World renowned writer, Molly Tulip, moves up to Northern Montana, hoping to escape the busy city life and a cheating ex. After years of stress and toxicity from her previous relationship, Molly needs to focus on healing herself through her writing...
My writing has been going slower than I had hoped. Brigette has been on my butt for the last two weeks to send in a completed first draft of the new book, but my motivation is pretty shot at the moment. All the self reflection and personal healing has really made it hard to concentrate on my fictional world. For the first time in my life, I'd rather spend my time in reality.
Sitting in this familiar tiny little coffee shop for the first time since my date with Carver, I'm starting to notice little things that I hadn't before. I can see why Two Cups, the coffee shop that I was living at for the first week of my stay here, is so popular with the locals and the straggling tourists that haven't come to terms with the fact that summer's officially over. Two Cups has an extremely homey vibe to it with knick-knacks covering the shelves and rotating towers filled with locally crafted items for purchase.
The back wall of the coffee shop is covered in coffee mugs hanging on little hooks by their handles and every person that orders a drink for here gets to enjoy their warm cup of goodness in a mug. Unlike the cookie-cutter Starbucks that the world has grown accustomed to, Two Cups has plush chairs and couches lining the walls and back corner, and scattered throughout the middle of the shop are wooden mismatch tables and chairs that the owners must have slowly brought in over time when they found them. Nothing about this store is modern, sans the coffee and espresso machines, but that's what makes this little place so amazing. It's like losing yourself back in time, when there was less technology and more in person interactions.
"It's been a hot minute since you've been here." I hear a familiar voice bring me back to reality. I look up into the beautiful blue eyes of Carver Hollis. He's carefully holding two mugs close to his chest as he eyes the table I'm occupying.
"I should be saying the same thing to you," I tease, unsure of where we stand in our relationship. "I wasn't the one out of town for two weeks." I want to say more and ask questions, but I can see a concerning look in Carver's eyes that makes me bite my tongue.
"Some things came up that I needed to deal with." He sighs, nervously adjusting from one foot to the other.
"Are you doing okay, Carver?" I lean in, moving aside the notebook full of plot points for my book that I've been intentionally ignoring for the last twenty minutes. I motion for him to sit down in the chair next to me. I see him hesitate, eyeing the chair then eyeing me before sitting down. He hands me the second mug he had been holding onto and I smell the sweet aroma of honey tea with ginger.
"Clara said it was your favorite." He says quietly and I smile. Even though he's clearly stressed, this small little gesture lets me know that he's consciously trying to break down the internal walls that he has up.
"Thank you," I place my hand on his and he freezes under my touch. His body stiffens slightly and his eyes trail my hand curiously. "That was really thoughtful." Pulling my hand back, I take a sip from the fresh cup of tea and lean back into my chair. "Do you want to talk about it?" I try to say as casually as possible, but deep down I feel like screaming at him for answers. There was no text communication from him for half a month. He had initially told me he'd only be gone for a few days, but after a week of unresponsive texts, I caved and called Clara to gather some sort of information on Carver. All she could tell me was that the shoot was going on longer than anticipated. How long does it really take to snap a photo?
"No..." He's still staring at my hands, unable to make eye contact with me. "Maybe..." He changes his mind and places his mug on the table. "I saw Kaytlin." His eyes finally connect with mine and I can see the pain that he's feeling start to spill out. My heart breaks a little when he says those words.
"What happened?" Is all I can muster to say. I don't know who that pained look is for and if the tear drops that are starting to spill out onto his cheek are for me then I'll probably break all over again. What Carver doesn't know is that in the two weeks that's he's been gone I've finally determined that I'm going to try and give us a chance, if he still wanted that too.
It takes a few moments for him to collect his thoughts and I can practically feel the emotions and sadness vibrating out of him. "She said she wanted me back." He starts and my heart drops to the bottom of my stomach. "After all this time, years of waiting for some sign, and she shows up out of the blue at this impromptu shoot and is practically begging on her knees for me to take her back. She's going on and on about how I was the only good guy that she'd ever been with and it was a mistake to cheat on me with the douche bag that got her pregnant. She cried on my shoulder about how he left after she had the miscarriage and that all the problems she's had since was bad karma getting its revenge for leaving me. She felt horrible about how things were left between us and now she wanted to make things right."
"What did you say to her?" I whispered. The hurt in my voice must have been clear because Carver quickly reaches out towards my hands, but I pull away.
"I told her that I had moved on and that if she wanted me to accept her apology then it was too little too late." Carver cradles my closest hand and squeezes it as he continues talking, "I told her that I was seeing someone else and that she was waiting back in Montana for me. That this beautiful, intelligent, funny writer has stolen my heart and that I wasn't going to let anything get in the way of us trying to figure out our relationship."
Tears start to well up in my eyes as I stare at the wooden table between us, I can't look up at Carver and I know he's getting more anxious the longer I don't say anything. I was certain that he was going to break things off between us when I saw the sad look in his eyes. "Why were you so sad when you came in?"
Carver chuckles and he squeezes my hand again. "It's hard letting go of someone and finally having closure after years of not knowing who was at fault. Now I know that I did everything I could and that still would have never kept Kaytlin satisfied. Plus, I was so worried that you would have moved on and changed your mind about our date. Two weeks is a long time to have things like that up in the air." I nod my head in agreement and let a few tears fall down my cheeks. "Oh, please don't cry." With his free hand he gently wipes the tears off my face and cups my face in the palm of his hand. I nestle my cheek against his warm hand and close my eyes. "Does this mean that you're still going to give me a chance?"
I open my eyes and smile. "I was hoping you'd ask. I'd love to go on an official date with you Carver Hollis." I don't think I've ever seen him smile as big as he's smiling now, but it's an amazing look on him.
"Thank you." He whispers and kisses my hand. My cheeks heat up as I remember that we're still in Two Cups and look around to see if anyone had just seen me crying.
"Remember, you promised a date better than the last one." I tease.
"It's going to be the most magical night you've ever had Miss Tulip." Carver winks as he releases my hand and takes a sip from his now cold drink.
"I'm holding you to that Mr. Hollis." I follow his lead and take a sip from my own cup. Somehow, everything finds a way to work itself out. I think as I smile to myself.
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