The Pumpkin Spice Café (Dream Harbor, #1)

by Laurie Gilmore

Jeanie had known her for less than a week, but the woman always seemed to be in the middle of a conversation Jeanie had no idea they’d been having. She liked it. It was something friends did.

Oh, no, her farmer fantasies were clearly written across her face. She’d never had this problem at her old job. No one in her old life had evoked these feelings in her. She had never once wanted to burrow her face into the work shirt of any of her colleagues. It was the magic of the flannel.

‘Wednesdays are book club days.’ ‘Okay...’ ‘They meet at the bookstore around noon, but they usually come in here after for coffee before some of them head back to work or have to get kids off the bus or whatever. I just figured I would warn you.’ Hazel pushed her glasses up her nose, a faint blush creeping up her cheeks. ‘They can be a bit ... rowdy.’

‘Oh sweet, sweet Jeanie,’ Annie said, shaking her head. ‘They are going to come in here all hopped up on their latest smutty book, cackling like a coven of witches. And then they’re going to want to know everything about you.’

His heart rode a roller coaster in his chest at the sight of her.

‘Casper is settling in nicely. He sleeps at the end of my bed every night and it’s helping me sleep better, too. Except for when he sits on my face around five every morning. Who needs an alarm clock anymore? Not me!’

Logan laughed too, mostly to avoid making any comments about face-sitting. His composure was unraveling at a dangerous pace.

Jeanie’s gaze snagged on several interesting passages, confirming that this book was not at all about hockey. ‘Right. Got it. Looks like a good one,’ she said, her cheeks heating as she scanned a few more lines. It was possible Jeanie had been reading the wrong books her whole life.

If she got involved with Logan, the whole town would be watching. And then what happened when it inevitably ended? That was way too much pressure. Pressure she absolutely did not need. Pressure she left her old life behind to avoid.

‘I’m not trying to be a hippie.’ I’m just trying to be as far from my old self, my old life as possible. ‘I just want to fit in around here.’

Somewhere along the way, she’d forgotten to figure out who she was or what she wanted to be when she grew up. She’d graduated college all shiny and optimistic about her future with her nose ring intact, and then spent the next seven years having her soul sucked out one ten-hour day at a time. And now here she was, grown up and without a single clue who she was without someone else demanding every second of her time. Without Marvin to manage, Jeanie didn’t know what to do with herself. Or who she even wanted to be.

Estelle winked at her like she did not believe for one second that Jeanie was only here to chat. Great. Even Logan’s nana was onto her farmer-seducing ways.

His gaze met hers and his eyes widened in surprise. He took her in, the whole ridiculous scene, Jeanie in

her new, pre-torn jeans, her hair still tied back from work, with an assortment of birds twittering around her.

He was comforting; safe. But also sexy as hell.

It was hibernating season. Pajamas were perfectly appropriate. Maybe she should have waited until spring to start over. Fall was a strange time for a reinvention. Fall was better for ... snuggling and eating food covered in gravy.

But she could imagine how someone might worry that they were unlovable. It might have crossed her mind a time or two. The fact that her brave, strong aunt felt the same way made Jeanie think that maybe no one had things really figured out.

Maybe she could be cheerful and dark, messy and competent, sunshine and rain, New Jeanie and Old Jeanie mixed together.