found the washroom, slipped inside and looked at herself in the mirror. What she saw was so ordinary as to be discouraging. Her light brown hair, average at the best of times, was pulled into a tight bun—even worse. She had gone very light on the makeup, so faint freckles stood out on her nose. She had on no lipstick, and she had worn glasses tonight instead of her contacts. A wholesome, old-fashioned look was exactly what she wanted when she was behind the table giving out cookie samples.
To have coffee with an old crush—who could coax a blush out of her with a turn of phrase—not so much!
She pulled her hair out of the bun. It fell, stick-straight, to her shoulders. She rummaged in her purse for a brush and added a touch of lip gloss.
It was an improvement, but she was aware she still felt very ordinary, the kind of workaday girl who was virtually invisible.
“Not in his league,” she told herself. But then she saw the plus side of that: she could just relax. It was just old friends catching up, after all. Nothing would ever come of it, except maybe a beneficial business connection.
She went back out into the main room. He had chosen two love seats facing each other with a round coffee table in between. She walked over and sat opposite him.
“You’ve let your hair down,” Brand said.
Physically, not figuratively, despite her intention to relax. She hoped he didn’t think she had done it to impress him.
“More comfortable,” she said.
“I always liked the color of your hair. It reminds me of sand on a sun-warmed beach.”
He had remembered the color of her hair? She gawked at him. Sand on a sun-warmed beach?
Do not gawk at the celebrities, she ordered herself. And do not take it personally, she also ordered herself. It was obvious he knew his way around women. He had found her one redeeming feature and flattered her about it. And it had worked some terrible magic on her. She could feel her nerves humming so hard it felt as though her skin was vibrating.
“I always considered it mousy brown,” she said.
“That is ridiculous.”
If she wasn’t careful, she was going to gawk again. Probably with her mouth hanging open.
Thankfully, the beverages were delivered. Two steaming cups were set in front of them. She took hers, blew on it gently so as not to blow a blob of foam right onto his forehead and took a sip.
“What is this?” she asked, delighted.
“So I did manage to surprise! You’ve never had it before?”
“No.”
“It’s a chai latte. Spiced sweet tea with steamed milk. You like?”
“Wonderful. I can taste the tea, which is so ordinary, but then the spices and the mound of sugar-crusted foam raise it to a new level.”
Suddenly she wondered why he had picked it for her. And she found herself looking at ordinary in a different light.
“And what are you having?” she asked him.
“Coffee, black.”
“Given the variety on the menu, that seems unadventurous.”
“I save my adventuring for other arenas.”
She was going to blush again! No, she was not. She would not give him the satisfaction.
“You have had some great adventures in business,” she said, pleased that she did not miss a beat. “I’ve been reading about you, Brand,” she said. “You’ve done so well.”
“Ah, the City article. I had no idea that magazine was so widely read.”
Bree doubted it had been before they featured him on the cover!
“I must say I didn’t treasure anonymity nearly enough when I had it. Everyone suddenly knows who I am. It’s a little disconcerting. But thank you. The success part seems to be luck and timing. I jumped on an opportunity.”
“My dad loved the quote—‘opportunity meets preparation.’ He always thought very highly of you. He admired your work ethic. He was fond of saying, ‘That young man is going places.’”
“He used to say the same thing to me. When not another person in the world was. I feel as if he was the first person who truly believed in me. That goes a long way in a young man’s life, especially one with no father figure. I don’t think I ever had a chance to tell him that. What his faith in me meant. I regret it, but I’m glad I’ve been given this opportunity to tell you.”
It became evident to her this was why he’d invited her for coffee. It was an opportunity to tell her what her father had meant to him.
It was lovely.
So, why did she feel faintly resentful—as if she was a chai latte that had just been demoted to a very ordinary cup of Earl Gray?
He watched her now over the rim of his coffee cup. “I called several times after your dad died. I spoke to your mother. Did she tell you?”
“Yes, she said you had called and asked after me.”
“One day I called and the number was out of service. I dropped by the house and it was empty. For sale, if I recall.”
Bree took a sip of her drink, and let the spicy aroma fill her nostrils and warm the back of her throat before she replied. “I left for college. My mother felt lonely in the house, so she sold it quite quickly. Then she remarried and moved to San Francisco.”
“Is she happy?”
“Yes, very.” She did not say it seemed her mother had moved on to happiness with unseemly swiftness. Bree had felt so abandoned. Of course, there was nothing like feeling abandoned to leave a young woman looking for love in all the wrong places.
“What did you take? In college?”
Heartbreak 101.
“I took a culinary program. I’m afraid I didn’t finish.”
He cocked his head at her. “That doesn’t seem like you, somehow.”
She cocked her head back at him. “Doesn’t it?” she asked, deliberately unforthcoming, and letting him know that really, he knew very little about her, past or present.
“In some ways, you are very changed,” he told her.
For a moment, she felt panicked, as if the sad ending of the pregnancy that had forced her to leave school was written all over her. She hoped her face was schooled into calmness, and she made herself release her stranglehold on her mug.
He still made her nervous.
“Your confidence in high heels for one thing.”
Relief swept through her at his amused
