Until I Saw Your Smile (46 page)

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Authors: J.J. Murray

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“Earlier?” Matthew said.

“
Before
our divorce,” Colleen said. “It's too late for us. We're already divorced and engaged to other people.”

“Nice try, though,” Richard said.

“So why did you come?” Matthew asked.

“Just to see,” Colleen said. “You actually reinforced all the reasons we got divorced.”

“You put everything in perspective,” Richard said. “I think I now truly understand the divorce. I didn't understand much of anything while I was going through it.”

I made it all clear? I was trying to confuse them into staying together!
“You're here together now.”

“True.” Colleen smiled at Richard. “One of the rare times we actually agreed on something, huh?”

“Yes,” Richard said. “You have your fifty?”

“Yes,” Colleen said.

Matthew collected the money reluctantly.

“You tried, Mr. McConnell,” Colleen said. “But some marriages are simply past saving.”

“And you proved it again for us today,” Richard said. “Thank you.”

I can't admit defeat yet.
“You say you're both engaged. Colleen, why isn't your fiancÃ© here, too?”

Colleen looked at her hands. “He doesn't know I'm doing this.”

“My fiancÃ©e would never understand any of this,” Richard said.

Aha!
“She's the jealous type, huh?” Matthew asked.

“Very,” Richard said.

“And not the brightest bulb either,” Colleen said.

Richard didn't disagree with her.

He must be engaged to someone like Joy.
“What is she jealous of?” Matthew asked Richard.

“Isn't it obvious?” Richard said. “Colleen is exquisitely beautiful, incredibly intelligent, and infinitely classy.”

“Thank you, Richard,” Colleen said.

“It's true,” Richard said.

Colleen smiled.

I knew there was still something here.
“Is your fiancÃ© jealous of Richard?”

Colleen nodded. “Terribly and to the point of irrationality. My fiancÃ© isn't nearly the businessman or the man Richard is. He thinks I compare him to Richard whenever we have sex.”

“Do you?” Matthew asked.

Richard smiled. “Yes, Colleen, do you?”

Colleen turned crimson. “Well, I don't
tell
him I'm comparing him to Richard. That would be rude. I only think it.”

Richard nudged her with his shoulder. “You still think about me that way.”

“Yes,” Colleen said, her eyes shining.

“I think about you that way all the time,” Richard said. “That's one thing we didn't mess up, huh?”

“No,” Colleen said. “We never had any trouble in that department.”

Matthew smiled at both of them.

Colleen blinked. “Wait a minute. Mr. McConnell, what are you trying to do here?”

Play dumb.
“Do? Here?”

Richard leaned forward, raising his eyebrows. “Yes, what trick is this?”

“There's no trick here,” Matthew said. “I'm listening to you two talk. I wouldn't even charge you. It's just three people drinking coffee and talking at a booth in a coffee shop.”

“What are you saying?” Richard asked.

“I'm not saying anything,” Matthew said. “I'm listening. This is a fascinating conversation you're having. You two are divorced, and yet you're on each other's minds. It's kind of romantic. No, it's
very
romantic. I'm learning a lot from you two about romance.”

Richard looked shyly at Colleen. “It
is
kind of romantic when you think about it.”

“A little.” Colleen glanced at Richard. “It's actually
quite
romantic. I think about you all the time.”

“I go to sleep wondering about you every night,” Richard said. “Perhaps we could continue this conversation elsewhere.”

“I'd like that, Richard.” She touched Richard's hand. “I'd really like that.” She looked at Matthew. “You may have started something here.”

“I didn't start anything,” Matthew said. “You two have never ended.”

Colleen smiled, resting her hand on Richard's wrist. “He's right. We're not finished.”

Richard turned his hand palm up and held Colleen's hand. “No, we're not.” He dug out his wallet. “What else do we owe you?” He pulled out another fifty.

I deserve this one.
“This will cover it.” He took the money.

As they stood beside the booth, Colleen said, “Thank you. I don't know how you did that, but thank you.”

“Yeah,” Richard said. “How'd you do that?”

“I gave up,” Matthew said. “I stopped trying to convince you two to stay together, and you convinced each other.”

“It worked,” Richard said. “Thank you.”

After they left, Angela beckoned Matthew into the kitchen, where she laid a long, hot kiss on him. “Is there any relationship problem you can't solve?” she asked. “I thought you had met your match. How do you do it?”

“I'm not sure,” Matthew said. “I guess it's because of all the dysfunctional relationships I've had.”

“Including ours?” Angela asked.

“We're not dysfunctional.” He kissed her.

“I want you right now,” she whispered.

“Now? Here? You may have customers waiting.”

Angela glanced into the dining room. “You'll have to be quick then.”

Matthew looked around the kitchen. “Where?”

Angela pulled him near the refrigerator, yanking down her pants and unzipping his jeans. “Go into the corner.”

Matthew backed into the corner as Angela backed onto him.

“I won't last long,” she whispered.

“Neither will I,” Matthew said. “You're already wet.”

Angela bounced furiously against him. “I think about this all the time.”

So do I.

“Faster,” she panted. “Faster!”

I hope the customers out there think we're hammering something back here.

“Oh . . . yes!” Angela shouted.

Matthew joined her, trying not to shout.

Angela pulled up her pants.

Matthew zipped up his zipper.

“Back to work,” Angela said, and she washed her hands, threw water on her face, dried off, and went into the dining room.

Matthew recovered for several minutes in the corner.

