PORTLAND, MAINE…BOOKS N' BEANS
Elizabeth Campbell, formerly Thatcher, flipped the open sign over on the door of her book store and coffee shop and then turned the lock. Another day done.
"Brennan, baby it's time to go home," she called into the office where her five year old son was playing.
"Kay, Mom." Brennan put his giant Legos away in the box by her desk and grabbed his backpack from the floor. "I'm hungry!"
"You are? What should we have?" she asked as they walked toward the front of the store.
"Mac and cheese! Scooby doo mac and cheese, please. And hot dogs cut up in there. So good."
She ruffled his straight blonde hair he got from his father and chuckled. "I think that's doable."
It was cheap and easy to make, even for a mediocre cook like Elizabeth. Right now, cheap and easy was what she needed and she didn't need to be a gourmet chef for a small child.
Starting a new business, working long days, all the while being a single mom… it was tiring to say the least but also, expensive, overwhelming, lonely, and a host of other adjectives.
They walked out the door and down the sidewalk a block before opening the door to go up to their upstairs apartment. She had been so fortunate to find the place and the rent was reasonable for the city. She didn't need a car so that saved money. She took him to school on the public bus and packed lunches for them every day. She bought seemingly truckloads of Brennan's precious Scooby doo mac and cheese and kept the turkey dog company in business.
"Mom, can I call Gran?"
"Sure, baby. You do that while I make dinner, ok?" She handed him her cell, knowing he could use it probably better than she could and walked into the kitchen to boil water and then into her bedroom to change clothes.
"Moooommmm!" Brennan called from the other room.
"Brennan, please remember not to yell. Our neighbors will get mad."
"Gran wants you," he said, holding up her phone.
"Hi, Mom." She tucked the phone between her ear and shoulder so she had both hands free to cook dinner. "No, Mom. I am not seeing anyone." She poured the little cartoon shapes into the boiling water and put the Turkey dogs into the other pot while listening to her mother chatter about her dating life, or nonexistent one. "Yes, I know that Brennan is, but I'm not ready. It's only been a year since Tyler and I can't just forget. Let's talk about something else, ok?"
Elizabeth leaned on the counter and gazed at the picture on the refrigerator. It had been taken about a year before, on a family outing to the zoo. Two days later, their life changed forever.
"One minute, Mom. Bren, you know you are not allowed to watch that. It's too violent."
"But, Mom! Sawyer's dad lets him watch it."
"I'm not Sawyer's dad and you aren't going to watch it. You know the rules."
Brennan turned off the tv and pouted, crossing his arms.
"Mom, I need to go. Dinner time and then Brennan needs a bath before bed."
"Aww man," he said quietly, making her smile.
"Bren, say bye to Gran."
"Bye, Gran."
….
IN THE SUBURBS, JUST OUTSIDE THE CITY
"Dad, can I have Brennan over to spend the night?"
"Brennan?"
"Yeah! He's my best friend."
"Well, I need to meet his parents first before we can have him over."
"Why?"
"For the same reason I wouldn't let you go to someone's house if I didn't know their parents. Its safer."
"Why?"
"Because it is." Jack sighed and shook his head. The kid loved that one word question. "Time to eat, bud."
Sawyer climbed up on his chair and sat on his knees. "I'll pray, Dad."
"Ok." Jack watched his little guy, just five years old, fold his hands and shut his eyes. He had so much faith that one day God was going to bring him a Mommy and she would stay forever and not get sick. So, every night at dinner, he thanked God for the food on the table and then asked him for a Mommy.
Jack tried not to let it affect him, but it did. Katie had been gone for two years and Sawyer didn't really remember her. He knew what she looked like because he had a picture of them on his nightstand but he didn't really know much else about her.
He asked questions and Jack answered honestly but those questions were becoming few and far between.
"Amen!" Sawyer said, a smile on his face. "I think it's going to work this time, Dad."
"I hope so, bud." Jack did hope so. He was lonely. He had dated a couple girls briefly in the last year but nothing serious. There had been Faith, the cute, kind nurse they had met at the hospital when the very allergic Sawyer had been stung by a bee. Then, after her had been sweet, adorable Clara from the grocery store, but there had been no spark. Not like there had been with Katie. He had fallen for her right away and they had married within six months of their first date. Then a year later, she had gotten pregnant with Sawyer. She was such a great mother.
