Espresso In The Morning

Laughter rumbled through him. “Like when I helped you move into this place last fall?”

“Okay, maybe you did that one on your own. I had that bum knee,” she said. “I’m not saying I don’t need you at times and appreciate you always, love. I just don’t need you all the time. Between me and that coffee shop of yours when do you have any fun?”

Lucas focused on coating the roller with fresh paint from the tray attached to the top of the ladder. He worked hard to keep The Coffee Stop afloat and to pass on what he could to his mother. She worked long hours as a receptionist, but she couldn’t seem to catch a break financially. Even though it didn’t bother her, he hated that she had to live like this.

“I like being busy,” he said. “What kind of son would I be if I left you to do this by yourself? And I enjoy the shop and I do meet people there.”

“What kind of people?” she asked.

“All kinds. There’s the Grandbys, this sweet older couple who like tea and board games. They want to start holding backgammon tournaments in the shop,” he said with a grin. “They’ve talked me into some group deals for them, but they’ll bring in a lot of new business, so it’s a win-win situation there.”

His mother rubbed at a dab of blue paint on her arm, saying, “But what about customers of the female persuasion? Any single young women frequenting that shop of yours?”

An image of Claire Murphy sprang to Lucas’s mind, with her auburn hair and those brown eyes carrying the weight of the world. He shook his head and said, “None that I’m dating, if that’s what you’re after.”

“No?” His mother regarded him with arched eyebrows. “That took a little long for you to answer. So, there’s at least one woman, but you don’t think you can date her. What makes her undateable? She’s not married, is she?”

“I’m sure we can find something more interesting than my lack of a love life to talk about,” he said. “What about you? How is everything with Richard?”

“He’s away on business, which is why he isn’t here helping me slap paint on the wall, but everything is wonderful so there’s not much to say. And I can’t imagine a more important conversation for a mother to have with her best-loved son—”

“Only son,” he said. “Only child—”

“—than one about why such a loving, healthy, single man should spend all of his time working or helping out his old-lady madre.”

“Number one, you aren’t an old lady, that would be Grandma and even she puts the other abuelas to shame. Number two, I’m happy being single. If I’m meant to be with someone I’ll meet her during the normal course of my life.”

His mother swept her arm, indicating the room. “Well, if this is the normal course of your life, you’re going to be single a long time, my son. I don’t have any young available women crowding into my home.” She shrugged. “Though maybe I can arrange something if you insist on hanging out here all the time.”

Lucas laughed again. “You know I’d put a fast stop to that if I thought you were serious.”

“So, tell me about the woman,” she said.

“What woman?” he asked.

“The one at your shop. The undateable one.”

“Who says there’s a woman?” he asked.

She gave him her sternest mom frown.

He blew out a breath. “There’s this kid. His mother is beautiful, fit, physically healthy. I wouldn’t call her undateable, but I believe she’s...distressed in some way.”

She stared at him. “Distressed?” she asked. “How so? That’s how you describe a scratched coffee table or dented washing machine. Though I suppose we’re all a little distressed these days.” She again raised the roller toward him. “She’s single?”

“One question at a time,” he said as he paused to run the edger along the top of the wall. “Yes, she’s single—at least she says it’s just the two of them. She doesn’t wear a ring.”

“Ah, so you are interested. Go on.”

He traded the edger for the roller, glancing at his mother as he rolled it in the tray and asked, “What makes you think I’m interested?”

“You checked for a ring.”

He bit the inside of his lip. He could say he did that with all attractive women, but his mother knew him too well to buy that. “I didn’t need to check for a ring. She told me it was just the two of them. And if I did, maybe I was looking for the kid’s sake,” he said. “He’s about ten. He should have a man in his life. I just kind of feel for him, you know?”

“Because she’s distressed and that affects him?”

“Well, they both seem a little worn-out, really, but her more so. He’s just getting hit with her flack, but it affects him, definitely.”

“What’s wrong with her? Is she loco?”

He blew out a breath. “I suspect she’s dealing with a case of PTSD, but I don’t really know. She startles, doesn’t sleep, seems to be hypervigilant. And I saw she was reading articles on it, which doesn’t mean anything, but something’s off. I’m just getting to know her.”

“PTSD? Like Toby?” she asked, her tone softening.

He nodded. “Yeah, like Toby.”

“How long has it been, Lucas? Seems like it just happened yesterday.”

“Two years ago last Friday,” he said without emotion.

She nodded and rolled more paint on the wall, saying, “Two years already? I know it’s still hard for you.”

“Yep.”

“And I see why you might not want to date this woman.”

He paused midstroke and said, “You think she reminds me of how I screwed up with Toby?”

“Did you screw up with Toby?” she asked.

He swiped the roller down the wall. “Maybe. Yes, definitely, when we were younger.”

“Helping her won’t bring him back.”

He turned to her. “I know that.”

She met his gaze. “Do you?”

“Yes. I just feel like she could use a friend.”

“And you think you’d make a good friend for her?” she asked.

“Yes, especially if she’s suffering from PTSD. I could help her. I studied it pretty in-depth after Toby...”

“But why do you feel the need to help her?”

He put the roller back in the tray and spread his arms wide. “Why does it matter? One minute you’re asking me why I don’t have a woman in my life and then when I tell you I’m getting to know one, you question it.”