I have met my match. Angela is my spiritual, intellectual, and physical match. We have to get engaged, and soon. I can't get enough of my future . . . wife.

He closed his eyes.

Angela will be my wife, and I will be her husband, and we will work here, especially in this corner, for the rest of our days. I may have to put some padding on the wall, though. She was trying to push me through the wall and into the alley.

He smiled.

I tried women everywhere else.

I'm done trying.

This is my home.

I am going to marry a Billyburg babe.

He washed his hands and face, checked his zipper, and walked up behind Angela. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“Thank
you,
” she whispered back.

“I need to make a phone call,” he whispered.
To Catbird.

“Go ahead,” she said, cutting her eyes to the shop phone.

“It's a secret,” Matthew whispered.

“Does it involve me?” Angela asked.

“It involves
us,
” Matthew said. He squeezed her left hand, rubbing her ring finger.

“Oh,” Angela said. “Matthew, don't go to any trouble.”

“I thought we could go look at rings tonight,” he said.

“Rings.” She sighed. “Could we talk about this some more first?”

“What's to talk about?” Matthew asked. “I want to marry you.”

Angela picked up a towel with her right hand and wiped the counter. “I know you do, it's just that the time isn't right.”

After some miraculous, powerful sex in the kitchen? What time could be better?
“What are you worried about?”

She looked through the front window. “I heard La Estrella is cutting two baristas and all of their prices ten percent and changing their hours from seven to seven to six to eight.
My
hours. They're even adding Wi-Fi, and I swear they sent a guy over here the other day to write down my prices. They're trying to put me out of business.”

It sure sounds like it.
“That only means they're getting even more desperate, Angela. Their coupons are littering Driggs from one end to the other, and their coupon prices are still fifty cents higher that yours, and for inferior coffee.”

“I've been pacing back here all day,” Angela said.

She didn't even hear me.

“And I've been staring at all the people going in there,” Angela said. “I wish I had the power to make all their red and orange lights explode.”

“Is that why you dragged me back there?” Matthew asked.

“It certainly broke some of the tension,” Angela said.

Matthew let his hand slip from hers. “So I'm a tension breaker.”

“You're more than that, Matthew,” Angela said. “You are. I'm just worried about money, okay?”

“Aren't we doing okay financially?” Matthew asked. “I'm pulling in a lot more now that spring has arrived.”

“I know, I know,” Angela said. “You're making more than I am now. But I still worry, and I'm still worried about me. The trial starts at the end of June, and the closer that day comes, the more anxious I get.” She faced him and held his hands. “I want to wait until after the trial, okay?”

Until Warrick is officially gone for a long time, hopefully forever.
“You want to wait that long to get engaged? Angela, we can make this official tonight. And we can change the tip jar to read: âAngela and Matthew's Wedding Fund.' ”

“I'm not ready,” she whispered.

Don't rush her. She loves you, and she wants everything to be perfect.
“I can wait.” He kissed her.

“You're not angry?” she asked.

He looked into her soft brown eyes. “I can never be angry with you. And you can break any tension you have with me anytime. Are you feeling tense now?”

Angela smiled and turned away.

There's my shy girl.

“I know I'll feel tense later tonight,” she said.

Matthew sighed. “I will be ready, willing, and able to break your tension.” He stared at La Estrella
.
“What about iced coffee?”

“What?” Angela said.

“I know, bad transition,” Matthew said. “Iced coffee is something La Estrella has that you don't have.”

“Because it's sacrilege,” Angela said. “My daddy would be foaming at the mouth if I put iced coffee on the menu.”

“If you were to make it better, and cheaper . . .” Matthew said. “They're stealing your hours from you. Why not steal something back?”

Angela narrowed her eyes and nodded. “And strawberry shortcake.”

“With lots of whipped cream,” Matthew said, holding her close.

“Whipped cream, yes,” she said.

“We'll get through this.”

“I hope so,” she said.

A customer cleared her throat. “Could I get some coffee now?”

Angela hugged Matthew first. “Get some ice.” She turned to the customer. “Would you like to try some iced coffee today?”

“I want a large house blend,” the woman said.

“Try it with ice and I'll only charge you half price,” Angela said.

“Okay,” the woman said with a smile.

Iced house blend was an instant hit, as was the strawberry shortcake. Matthew enjoyed taking trips to HOD Fruit & Vegetable Market on Roebling to get fresh strawberries, and he spent many hours removing stems and washing strawberries in the kitchen while Angela tried to keep up with the orders out front.

No matter how often Matthew tried to reassure her, however, Angela still worried about money and the upcoming trial. In the bedroom, the love they made was miraculous but only occasionally healing, Angela crawling on top of him for protection from dreadful memories that would not let her sleep through the night without sobbing.

Matthew was at a loss as he held her in the darkness.
I should ask her to marry me anyway. I should propose. Yes. That's what I'll do. I'll pop the question, and she'll remove some more of her armor. She'll see I'm her knight in shining armor and that no one could ever hurt her again. Every time she sees her ring, she'll think of something permanent, lasting, and safe.

But what if she says no? What if she still isn't sure? Would anything ever be the same again? I have to be sure. I have learned never to ask a question I don't know the answer to, and right now, I really don't know what Angela's answer will be.

Angela stirred and opened one sleepy eye. “Am I keeping you up?”

“No,” Matthew whispered. “Go back to sleep.”

Angela nestled her head on his chest and was purring moments later.

She wants to wait until after the trial.

I don't.

I can't.