When she died suddenly of a blood clot that had traveled to her heart, needless to say, the two boys in her life were lost.
"So can I have Brennan over?"
"Maybe tomorrow we can call his parents and set up a time to meet."
"Ok, Dad."
….
The next morning, Jack found the parents list for Sawyer's class and looked for his name. There it was, Brennan Campbell. Next to it, in the column marked parent, Elizabeth Campbell. He dialed her number but it went to voicemail.
She had a nice voice. "Hi, this is Elizabeth Campbell of Books N' Beans. I'm either helping a customer or chasing my five year old around the store. Please leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Have a blessed day."
"Hi, Elizabeth. My name is Jack Thornton. My son Sawyer and your son are in the same class. Sawyer would like to have Brennan over sometime but before, I was hoping I could meet with you and your husband so all parties are comfortable and the boys can hang out." He gave her his number and hung up.
"Ok, I left Brennan's mom a message, Sawyer. Now we just need to wait."
"Ok, Dad." Jack went up to Sawyer and knelt down to tuck in his shirt.
"There you go. Let's get you to school."
They walked to the door, Jack pausing to set the alarm, and then they headed out into the garage to get in their SUV. Jack turned in the driver's seat a moment later to make sure Sawyer was secure in his booster seat and then backed out into the cool October sunshine.
….
Jack didn't hear from Mrs. Campbell for the next week so one day he drove downtown to the book shop she mentioned in her voicemail.
He walked in the door of Books N' Beans and immediately was hit with the amazing smell of freshly brewed coffee. The place was small but well stocked, it appeared. There was a small sitting area for children complete with brightly colored beanbag chairs and adult chairs spread throughout with small tables next to them to allow you to set down your coffee.
The sign next to the coffee station, which was do-it-yourself style with three Keurig machines and a dozen types of creamer, said "Buy two books get a cup of coffee for free!"
"May I help you?"
Jack turned and his breath caught in his chest. "Um…yes. I am looking for…" What was wrong with him? Putting together coherent sentences wasn't normally an issue but this woman did something to his insides turning them to goo, including his brain.
"A book?" she guessed.
"Um..sure." ***Snap out of it, Thornton! ***
"Ok, for an adult, maybe your wife?"
Was she fishing? Did she really just want to know if he had a wife? ***Get over yourself. She's just doing her job. ***
"My wife passed away a few years back. This is for my son."
"Ok. I'm so sorry about your wife, Mr….?"
"Thornton. Jack Thornton. Thank you. It was sudden but we're making it."
"How old is your son?"
"Five."
She motioned with her finger toward the section with children's books. "Here you go. This book is my son's favorite." She pulled out a book off the shelf. "Its actually a classic but he asks me to read it all the time."
"Where the Wild Things Are."
"They actually made a movie about it. I haven't let him watch it yet, maybe in a couple years, but I'm sure he will love it too."
"I'll try it. I bet my son will enjoy it."
"Great. Well, take a look around, and maybe grab some coffee if you'd like. If you get your son another book, or buy one for yourself, you get that coffee for free." She waved as she walked away, her wedding ring catching the light.
***Nope, not fishing. She's married. Moving on! ***
By the time he left, he had purchased the latest David Baldacci book for himself and the Wild Things book for Sawyer and nabbed himself a cup of Folgers finest. He walked in his door at home and realized he had never actually talked to her about having her son over. Even worse, he wasn't one hundred percent positive that she was even Mrs. Campbell. ***Way to go, Thornton. ***
His phone buzzed. "Flynn! Whatcha got?"
Jack owned half of T & C Security with his good friend and business partner Lee Coulter. Jesse Flynn was his head security officer, currently in charge of one of the largest office buildings in Portland.
"Sir, I think we may have a problem. We have a camera in the east side of the building not recording anything. Can you take a look?"
