All For You: A steamy second chance romance. Kristina O'Grady

cinnamon buns left. If Helga hasn’t stolen the last one.” Beth looped her arm through Lily’s and pulled her along the sidewalk back to the Cat Whiskers Café.

      Lily hoped she didn’t have to bolt for the door again.

      The interior of the café was welcoming and warm after the coolness of the breeze outside on the street. Once Lily choked past the smell of the coffee she was able to detect the mouthwatering aromas of Beth’s treats. Front and center in the display case was a lone cinnamon bun which Beth whipped onto a plate and presented to Lily.

      “Enjoy,” Beth said with an easy smile.

      Lily had been away too long. She hoped to reacquaint herself with friends before the rumors started flying about her enlarging belly. She knew from the past how vicious the local gossips could get with someone who’d ‘fallen from grace’, as her mom was apt to say. Ironically, her mother was one of the biggest gossips in town.

      She slid into a stool at the counter and tucked into the cinnamon bun in front of her. God, it was delicious. A groan of pleasure growled in her throat.

      Beth and Charmaine chatted over coffee but Lily was too preoccupied by the sweet bun to pay any attention to what they were saying until she heard her name.

      “Lily’s looking for work. Do you know of anyone looking for help around town?” Charmaine said between mouthfuls of blueberry pie.

      Lily blushed. Trust Charmaine to get straight to the point. Lily had planned on asking Beth once she had finished her tea and bun. She reluctantly put down her fork. She might as well listen.

      Beth was smiling. “I could really use some help around here. I’ve been advertising for ages but, besides some school kids, no one’s applied. Mark helps out when he can and Shirley Jenkins from Hobart helps on Wednesday through Saturday. But the rest of the time it’s mostly just me and Samantha. It gets hectic all right.” Beth looked at Lily and her smile grew. “What do you say, Lil? Want to come and work for me?”

      Lily couldn’t think of anything better and was about to accept when a customer placed an empty coffee cup next to her on the counter on his way out the door. “Thanks Beth,” the man said before turning away.

      Lily’s stomach heaved. The cinnamon bun threatened to reacquaint itself with the plate and Lily clasped her hand over she mouth in a desperate attempt to keep it down.

      Beth grabbed the offending coffee mug and thrust an empty metal mixing bowl in front of Lily’s face in one smooth movement.

      Lily quickly found out that cinnamon bun and mint tea do not taste very good on a return trip. Charmaine yelped and jumped down from her stool away from any splashes.

      “Here you go,” Beth said, handing Lily a napkin as though this sort of thing happened all the time. “I’ll get you a glass of water. Just sit there a minute and get your bearings.”

      Beth went into the kitchen to fetch the water. Lily sat at the counter with the busy café in shocked silence behind her. She’d never been so embarrassed in all her life. When Beth returned, she gratefully took a sip of the water as Beth removed the bowl. “I don’t think working here is a good idea at the moment.” Her voice was raspy and acid rose again in her throat but she choked it down. “I think I should go.” Her stool scraped against the tiles when she stood up. The room tilted for a moment but Charmaine grasped her by the arm and glared at anyone and everyone who dared to look their way.

      “Come on,” Charmaine said. “Fresh air will do you good.”

      The cool breeze blowing down the street took Lily’s breath away. “I can’t believe I just did that.”

      “It’s okay hun, it could happen to anyone.” Charmaine patted her awkwardly on the arm.

      “I’m so embarrassed. Poor Beth. What she must think of me.” Lily leaned against the truck and buried her head in her hands.

      “You’re not alone in getting morning sickness you know.” Charmaine put her arm around her shoulder. “You remember what I was like, don’t you? I puked everywhere. Remember the fit Bradley had when I made a mess in his truck? I thought for sure he was going to leave me there and then,” Charmaine said with a chuckle. “It’ll pass. Trust me.”

      “It’s not even morning anymore though! And how am I supposed to find a job if all I do is throw up all the time?” She leaned into her friend. “God, my life is such a mess. What am I going to do?” she murmured into Charmaine’s shoulder.

      “Well, for one, we will go get groceries and we’ll ask around about any other jobs. Ones that don’t involve coffee. Okay? Come on, hop in.”

      Charmaine dragged her into the minivan then headed back into the café to grab her kids. She was such a horrible friend, she’d forgotten about Charmaine’s kids. What if she left her own baby somewhere? Would she forget she had one and walk away and leave it behind in a shop? God, she started to feel sick again.

      Charmaine piled the kids into their seats, completely unaware of the turmoil Lily was going through. “Okay,” she said once she buckled in and was reversing out of the parking space. “Is there anything you want from the store?”

      “Olives and a Hershey’s bar.”

      Charmaine looked at her sideways and grinned, “Okaaay,” she said slowly, “We can get those.”

      The grocery store wasn’t far. It was only down the other end of the street but Charmaine said she needed to get quite a few things and didn’t want to carry them all back to the minivan when she could park just outside the door.

      “Can I have some candy Mom? Please?” Charmaine’s youngest, Cody, asked with his heart in his eyes.

      “It’s only just after lunch honey and you just had something to eat at Beth’s. I tell you what, if you are all good,” Charmaine eyed each of her children with a gleam in her eyes, “I’ll let you watch a movie when you get home and I’ll get you some popcorn.”

      “The one in the bag, Mommy?”

      “Yes honey, the one in the bag.” Charmaine sighed heavily.

      “Yay!” All three kids shouted in joy and dashed towards the shop.

      “Remember you have to be good!” Charmaine shouted after them but they were already through the door. “I don’t know why I bother,” Charmaine said to Lily and followed the little monsters inside.

      Lily laughed for the first time in what felt like years and tagged along. She hoped they had lots of olives. Her mouth salivating just thinking about them.

      Charmaine asked the lady at the checkout if she knew of anywhere looking to hire.

      The beauty smiled sympathetically at Lily but shook her head. “No sorry, not that I know of. You could have a look at the post office though, they sometimes post notices up on the bulletin board outside.

      “Damn,” Lily muttered under her breath before following Charmaine and her troop of little clowns back outside. “Who was that at the checkout? She kept looking at me as if I should know her.” Lily asked once the door closed behind her.

      “Tricia.”

      “Tricia? Do I know her?”

      “You remember Tricia, don’t you? She was a Hamilton, but she married Greg Torr.”

      Lily thought about the raven haired lady that served her and tried to place her face in her memory. “I guess I’ve been away too long.” she mused out loud, “I remember the name, but I didn’t recognize her.”

      “Well, she used to be blonde and a hundred pounds heavier.” Charmaine grinned, “You should have heard the commotion when she lost all that weight and then snared the third hottest guy in town.”

      “Your Bradley being the hottest of course, right Charmaine?”

      “Oh I don’t know, I can think of someone