Lulu
Once we had established rules, Nikolas relaxed about me living with him. Well, as relaxed as Nikolas could be, which wasn't relaxed like normal people. But he and Emily were planning on getting remarried in four days, and they had more important things to worry about. I settled into one of the huge rooms in his house, convinced him that I needed satellite TV, and finally got him to agree to let me rename one of his horses.
"So," I said to Milo two days before the wedding, sitting across from me at a table on my break from work. "You're coming on Saturday, right?"
"As long as your brother doesn't decide to have me killed first, I'll be there."
I looked at my watch, took a sip of his iced mocha, and stood up. "I've gotta get back." I hesitated, then leaned in to kiss him. A relationship in general was new to me. I didn't know the rules. I didn't know if it was okay to kiss him goodbye every time I saw him, or if I was his girlfriend, or if it was okay for me to kiss him in public. I kissed him quickly, then pulled back even faster, unsure if what I was doing was okay. He caught me before I had a chance to pull far back, and slid a hand around the name of my neck, and pulled me back in for a longer kiss. He grinned, then reluctantly let me go. I felt a trail of goosebumps spring up violently under his touch.
"I'll miss you," he whispered.
I smiled. "You work seven feet away from me. You won't get a chance to miss me."
"I'll miss you anyways."
"You're cute." I grinned again, then turned and sprinted into the shop. I grabbed my apron and ran behind the counter before Michelle, my supervisor, had a chance to say anything about being late.
"Do you want me on bar?" I asked her.
"Yeah, can you hold the floor for a little while? I have to finish up some training in the back."
"Training?" I asked. "But you just hired me."
"I know, but business is picking up much faster now that she's been seen here," she explained softly, glancing over at Kate Howard who I hadn't noticed on the corner.
"Oh, okay. So who's the new barista?"
"That would be me."
I whipped around, afraid that I would see exactly who it sounded like. And my fears were confirmed when I saw Maxie standing behind me, her arms folded over her chest and her signature scowl on her face.
"You've gotta be kidding me," I muttered.
"You two already know each other?" Michelle asked. She smiled. "Good, this should make things easier. Anyways, Lulu, you keep things under control here, I'll be back soon."
As soon as she went into the back room, I cringed. Maxie? I would have to spend all summer with Maxie? Ugg.
This was going to be one long summer.
Robin
"I don't see why you're making such a big deal about this," I exclaimed with an exasperated sigh.
"I'm not making a big deal about this!" Patrick retorted defensively.
"Yes, you are. All I'm saying is that I want to put of four trip to New York City for a week so that I can be here for Nikolas and Emily's wedding."
"No, no, those weren't your words. So you can be in Nikolas and Emily's wedding."
"There's no one coming! She asked me to be a bridesmaid, and I said yes."
"Is this all a hint?"
"What?"
"You talking about the wedding. About how romantic it is that they're doing this spur-of-the-moment? Is this your subtle way of telling me you want to get married?"
"What? You're paranoid. I don't know how much of this you were here for, but Nikolas and Emily have been married before. And I just thought that it would be nice, seeing as Nikolas broke off his engagement to Emily to pretend he was in love with me to protect me from Mr. Craig, it would be nice to show a little support."
"That's all it is?" he asked, raising one eyebrow. I hated when he did that. It always reminded me that I couldn't life just one eyebrow.
"That's all. I promise." I pushed him back against his locker and kissed him. "Now you're late for your shift, and I'm going home. I have a wedding to plan."
"Excuse me?"
"Emily's wedding. Relax. Seriously." I kissed him again, then pulled back from him. "Jealousy and brooding suit you. Insecurity doesn't."
"Fine," he conceded. "I'll see you at home?"
"Absolutely." I kissed him once more, then watched him run out to avoid Epiphany's wrath. I changed out of my scrubs and quickly made my way out of the hospital. Patrick was insane. Insane and paranoid. I really didn't have any interest in getting married. I just wanted to go to the wedding. In fact, I had decided that I couldn't marry him. I loved him too much to do that to him.
There was finally a breeze in the insane heat wave we'd been having, so I decided to walk over to Sonny's coffee shop before driving home. I went in to find Lulu standing at the counter, handing a customer change.
"Hi Robin," she greeted me cheerily.
I looked at her suspiciously. "What are you up too?"
"What do you mean?"
"That big fake smile on your face. What's going on?"
"If I don't keep this big fake smile on my face, I may in fact kill someone," she leaned in to explain.
I laughed. "And why's that."
"Because I just found out that Maxie Jones is working here now. I mean, it's bad enough that I have to live in the same town and go to the same university as her, but now- oh my God, Robin, I'm sorry, I totally forgot that she was your cousin. I didn't mean-"
I laughed. "It's fine. She's my cousin, but I'll concede that she's a pain in the ass sometimes."
"I'm really sorry," she told me again. "Can I get you a drink? And maybe a lobotomy?"
I ignored her last comment. "Yeah, can you make me that chocolately-vanilla iced latte thing you made me yesterday?"
"What size?"
