Page 26 of Moonshine and Magnolias (Just Add Peaches #1)

The owner’s eyes took on a measure of sympathy and she kept her hands on Wendy’s shoulders. “How are you doing, hon?”

She offered the woman a smile. “It’s been hard, but I’m doing well. Thank you for asking.”

“I’m happy to see you in here. It’s almost like old times, with you and Brandi and the softball team coming in here after practice.” She gave Wendy a pat on the shoulder, then bustled behind the counter. “Your usual toasted coconut almond chocolate latte?”

“I can’t believe you remembered.” Her stomach protested the mere thought of the highly-sugared drink. “Not today, though. Just two black coffees, please. Large. And some of your pound cake.” To match the ache in her head.

The woman prepared the order with her usual efficiency, and the coffees soon appeared along with two thick pieces of dessert. “On the house. You take care, now.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Kempert.” Wendy balanced the cake and the drinks and headed to the booth.

Jordan had taken command, setting up her computer and notebooks on the extended table. She pounced as soon as Wendy was seated. “You didn’t see your guest?” She circled the air near her mouth with the pencil she was holding. “Sebastien went all Ginger Ninja on your Dr. Upshaw.”

“What? Why the hell would he do something like that?” And he wasn’t her Dr. Upshaw.

She didn’t want to talk about him. Not until she had time to process the raw tension from that morning, the desire and longing that zipped through her when they were together.

She kept her voice neutral and picked at a corner of her cake. “What did Sebastien say?”

“I didn’t ask. I was more interested in hearing from you.” Jordan used the pencil to push her glasses back in place.

Wendy shrugged and turned on her computer, hoping Jordan would move on from the topic. But her friend said nothing, only crossed her arms and exhibited the same patience she had used while waiting to tag out a player trying to steal second base.

“Fine,” Wendy huffed. “Truth is, I had no idea they even crossed paths this morning.”

Jordan lifted one elegantly-shaped eyebrow. “I never said it was this morning.”

“Shut up. Nothing happened. I was drunk and he was a gentleman.” Mostly.

Jordan took a sip of her coffee. “Did you want something to happen?”

With her feelings when she was with Rob, and the curveball Hal had pitched her way, if she didn’t get herself straightened up, she might explode. She folded her arms on the table and rested her forehead on them, and gave in to the feeling. “I’m such a mess.”

“Do you like him?”

Wendy went with instinct and nodded into her arms.

“So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. He’s a guest and will be leaving when his work is done. Plus it’s not like I can just jump into being a part of someone else’s life. I don’t have that kind of ease.” Not like her cousin.

Jordan broke off a piece of her cake. “Sebastien likes Dr. Upshaw. I think. Meanwhile, I haven’t met the guy yet.”

“Then why did he hit him?”

“Yeah, I’m still not sure on that part. But from what I could gather, the punch happened before they became BFFs. ”

Wendy snorted and sat back in the booth, less jumbled after her small confession but still with no clue on what to do.

The bell rang above the door and an older man entered Cuppa Joe’s. His eyebrows knit when he saw Wendy and Jordan, but he shuffled over. “Hey, there, Ms. Wendy.”

He looked familiar, but Wendy couldn’t place him. “I’m sorry, Mr…?”

“Mitchell. Gerald Mitchell.” He ran his hand through his wiry brown hair. “I knew your Grandma Maybelle. She was such a blessing. Did great things in the community.”

Pride filled part of the empty hole that had appeared in her chest at any mention of her grandmother. “Thank you, Mr. Mitchell. That’s always nice to hear. This is my friend, Jordan Shoenover.”

The man gave Jordan a nod. “Is Ms. Brandi with you?”

The question caught Wendy off guard. “No, sir.”

“Oh. I thought we were meeting here, and I’m late.

Do you know where she is?” A beeping sounded from his back pocket and he took out a flip phone.

It looked tiny in his hand, and Wendy held back a smile at the dated technology.

He stared at the message then nodded. “She changed the place. I better get going, since I’m already late. ”

Wendy managed to not ask why they were meeting. Mr. Mitchell wasn’t dressed in rags, but he wasn’t young and didn’t look like the smooth, affluent men Brandi gravitated to. Besides, he wore a wedding ring, and her cousin had some standards. “It was nice seeing you again.”

“You, too. You take care now.” He gave a half-wave, then left the shop.

“Was that weird, or is it just me?” Jordan asked once the door closed.

