“Nothing.” I banged the portafilter against the counter to clean it out.

“Lily don’t break it. Be gentle!” Violet cried as she rushed over and stroked the side of her espresso maker. “Men let you down, but coffee is always there,” she said sagely as she took a sip of her third? I’d lost count of how many coffees she’d had today. Violet ran on caffeine, and today cranky cynicism, apparently.

Rose finished up in the kitchen and joined us behind the counter. The morning rush was over. We had successfully caffeinated most of the town and could now have a small break. Finn and Nick were already relaxing at the tables outside.

Violet turned to me. “I want you back with Luke. But I like what you said before about being independent. I don’t think you should let a small thing like him not showing up this week shake you. Make him fit into your life, don’t make him your entire life like before. No man is perfect, not even Luke. They all fuck up sometimes.” She finished and stomped into the kitchen.

Rose and I exchanged a look. Was that little speech even about me?

“She must be fighting with Tom again. They haven’t been spending a lot of time together. It’s almost like they’re separated,” Rose whispered.

“Well, he wasn’t at dinner on Sunday. I wondered why.” I’d never really warmed up to Violet’s husband. Tom was kind of standoffish. I had hoped it was just with me because I didn’t live near them and only saw him on holidays.

“He’s a dickhead. I can’t stand to be around him anymore.” She checked the kitchen door, presumably to make sure Violet couldn’t hear us.

I leaned a hip against the counter with a grin. I was ready to sink into this gossip session and forget about my troubles.

Rose continued, “Holly hates him too, and Jude. Levi wants to punch him, but Cade talked him out of it. Ash said we should mind our own business.” She glanced at the door again. “I think he’s having a midlife crisis. He bought a Porsche and hired a young blond secretary.”

Living out of town, I’d missed the gossip that spread amongst my siblings. Wow, I guessed I was in for it now. I wondered what they’d said about me. Probably not much, I was pretty boring.

She suddenly grabbed my arm. “Look out the front windows. Look,” she hissed.

“What? What am I looking for?” I hissed back as I looked around frantically.

“It’s Jake,” she said reverently.

“Jake? Oh, Jake.” Jake was Tom’s best friend from college, but Rose and I were sure he only stayed friends with Tom to be close to Violet. She was blind to it though.