Just one person away from the counter that particular morning, Amy felt a vibration in her coat pocket. Taking her phone out, she opened her messages. And was so astonished by what she found that she didn’t even realize she’d moved to the front of the line. Both Jordan and the girl on the register had to call out her name, in unison, to bring her back to the here and now.

When she looked up, she was wearing an expression of bewildered exhilaration.

2

Omni, Colorado

Margarita opened the passenger door and carefully placed the cardboard tray containing two, large Americanos on the seat. Single origin from Huila, Columbia, the coffee was Bob’s favorite. A bonus to accompany her early return.

She’d been scheduled to fly home from New York later today, but the week’s meetings had gone so well that she’d decided to return yesterday afternoon, spending last night at her sister’s in Denver before getting up early. She hadn’t told Bob, wanting to give him a surprise. Both of them had been working long hours of late. Being the end of the week, perhaps they could take this opportunity to push back? Go somewhere scenic for lunch and take the rest of the day off to do whatever—she had a few ideas.

Closing the passenger door, she stepped round the front of the SUV to the driver’s side, smiling as she recalled the last time she’d stopped for coffee. Just like now, she’d got home earlier in the day, arriving home with Bob’s favorite single origin coffee. Whether it was her recent absence, or the coffee, or a combination of the two she couldn’t say, but the effect on her husband had been unexpectedly arousing. Delightfully so.

Over twenty-five years of marriage the fire of their passion for one another had inevitably receded to something more like a muted glow. But that early-morning coffee run had had the same effect as throwing fuel on the embers, provoking an entirely unexpected blaze of desire that had seen them using several surfaces of their home in ways they hadn’t since they’d first dated. It was a good thing that Gabby had moved to college earlier this year!