“Right?” Wendy asked.

“It’s obvious she doesn’t want us to know what’s going on, or she would have said something.”

“So we should respect that.”

“Absolutely.” Jordan nodded, then picked up a paper from the table .

“Do you think they’re…” Wendy trailed off, knowing her friend would fill in the blank.

“He’s so much older than her normal.”

“And he’s married, if the ring on his finger is accurate.”

“We should stop speculating. I would have expected her to hook up with one of your single male guests.” Jordan glanced over at the counter and raised her brows. “Speak of the devil.”

Wendy followed her gaze to Rob Upshaw ordering something at the counter. Her insides both tensed up and melted. As much as she would have loved to avoid seeing him today, meeting in a public place was good. In front of Jordan was good. Getting his dysfunction out of her head was good.

He turned, hesitated when he saw her before approaching their table.

Jordan was right about the altercation. Reddish bruises circled half his mouth and his lip was cut. Although the color was more vivid compared to where she had clocked him with a peach, it didn’t look like he needed any kind of medical care.

“Well, this is a surprise, Dr. Upshaw.” She kept her voice personable and upbeat. “How was the tour? Did one of the kids beat you up? Your lip looks bruised.”

His eyes glided over her as if assessing her well-being. “I think I had as much fun as they did. I can email you something if you want an official report.”

“That sounds good. Are you here because your brother consumed all the coffee?” Good. Be smooth. She even showed how cool she was by casually leaning back in the booth, ignoring the swirls in her stomach and fighting the gravitational pull of his crotch and his situation.

He grinned and gave a quick laugh, the sound relaxing her nerves.

“Nothing so earth-shattering. He’s following up on some research and we’re going to meet here when he’s done.

” He gestured around Cuppa Joe’s. “Your aunt told us about this place, claimed the coffee was good enough to calm even Hal’s caffeine beast.”

“Oh.” Wendy’s heart bounced around in a way it had never done before and she caught her breath. Damn the man. Her body screamed for his to be pressed against her and she willed herself to be still. She stuffed a bite of pound cake in her mouth.

“I should—” Jordan started to rise from her chair but Wendy opened her eyes wide in protest. She wasn’t ready to be alone with him. She had to prepare, figure out what to say and plan her comeback to his responses.

Her friend saved her and finished a different sentence. “—get started on my spreadsheets.”

Wendy spoke quickly to keep her real thoughts from being voiced. “This is my friend, Jordan Shoenover. Jordan, Dr. Upshaw.”

“Call me Rob. Dr. Upshaw is a mouthful and I’m tired of hearing it.”

“Well, then, Rob.” Jordan emphasized his name, shooting Wendy an amused look. “Why don’t you sit down and join us. Did you walk into a peach tree earlier? Do you need something for those scrapes?”

It’s a good thing she was sitting out of Wendy’s range. Kicking her friend seemed a viable course of action at this moment. “Unless you have something else to do.”

He didn’t take the hint and slid into the booth next to her. Even with the longer seat, she felt comfortably trapped between his fresh scent and the wall. She waited for the onslaught of nerves to take over in a panic but they never appeared.

Huh.

Rob gently touched the cut on his lip. “I’ll be fine. What are you guys doing?”

Talking about him. “Some financial stuff and organizing the reenactment. Assigning booths and figuring out volunteers, that sort of thing,” Wendy said.

“I’ll let you get to it.” Rob started his slide out of the booth.

Jordan stopped him. “There’s no need for you to leave.”

“If you’re sure.” He said it to Jordan, but looked at Wendy instead.

Every fiber in her body yearned to keep him near while her sanity told her to send him on his way. But sanity hadn’t been batting a thousand lately. She put her hands in her lap to keep from reaching out. “Yeah, stay around.”

“Okay. I have some research to do myself until I catch up with Hal.” He took out his tablet and slid the lock open.

“Right.” Jordan tapped something on her keyboard, then leaned back against the booth and studied her monitor. “Seventy-eight vendors are coming this year. Only thirteen fewer than you thought.” She turned her computer so Wendy could see. “Are you still going to do a memorial for your grandmother?”

Wendy nodded. Rob rested his strong hand on hers under the table for too-short a moment without looking away from his screen. The physical comfort made tears burn behind her eyes.

“That will be nice,” Jordan said. “Let me know if you want help on it.”

“Me, too.” Rob said.