The Solid Grounds Coffee Company

by Carla Laureano

  “Mmm,” Mari said.

  “Mmm, meaning you don’t agree?”

  “Don’t start reading into my mmms. Maybe I was just admiring those arms of his.”

  Ana’s mouth dropped open. “Mari!”

  “What? You mean you haven’t noticed?”

  She looked back out onto the patio, where Bryan was stretching overhead to hang the lights. Oh no, she’d definitely noticed. She’d noticed enough to almost break her nose in yoga today.

  Mari grinned. “I’ll just leave you here speechless. You might want to go out and get a closer look . . . I mean help him out.”

  “Mom wants me to help with the food. And by help, I mean put it in dishes and then stay away from it. Hey, when are the others going to be here?” She didn’t need to elaborate for Mari to understand she meant their four other siblings.

  “In a bit. When the party starts. You don’t think they’d want to hang around with any of the old people, do you?” Mari’s grin said she included herself in that description, especially since their next oldest sister was still in her twenties, if not for long.

  “Heaven forbid.” Ana turned away from the window and the too-tempting view of Bryan, back to her aunties. “Okay, who needs help?”

  By the time the first guest arrived at a quarter after six, all the food was finished, the cold dishes set out on the kitchen table, the warm dishes covered in foil in the oven. There was the usual hugging and kissing from older relatives; barely veiled criticism couched in surprise at her presence; a lot of inquiries about her marital status and suggestions that she date people’s sons or brothers. Pretty much status quo for one of her parents’ parties. Bryan helped in the last regard, ready to place a possessive hand on the small of her back or to bend and whisper something in her ear when she wanted to get away. He knew what he was doing, and she was immensely grateful for it.

  After they made their rounds of the party, Ana and Bryan heaped their plates high and took them out to a cluster of chairs on the opposite side of the pool, away from the noise and heat and laughter of the house. The twinkle lights made the backyard look festive, a cool breeze rustling through the bushes and sending the palm trees swaying overhead. Bryan sat quietly, working his way through the mounds of food on his plate.

  “What are you thinking?” Ana asked.

  “I’m wondering how I can get your mom or your aunts to adopt me. This is amazing.”

  “They can cook for sure. But now you see why I don’t eat Filipino food very often. I’d be as big as a house.”

  Bryan didn’t laugh like she intended him to, instead studying her quietly in the deepening shadows. “Is that why you kill yourself every day at the gym?”

  Ana blinked. She opened her mouth to answer but found that every reply she could give was inadequate or shallow. “Would you have even given me a second look if I didn’t?”

  “Yes.”

  Ana looked away. “I don’t believe that.”

  “Trust me, you’d be gorgeous no matter what. Besides, the very first thing I told Alex about you was that you don’t take any garbage from anybody. That’s what I remember from when we met. Not your dress size.”

  “Easy to say when it can’t be tested.”

  Bryan stared at her. “You know, you think that says something about you, but really all you’re saying is that I’m too shallow to love you if you don’t meet some arbitrary standard of perfection.”

  The words struck with more force than he probably intended, and Ana opened and closed her mouth, trying to think of a reply. Before she could form even a single word, however, a slender woman approached and plopped herself in the chair next to them. “Hey. You must be Bryan. I’m Ana’s sister Bettina. But you can call me Betsy.”

  Bryan threw a glance at Ana and then stuck out his hand. “Hi, Betsy. Nice to meet you.”

  “Same here. It’s about time Ana brought someone home. Maybe Mom can stop lighting candles for her.”

  Ana covered her eyes with one hand. “Betsy, stop. You make me seem even more pathetic than I feel.”

  Betsy leaned over to Bryan, voice lowered to a commiserating tone. “Our mom is amazing, but she’s a trip. Do you know she used to be a pearl importer? Then she quit work when Ana was in high school and all that focused attention was on us. By the way, thanks a lot for that.”