Jack ran in his office, opened up his laptop and quickly logged in to his network. Thankfully, it appeared it had only been happening for the last few minutes and it didn't appear anyone had tapped into his system. He had a very good IT team keeping tabs and they hadn't contacted him with any issues. "Flynn, check to see if there are any loose cables going in and out of the server box."
"I did that, sir. All is secure."
"Ok. Well, I'll send Avery out to take a closer look. We may just need a new camera."
"Ok, I'll let you know what Avery finds."
"Thanks, Flynn." Jack called Avery and assigned him to the Pollet office building and then made himself a sandwich for lunch.
….
Elizabeth looked up a few hours later as her sister Viola walked in with Brennan. "Hey, Vi." She gave her sister a hug and then kissed the top of Brennan's head. "Hi, baby. How was school?"
"Good. Sawyer said his dad called you but you never called him back."
"Why did his dad call me?"
"So I can spend the night at his house. Can you call him, Ma? Please? I want to go over there."
Elizabeth was notoriously bad at remembering to check her voicemails. She pushed the icon and listened. Jack Thornton. The adorable man from earlier? Why hadn't he said anything about leaving her a message? "I'll call him after we close, Bren."
"Thanks!"
She watched as he ran over to the kids area and started coloring.
Vi sipped a cup of coffee as she leaned against the counter. "So…"
"So?" Elizabeth unpacked a supply order for the coffee station and put them in the cupboard behind the cupboard.
"Sawyer's dad…is he cute?"
"What? What do you mean?" How did Vi possibly know that she had met him?
"I saw the look you got on your face when you listened to his voicemail. Is he cute?"
Elizabeth bit her bottom lip and tried not to turn red, but to no avail. She was pretty sure her head could be mistaken for a tomato with hair at this point.
"Wow, incredibly cute?"
"He's….yeah. Vi, his eyes are hypnotizing. They are like this deep green color and he has the longest eyelashes."
"Nice."
"Vi, I feel guilty. It's only been a year. I miss Tyler so much sometimes and I know Brennan does."
"You're just attracted to him. You're not marrying the guy tomorrow." Elizabeth looked down at her left hand, her gold band catching the overhead lights. "Beth, Ty would want you to be happy again."
She wiped a tear from her cheek and plastered on a smile when a customer walked in. "Welcome!"
The rest of the afternoon went fast and then it was time to close. She was glad the next day was Saturday. She was open from nine until one and then closed on Sunday.
"Bren? Let's go home."
"Did you call Sawyer's dad?"
"I'll do it when I get home."
"But…nevermind." He grabbed his backpack and sighed. He had a feeling she would forget.
"I won't forget, Bren."
"Promise?"
"I promise." How could she deny the boy a chance to be with his friend? She could use a friend herself. Being a widow from out of town made making friends difficult sometimes. She was glad Vi and her husband lived in town. She at least had them.
As soon as she started making grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, she put the phone on speaker and dialed his number.
"Thornton here," he answered after a ring.
"Hi, Jack? This is Elizabeth Campbell. My son Brennan and your son are friends in school."
"Yes. How are you, Mrs. Campbell?"
"Please, call me Elizabeth. I'm fine. I just wanted to apologize for not returning your phone call. I'm not the best at listening to voicemails."
"That's ok. I stopped by your shop today."
"Yes, why didn't you say something about leaving a message?"
"Um…well, I sort of got distracted." ***By your beautiful eyes and amazing smile. Stop, man. She's married.*** "Listen, our boys would love to get together. Maybe tomorrow night? I can coordinate with your husband if you'd like, but I'd like that to happen for them."
"My husband?"
"Yes. I noticed you had a ring on. It's none of my business honestly, but…"
"My husband passed away a year ago. So you'll need to coordinate it with me."
"Oh, I'm so sorry." He knew the first year was the hardest.
"Thanks. So, tomorrow night is too soon. I don't want you to take offense but I don't know you. I'd like us to get to know each other a bit more before playdates or sleepovers are scheduled."
"I totally understand. Why don't we meet at Lincoln Park? We can talk while the boys play."
"Sounds good. The book store closes at one, so how about two?"
"Ok, I'll bring lunch. There's a great deli near there."
"Alright, see you then."