No matter how insightful and enthusiastic Phil might have been when Price had visited him days ago, Price knew he couldn’t just walk in and scoop Fiona off her feet and carry her away.
But, he’d like to think he could woo her again.
Price had never backed down from a challenge—a fight maybe—but not the challenge of getting something he wanted. He’d taken three other skinny, drunk, college kids and made a quartet out of them. Then, somewhere, they added some rock to it. It was unique. It was fun. It became a success.
Shady Joe took off one night and never returned—Phil took his place.
Phil had a decade of experience behind him, and Price sucked in everything the man taught him.
Then he’d met Fiona, and at twenty-three, he knew more than anyone.
Love did that to a man, he thought. It made him soft and dumb—but for all the right reasons.
Now, a man in his fifties, he still loved the same woman. He always had. Oh, others had come and gone in the decade since he’d walked out the door and chosen music over his muse. But no one held a candle to Fiona Gable.
Price opened the door to the coffee shop as they cleaned up for the night. Both Charlie and his fiancée Sadie looked up at him.
“Hello, Mr. Richter,” Charlie greeted him. “We’re closing up. I can make you a regular coffee, but the rest of the machines are clean for tomorrow.”
“Is it brewed already?”
Charlie nodded. “Yes, sir. We brewed off the last bit.”
“I’ll take a cup.”
Charlie went about pouring Price the coffee as Sadie wiped the counter. “How is your friend who was hurt?” she asked.
“He’s doing great. They’ll let him out in a few days.”
She smiled up at him. “That’s great news. Will you be leaving then, too?”
Price looked at his arm in the sling. “I have some time still to heal. And, I like it here.”
Charlie handed him the cup. “It’s on the house,” he said.
“Thank you.”
“We grew up here,” Charlie offered. “It’s a nice place to land. It’s where my grandparents landed too.”
Price nodded. “I met your grandfather once,” he said, and Charlie’s eyes went wide. “He was a wonderful man.”
“Yeah. Wow. You met him?”
Price nodded. “I’d love to tell you about it, if you have time.”
Charlie and Sadie exchanged glances and then both nodded. “Let us finish up. We could sit in here, as long as we turn off most of the lights.”
Price smiled. “That’ll work.”
Pulling out a chair, Price sat down at one of the tables closest to the back of the store. Charlie and Sadie finished cleaning up before turning off the lights over the counter.
Price sipped his strong coffee, wincing at the taste. Well, he hadn’t come for coffee. He’d come for a conversation.
Charlie pulled a chair from the table for Sadie, and as she sat, she looked up at him with love in her eyes. Price noticed that Charlie’s eyes reciprocated that same love.
Lacing his fingers together, and resting them on the table, Charlie looked up at Price. “When did you meet my grandfather?”
Out of habit, Price picked up the coffee and took a sip. The coffee had grown cold and bitter. He swallowed hard, hoping his face hadn’t reacted.
“I met him when I was in my early twenties. I was on a train headed for the coast to audition for a scholarship. To tell you the truth, I can’t remember how we even got talking. But we sat together in the observation car for hours. During that time, he told me about his wife and how they’d met and ran off to get married, taking the train until the end of the line.”
Charlie smiled. “That’s the story my grandmother always told me.” He reached for Sadie’s hand and interlocked their fingers. “We got engaged after having known one another for two days.”
Price couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “That’s priceless. After meeting your grandfather, his story stayed with me. When I met Fiona, I proposed to her two days later.”
Charlie and Sadie exchanged glances. “Really?”
Price nodded. “When I’d met your grandfather, he’d been married to your grandmother for forty years. He was as smitten as you are. I wanted that too. When I met Fi—Fiona,” he corrected, “I knew she was it. She said yes, but it took us three years to get married.”
“It appears that my grandparents have touched a lot of lives with their story.”
“I’d have to agree,” Price said, lifting the cup to his lips, then remembering how it tasted, he set it back down. “That’s why I’m here. Fiona is embarrassed, and worried, about the book she wrote about your grandparents.”
Sadie bit down on her bottom lip. “Ms. Gable said she’d never met Charlie’s grandparents.”
“She didn’t. I gave her the story, just as your grandfather told it to me. I insisted she use the names and descriptions I gave her. At the time, I didn’t tell her where I’d gotten the story. Sure, she embellished and wrote the other parts, but the story of their short love affair and elopement, that came from Charlie himself.”
“So the story is their story?” Charlie asked.
“It is.”
“Wow,” Charlie let out a breath. “We thought it was coincidence.”
“That’s why I wanted to talk to you about it. That book gave Fiona her start. It got her agent, her first book deal, and was a bestseller when it came out. Admittedly, I was just trying to give the woman I loved a muse to follow.”
“So why are you sharing this with us?”
Price crossed his legs and sat back in his chair. “She’s afraid that your family might sue her, or me.”
Charlie’s brows drew together. “Why would we do that?”
“Like you said, it’s your grandparents’ story, and Fiona wrote it.”
Charlie nodded slowly. “I don’t think my family ever thought much of it.”
“I wanted to be honest about it. Fiona doesn’t deserve to carry guilt around with her. I’m afraid that if I didn’t tell you where the story had come from, well, she’d carry it.”
“I can talk to her,” Sadie offered. “She comes into the store every day.”
“I’ll let you two decide what you want to tell her. I just wanted to be clear that I’d met your grandfather and then shared the story with Fiona. His insightfulness changed my life.” Price picked up the cup of coffee. “I could use his wisdom now, that’s for sure.”
“Why?” Charlie ran his fingers through his blond curls.
“I want to get Fi back. I once won her over in two days of meeting her. But it’s been ten years since I walked out of her life and eight since we’d spoken. I’d love to have that blind faith again.”
Sadie leaned in on her elbows and looked Price right in the eye. “I’m in. How can I help?”