  Ana laughed. “You complain, but she’s the only reason you stayed eligible to play tennis, so you should be thanking me. If not for that focused attention, you wouldn’t have passed economics.”

  Betsy made a face, then straightened suddenly. “Ana? Please tell me that’s not who I think it is?”

  Ana followed Betsy’s gaze to where a good-looking man had just exited the patio door and was scanning the corners of the backyard. The blood drained immediately from her face, leaving her light-headed and weak. She had the sudden impulse to cringe down in her seat, make herself small, as if that would keep him from seeing her.

  “Ana, what’s going on? Who is that?”

  “That is Robert Lumala.” Ana took a deep breath and let it out as slowly as she could manage. “My ex-husband.”

  * * *

  Bryan stared at Ana, stunned. “Your ex-husband?” He looked back at the man who was steadily advancing on them, sizing him up. Tall, handsome in a foreign-movie-star way, nicely dressed.

  But ex-husband?

  Ana seemed transfixed by his approach, so she would obviously be no help. He cast a quick look at Betsy. “Give me the short version. Love, hate, or tolerate?”

  “I believe the last time she saw him, she told him that he broke her heart and if he ever approached her again, she’d return the favor by breaking his nose.”

  “Okay, so we’re going with hate.” At least he knew there was no competition with the guy. The question now was how to make him go away as quickly as possible so Ana didn’t need to deal with him.

  He knew just as swiftly that it wasn’t his place. When the ex got within a few feet and Ana rose, Bryan did the same, sticking right by her side.

  “Ana,” Robert said, offering a cautious smile. “It’s nice to see you. I didn’t expect you to be here.”

  “It’s only my father’s sixty-fifth birthday. Why would I be?” She seemed to get a handle on herself and said calmly, “Robert, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Bryan.”

  “Hello,” Bryan said, offering his hand. Robert looked him over, up and down, then gave a dismissive smile as he shook his hand. Bryan hated him already. And Ana had been married to this guy? What on earth had she seen in him?

  Then Robert made the cardinal mistake of guys everywhere, the aggressively hard handshake that was meant to establish dominance. Bryan didn’t play those stupid games, but he couldn’t resist giving Robert’s hand a squeeze hard enough to make him flinch. Yep. I cling to rocks for a living.

  Except, of course, he no longer did.

  Robert pulled his hand back and shoved both in his pockets, looking back to Ana. “Could I have a word with you? Alone?”

  Ana gave him a chilly smile. “Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of Bryan and Bettina.”

  “Actually—” Bettina gave a helpless shrug—“I’m going to get some food.” And then she hightailed it out of there.

  Robert glanced at Bryan, and he stared blandly back. Ana was the only one who could ask him to leave, and she didn’t seem inclined to do so. Robert obviously figured that out, because he moved aside and tried to pitch his voice low. “I’ve actually wanted to talk to you for a long time. I’m sorry that things are so bad between us . . .”

  “You’re sorry that things are bad between us?” Ana replied incredulously.

  “That’s what I said—”

  “You’re not sorry about anything else.”

  “Obviously, I wish things could have turned out differently, but Ana, it’s been almost sixteen years. Don’t you think it’s time to get over this?”

  Bryan looked between them. He’d never seen Ana in anything less t
han full control of her emotions, but he could practically feel the fury vibrating from her body.

  “Right. I should just get over it. You are unbelievable. Even now, you can’t admit responsibility for what you did to our marriage.”

  “We were young. I made a mistake.”

  “Right, a mistake. You were walking down the street, and oops . . . you slipped and accidentally got another woman pregnant?” She shook her head. “You’re not sorry for anything. You’re just mad that I won’t forget everything and make it easy for you and your parents to be friends with my family. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s your problem. You’re just going to have to get over it.”

  Ana glanced back at Bryan. “I’m going inside. They’re about to put the candles on Dad’s cake.” Robert started to say something, and she fixed her fiercest gaze on him. “No. We’re done here. And if you come within six feet of me again, I’ll make a scene you’ll never forget. Got me?”

