Andrew had opened the Limerick this morning, worked the morning shift, then hurried straight over to Iris’s shop to spend the afternoon working there. Dr. Degas and Roman had both said they were available this afternoon, so rather than meet in the evening when the shop was closed, they’d decided to talk in the early […]

Roman was trying not to think about the fact that he was missing Jamie’s track meet. Celine was there, and so were the little ones. If he hadn’t gotten out, he’d be there. It was the sickening flip of his old situation, where away games just didn’t exist for Roman. But now, not only was […]

By mid-afternoon, Mia was getting restless. Olivia had to keep her away from the equipment, but the gated off play area was not as appealing for the toddler as she’d hoped it would be. Though she should have known that nothing could compete with knives and ovens when it came to excitement. Still, the books […]

The next day, Olivia woke up with the same thought. “I can’t do this.” Yesterday was a fluke, she knew it. Everyone that had stopped by had done so out of pity and no one actually liked her cinnamon rolls. She was going to get there today, open the doors, and nobody would come in. […]

Cleo was alone as she parked across the street from the Limerick and started for the entrance. Someone – probably Noah – had hung balloons across the top of the doorframe and they were drooping somewhat as the day went on. But the place looked beautiful and ready for customers even before she stepped inside. […]

It was finally the day. When Olivia woke up at four in the morning to the gentle glow of Mia’s nightlight, the first thing she thought was “I can’t do this.” Nope, this wasn’t actually going to happen. They weren’t reopening the Limerick and she wasn’t in charge of it. Nope, not actually happening. She […]

Andrew was still rattled by his fight with Olivia, but he’d told Noah he was going to talk to her about the flat and had not managed to yet. Which meant he had to do it tonight, even if it felt like the worst possible timing. So even though they’d had their round of apologies […]

“Liv?” Noah sounded irritated as he stepped into the back room at the Limerick. It could have been several different things, but she had a feeling she knew what it was and was still too angry to feel bad about it. “Yeah?” “What did you tell Andrew?” She wasn’t exactly surprised that either Andrew had […]

Andrew tried to avoid Noah the next morning. Olivia’s words were still ringing in his head as he got ready for work, his hands shaking as he buttoned his shirt. There were still a couple hours until his shift was supposed to begin, but he couldn’t think of anything that would keep him occupied here, […]

When Andrew had next woken up, the room was dark and he was lying on Noah’s couch with a much less scratchy blanket tucked tightly over him. He’d then gotten up to find Noah asleep in his own bed. As tempted as he was to stay up here again, he didn’t want to push his […]