Page 22 of Change of Plans

“How did the date go last night?” Brian asked cautiously. I figured he knew me well enough to guess where my mood was coming from.

“Great,” I said without enthusiasm. Brian arched an eyebrow. “We had a fabulous dinner at Closed Mondays.”

“I heard that place was good.”

“It is.” I nodded. “The food was good and the conversation was excellent.” I paused before saying, “We went back to Theo’s place after.”

“And?” Brian’s face lit up a bit.

My mouth twitched into a grin, whether I wanted it to or not. “And that was great, too,” I said, flushing with warmth as I remembered. That warmth didn’t last, though. “Right up until I saw the plans for the expansion next door on his kitchen table.”

Brian frowned. “Plans?”

“Architectural plans. He’s the lead architect for the project that’s going to destroy Common Grounds.” Somewhere in that sentence, my temper over the whole thing returned full force. “All this time, he’s been flirting with me on the one hand and plotting the demise of the café on the other. And when I asked a few questions, he shut me down like he thought I was too stupid to understand.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Brian held up his hands as I started to glower like a thunderstorm. “Wait a second. Because that doesn’t sound at all like the cute, shy redhead who comes in here on the regular and stares at you like you hung the moon.”

“And who also thinks I’m not capable of understanding the impact of a major construction project right next to Common Grounds,” I insisted.

The way Brian frowned at me sent guilty swirls through my gut. He looked like he wanted to say something, but a group of teenagers came into the café making a ton of noise, and we had to stop to serve them.

That took longer than usual, and by the time we were finished, my mood had shifted to tight frustration.

I knew Brian could see it hanging over me like a wet towel. “Okay, what’s really bothering you?” he asked. “Because getting all upset about something like this is not you at all.”

I huffed out a breath, not knowing how to answer that. “Just because I didn’t go to four years of college like everyone else doesn’t mean I’m incapable of understanding when something is about to affect my business,” I said, starting there.

Brian’s eyebrows went up. “Why does it matter whether you went to four years of college or not? I didn’t go to college at all.” A brief look of uncertainty passed over his face.

“I don’t like it when people assume they’re smarter than me,” I said, feeling deeply uncomfortable with the entire conversation.

Brian, of course, picked up on the reason why immediately. “I don’t think Theo thinks he’s smarter than you. What gave you that idea?”

“Because he’s—” I couldn’t make myself go on with the sentence. I didn’t know what I was going to say anyhow. I hadn’t really thought he was out of my league because he was more educated than I was, did I? That didn’t seem right. We were a really good match on every other level. I wasn’t threatened by him at all.

“You said you had a great time,” Brian prompted me. “So when did it go wrong?”

I thought back, trying to be honest with myself. “It went wrong when I saw the blueprints on his table.”

“And why did that matter?” Brian asked.

I blew out a breath. “Because it felt like discovering the guy I want to be with is responsible for destroying the café.”

“But the café isn’t going to be destroyed,” Brian pointed out. “They’re just building something next door.”

I frowned and thought about it some more as another customer came in and our conversation was put on pause. What was I really upset about? That I was sleeping with the enemy, or at least that I wanted to sleep with the enemy. I was irritated that Theo hadn’t mentioned anything sooner. That would have been nice. But he might have been right when he said it hadn’t really come up. He hadn’t thought it was that big a deal.

Well, it was a big deal. It was a big deal if the place I loved was hurt in any way due to something my boyfriend had put in motion.

I sucked in a breath and took a mental step back over the way I’d instantly thought of Theo as my boyfriend. Even though I was mad at him. There was something else going on here. I hadn’t cared about anyone or anything more than Common Grounds and my family in a long time, but I cared about Theo.

“You don’t think I’m trying to throw up excuses not to get closer to Theo because I feel guilty about caring for someone who’s threatening the café, do you?” I asked Brian once we were alone again.

Brian laughed. “Okay, there are two things wrong with that question,” he said, crossing his arms and shaking his head. “First, you’re not the sort to get squirrely over relationships. You’re not a commitment-phobe, like Sam.”

My eyes popped a little at that statement. Was there something going on between Brian and my brother? That was a problem for another day.

“Second,” Brian went on, “I’m still not convinced this construction project is as big of a deal as you’ve made it out to be in your head.”