  Robert’s eyes widened and he nodded. Ana looked like she was going to say something else, but she stuffed it down and strode back to the house like a woman possessed. Bryan grabbed her plate from where she’d left it on the chair and followed her, not caring that it looked like he was trailing her like a puppy.

  All he cared about was making sure she was okay. And finding out why she’d felt the need to hide her past from him.

  * * *

  Ana blew through the kitchen, where her mom was putting candles on a chocolate-frosted sheet cake, ignoring her when she called Ana’s name. Instead, she navigated swiftly through the crowd and straight out the front door.

  “Ana?”

  Bryan’s voice came softly behind her. He’d followed her out. Great. It was bad enough that he had to be surprised by her ex-husband, worse that he’d seen her lose it in front of her family and their friends.

  But he was still waiting, so she drew a deep breath and turned toward him, helpless humor lacing her voice. “Surprise. I was married once.”

  “I kind of gathered that,” he said levelly. “How old were you?”

  Ana shrugged and moved out to the brick planter in front of the house, plopping herself down on the edge. She hissed in annoyance when her skirt snagged on the rough brick. “Eighteen. Our families have been friends for ages. His dad is actually my godfather. We were always together, but no one really thought we’d ever be interested in each other. And then, senior year of high school . . . we fell in love. Or at least that’s what we called it.” She rolled her eyes. “When you’re eighteen, can you really be in love?”

  “Maybe,” Bryan said.

  “Well, my parents didn’t think so. They forbade the engagement, for good reasons. He’d turned down a college scholarship in order to tour with his band after we graduated. He was talented, no question, but I don’t need to tell you what the parents of a teenage girl would say about marrying a musician with no other means of support, family friend or not.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “Anyway, we didn’t listen. We eloped. Ran away to Vegas and got a quickie marriage. And consummated it as quickly as possible, so we couldn’t be forced into an annulment.” She threw him a wry look. “Let’s face it, we were eighteen, sheltered, and Catholic. That’s probably a good part of the reason we got married in the first place.”

  He chuckled softly, but he didn’t try to touch her, even though he was close enough to.

  “Anyway, I deferred my USC admission for a year, spent my days as a barista and my nights acting the supportive wife while his band played seedy bars. Meanwhile, he lived off my paltry paycheck and slept with other women. He got to live his dream and all I got were my mad pool skills.” She forced a smile, as if that could erase the pangs of hurt and shame that came with the retelling.

  He blinked. “Wow. So much for sheltered and Catholic.”

  “Yeah. He had his parents fooled too, so I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad I didn’t see him for what he was. In any case, he promised to clean up his act.”

  “How long was this after you were married?”

  “Four months.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah.” She went in for the kill. “And then his ex-girlfriend showed up . . . nine months pregnant.”

  “What?” The shock on his face was thoroughly gratifying. “So he was dating you, sleeping with her, and then he married you?”

  “Yep, pretty much. That was the last straw. I put my tail between my legs, moved home, and filed for divorce. I went to USC in the spring and never looked back.”

  Bryan stayed quiet for a long moment, digesting the information. “Why do I have a terrible feeling there’s more?”

  “Do you mean the part where Robert got a job working for my dad at the bank? Or the part where my mom makes oblique comments about my having divorced the only man willing to marry me?”

  Bryan’s mouth dropped open. “Surely you’re joking.”

  “I wish I were. I mean, they were horrified, of course. But Robert spun it into some sort of story about youthful indiscretions and how I was the only woman he ever really loved, how I was the one he wanted to settle down with. And the families being as close as they were, they pushed hard for us to get back together.”

  “But you never did.”

  “Are you crazy? He showed up at the house one time and I tried to back over him with my car.”

  Bryan cracked a smile. “And just when I thought I couldn’t possibly love you any more.”