"Large. And actually, can you make it a decaf? I just finished my shift and I want to get some sleep."
"Sure," she told me, now smiling genuinely and turning to the syrups behind the counter. She went to pump the chocolate sauce and vanilla syrup, and when she turned back to the bar, she had a large chocolate stain on her apron.
"Occupational hazard," she explained to me. "The mocha pump is designed so that any time I reach anywhere around it, it stains my apron."
"That's an occupational hazard?" I asked.
"We call it mocha boob because of the unfortunate placement of the stain. It goes well with whip-cream-sleeve, chai arm, and espresso hair."
"Espresso hair?"
"Sonny insists on everything top-quality. And the best espresso- in theory, at least, is made when you actually have to pull she shot yourself and as a result, espresso powder flies around a lot and you end up with espresso grounds in your hair." She put the drink on the counter, with a generous layer of whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and caramel sauce piled on top.
"God, you're good," I told her, trying not to drool over the toppings. "I didn't even have to ask."
She shrugged with a smile. "Well, everyone knows that if your barista puts toppings on your drink that you didn't ask for, then calories don't count."
I smiled. "Don't you dare ever tell Patrick that I drink this."
She smiled back. "My lips are sealed." I opened the straw that she had put beside the drink, took a sip, then put it down and pulled a ten out of my purse.
"How much do I owe you?"
"Nothing."
"Lulu, seriously, how much is it?"
She lowered her voice. "Sonny's given us strict instructions on who we can charge for drinks and who we can't. We're not allowed to charge you. Against store policy. Sorry." She smiled, clearly not sorry at all.
Sonny emerged from his office beside me, a deformed ceramic mug in hand. "Is this how you treat all your customers?" I asked him with a smile.
"What, is Lulu giving you trouble?"
"She won't let me pay!"
"Good to hear, otherwise I'd have to fire her."
"Sonny, let me pay for my drinks."
"Never."
"Fine." I took my ten and stuck it into their tips jar.
"Can you get me-"
"Double espresso with a coffee cream between the shots?" Lulu replied, taking the mug from him.
"See," he told me, gesturing towards Lulu. "This is why I hired her." He sat down at one of the café tables to wait and gestured for me to join him. "How have you been?"
"I'm good," I told him truthfully, taking a spoonful of the toppings. "I've been busy with work."
"And things since Mr. Craig?"
I smiled. "Patrick and I are back together, if that's what you mean."
Sonny shrugged. "Well, I won't deny I'm happy that things worked out for you two, but I still don't think he's good enough for you."
I laughed. "Might I remind you that there have only ever been two guys you've ever thought were good enough for me?"
"I have high standards for the people I care about. But things really are good?"
"I'm happy, Sonny. Happier than I thought I'd ever be after Stone died."
"Glad to hear it." He took the espresso cup that Lulu had placed beside him and took a sip. "Why don't you come for dinner on Saturday? Michael and Morgan would love to see you."
"I can't. I've got a wedding to go to."
"Whose wedding?"
"Nikolas and Emily are getting remarried." The stupidity of what I had said didn't hit me until after I had finished saying it. I didn't know how things were between him and Emily. He hadn't really been with anyone since things had ended with her. He undoubtedly still cared about her, but I didn't know how much.
"Relax, Robin," Sonny assured me, seeing the look on my face. "Emily and I are just friends. I'm happy for her."
"Good." I looked down at my watch. "I'd better get going, but it was really good seeing you. Can I take a raincheck on the dinner?"
"I'll hold you to it," he warned.
"That's fine." I said good-bye to him, shouted a good-bye to Lulu, and left.
Emily
Since I had the day off, I had given Spencer's new nanny the day off and offered to take him. After running around with him all morning, I was exhausted and had drifted off to sleep beside him when I put him down for his nap.
But I woke up with my heart pounding not long after falling asleep. I looked around my room and tried to adjust to my reality. Somehow things had happened so quickly lately that I hadn't had time to think about the realities of what was happening.
The past six months had been a blur. Nikolas and I had reconciled, and Spencer had been taken. We found Spencer, and then we were taken hostage at the Metro Court. My dad had died. Nikolas had broken things off with me for the sake of trying to protect me, but we'd once again made it through and were back together. I was getting remarried to Nikolas. I was going to be Spencer's mother. Suddenly, breathing wasn't coming quite so easily to me.
I stumbled out of bed to the washroom and splashed cold water on my face. I was still having trouble inhaling. I braced myself against the sink and tried to calm myself down.
"Everything okay?" I looked back to find Nikolas behind me.
"Yeah," I told him, feeling my pulse go back to normal. "I just had a bad dream or something."
"Well, I have just the cure for that," he offered.
"What?" I asked with a smile.
"The bakery just delivered 15 wedding cake samples."
"Sounds perfect."
"Are you sure everything's okay?"
"Yeah, it was just a bad dream. I'll meet you in the kitchen?"
"Sure."
He left and I stayed braced against the sink. A bad dream. A momentary panic. That's all it was.
I hoped.