to the right, his squinted eyes taking her in. “I see you at the park, don’t I?”
 

 
Heat rushed over her face, her cheeks bursting with each rise in temperature. She felt Grace’s eyes on her, but she wasn’t worried what Grace thought at the moment. She nodded slowly, but couldn’t find any words to go with it. That small movement of the head would be her response.
 

“I thought so. Uh, anyway, I have a question for you,” he began. “I normally drink my coffee black.”

“Okay,” she answered carefully.
 

“But I got into a bit of trouble last night with my brothers and I’m not feeling the hot coffee right now, you know?”
 

 
“Okay,” she said, still baffled.
 

“I guess I need something cold, but with a kick.” He raked his fingers through his light brown hair before locking those green eyes with hers. “I need caffeine, but I need it cold. I’m not up on the current coffee lingo, but what I don’t want is something with whipped cream and chocolate all over it. Does that make sense?”

Lucy shook her head.
 

“No?” he asked. “That doesn’t make sense?”

Snap out of it, Lucy!
“No. I’m sorry,” she said with a long sigh. “It’s been a really long morning. Yes. It makes sense.”

“You need an iced coffee,” Grace intervened.
 

He pointed at Grace. “I hear ice and I hear coffee, so, yeah. Thanks.”

“No problem,” Grace said. She smiled, but Lucy knew by Grace’s expression that she was feeling that same
Oh my God
feeling.

“Just milk and sugar?” Lucy asked.

He stared at her for a few seconds before his lips slowly curved into an unreadable smile. “Sure. Sweeten it up.”

Lucy felt her face flush with a color that wasn’t meant to be seen by a man. “Okay,” she said, and headed over to make his drink. On the way, she raised her eyebrows at Grace, who gave her a knowing look.
 

“I’ve never been in here before,” he said as Lucy worked. “I drive past it every day.”

“My cousin, Lydia, owns it,” Lucy answered, and then wondered why she felt that information was important. “It’s been here for about three years.”

“It’s nice,” he said as he looked around. He bent over to look through the glass that separated him from the cinnamon rolls, bagels, croissants, fritters, muffins, breads, and scones. “I guess I should get something for my crew.”

Lucy brought his coffee over and set it on the counter. “What would you like?”

“What do you recommend?”

“Bagels are pretty easy. Or muffins.”

“I’m sorry. You have a little …” He chuckled as he raised his hand and pointed to the corner of his mouth.
 

Lucy felt the humiliating blush stain her cheeks again. “What?” she asked, and quickly pulled her hand up to her mouth. “Here?”

“It’s something … there. No,” he said. “It’s right here.”
 

Suddenly, he reached out and touched the skin just above her upper lip. With one gentle swipe, he wiped away whatever it was. Caught completely off guard, Lucy lost her breath as he slowly pulled his hand from her face.
 

He rubbed his finger on the bottom of his shirt. “It was cream or something.”

“Cream?” she asked quietly, and licked her lips. “Oh, no. It was frosting. We were eating cupcakes.”

“Makes perfect sense,” he said, clearly amused. He bent back down to look into the display case.
 

Lucy fidgeted with a napkin while she waited. He was bent in a way that exposed just how lovely his backside was. His jeans hung perfectly on everything dangerous and his white T-shirt showed off just about every angle and line he had underneath, including a black tribal tattoo that wrapped around his tan, muscular arm.
 

She licked her lips again.
 

“Muffins,” he finally decided, tapping on the glass. “I’ll take three dozen of whatever you have. Surprise me.”

Lucy hurried as she grabbed every muffin in her reach and then headed to the back to grab more. “I need two dozen muffins. Whatever kind we have,” she told Lydia, and began to scoop up anything she could find.
 

“I just made some,” Lydia said, her eyes filled with curiosity. “Where’s the fire?”

Lucy looked down and realized her hands were shaking. She must have looked manic. She
felt
manic. “Lydia! Just help me!”

Lydia eyed her strangely, but pulled the bag from her hands and began to help fill it. “Calm down,” she said quietly.

Lucy ripped the bag back from her. “Thanks,” she said, and pushed open the double doors that led out of the kitchen.
 

“Here you are,” she said in a voice that she hoped sounded at ease.
 

He pulled out his wallet and looked at her expectantly. “How much?”

She had forgotten to ring up his order. She began to push a combination of buttons until she finally arrived at a number that didn’t seem quite right in her head, but she said it anyway. “Fifteen thirty-seven.”

He handed her his card. “Add five dollars on there for you, please.”

“Oh, no,” she said, shaking her head. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes I do, Lucy,” he said. “You were very helpful today.”

Lucy gasped. It was a lot louder in her head, she was sure, but it was a gasp, nonetheless. “How do you know my name?”

He squinted and then his eyes traveled down to her chest. “You’re wearing a nametag.”
 

“Oh,” she said, mortified. She absentmindedly brought her hand up to her chest to feel her nametag. “I forgot it was there.”

“Right. So, anyway, thanks.” He grabbed his bag of muffins and coffee, and walked backward. “Maybe I’ll see you at the park or something.” He slipped on his aviator sunglasses and walked out the door.
 

“Holy shit.” Grace moved closer to Lucy and joined her in watching him through the window. “Did you see he still has a wedding ring on? That’s heartbreaking.”

Lucy nodded slowly and tried to pinpoint all of the emotions she felt raging through her. It was one thing to watch him and his son from a park bench, but it was a completely different thing to have him actually speak to her.
 

“Lucy, your face looks like it’s on fire,” Grace warned in her famous
don’t-be-stupid
tone.
 

“I’m just shocked,” Lucy practically whispered.

“He’s definitely off-limits. Please say you know that.” When she didn’t get a response, Grace heaved a sigh. “What’s his name again?”
 

“Charlie Mathews,” Lucy said. “He has no idea who we are.”

“They usually never do when our relationship with them ends in tragedy. It’s like they block us out.”
 

“I can’t say that I blame him,” Lucy said, wishing she could’ve blocked him out, too.
 

Chapter Three

Charlie closed the door to his truck and shook his head. “Sweeten it up?” he asked himself. “Did I really just say that?”
 

He shook his head and took a drink of his cold coffee, which was surprisingly good. He touched her face. Why had he done that? It was automatic; there had been no thought in that action whatsoever. It was definitely invasive—intimate, but completely invasive.

Yes, he had noticed her at the park from the minute Jackson’s ball had rolled her way. She had been crying … over a book. He thought it was extraordinary that such an emotion could be pulled out from just a book. He had been drawn to it, but that was exactly why he walked away. It was too complicated and messy. And each time he had seen her again, he had wanted to avoid her. The park simply wasn’t big enough anymore.