  A reluctant smile came to her lips in return, a bit of the tension draining from her body. “Our families didn’t appreciate my murderous inclinations. The thing is, I might have been able to forgive him, but it’s unfair to expect me to act like it never happened, like we’re best friends. My family should have my back. Not spend the next fifteen years telling me I’m going to stay single forever.

  “Anyway. Now you know why I dread coming home. There’s either the risk of running into him—though I really didn’t think he’d have the guts to come here tonight—or having to hear about how great Robert is doing, how many women would just love to be with him, but he’s still broken up over losing his one great love.” She rolled her eyes again, wondering how she’d ever believed the lies that tripped off his lips so easily. “Trust me. He’s not exactly lacking for female companionship.”

  “Wow. I’m really sorry, Ana. Why didn’t you tell me? It’s not like anyone could fault you for the divorce considering the situation.”

  He was right, but shame still burned inside her at the word divorce. She stared at her hands. “I’m literally the only person in my family who is divorced. I’m not a successful businesswoman; I’m just the divorced daughter who helps bad people keep their jobs. Do you have any idea what it’s like to have your life dragged out as party chatter? One bad decision, and their view of me is damaged forever.”

  Bryan settled himself beside her on the planter and threw her a rueful smile. “You do remember who you’re talking to, right?”

  She flushed. Of course. Except while he had been completely honest about his past, she was still hiding hers from everyone close to her. She didn’t intend to confess, but words slipped out anyway. “You’re the first person from my life in Denver who knows. I haven’t even told Melody and Rachel.”

  “Why not? They’re your best friends.”

  She shook her head, her braid sliding back over her shoulder. “I couldn’t. They depend on me for advice. I’m supposed to be the sensible one. And now it’s been so long, I don’t know if they’d forgive me for keeping it a secret.”

  He reached for her hand and twined their fingers together. “Melody and Rachel love you. They’ll understand if you explain it to them. But, Ana, you’re carrying a burden that you were never meant to.”

  She glanced at him, her brow furrowing in confusion.

  Bryan smiled faintly. “The only one who expects you to be perfect is you.”

  She held his gaze in the dark, taking in the compassion in his eyes. He meant what he sa
id. If anyone knew what it was like to come back from bad decisions, it would be him. But he hadn’t made a career out of fixing other people’s problems. Her clients expected her to have it all together. Her friends expected her to have it all together. If she wasn’t that person, then who was she?

  She let go of his hand and pushed to her feet, brushing down her skirt. He meant well, but he couldn’t possibly understand. She shoved down the emotion that had welled to the surface and put on a determined tone. “Sometimes it’s easier just to put things in the past. I’m not that person anymore.”

  He didn’t look convinced, but he rose and put his arms around her. “Well, I for one am glad that you came to your senses and didn’t stay married to that schmuck.”

  “Oh yeah?” She lifted her face to his, relieved at his playful tone. “Why is that?”

  In response, he dipped his head and kissed her, carefully and almost chastely, but Ana still half-expected the porch light to flicker on and off. When she stepped back, her heart swelled with emotion. There could be no question she loved him. But when she opened her mouth, the words still wouldn’t come.

  Bryan must have sensed her turmoil, because he cleared his throat. “Should we go inside for cake?”

  “Let’s. I’m kind of hoping that Robert will be having trouble holding a fork.”

  Bryan chuckled, though he put on an abashed expression. “You noticed that, did you?”

  “He deserved it. Always has to be top dog in any situation.”

  Ana twined her fingers with his again, the contact tugging once more at her heart. She could no longer deny that what she felt for him was more than fleeting infatuation.

  And yet she couldn’t help feeling that once more, she’d let an opportunity slip away.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “SO THAT WAS FUN.”

  Ana cast a look over her shoulder as they crept forward in the boarding line onto the 737 that would take them back to their real lives. She listened for any sign of sarcasm, but no, Bryan sounded completely serious.