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 […]

Andrew could tell that Noah was on edge from the moment that he walked into the apartment. It wasn’t that Noah’s place was a wreck. It wasn’t even its general slightly messy state. Instead, it was almost sterile. He’d clearly been up here scrubbing and rescrubbing every surface. While the countertops gleamed, it was an […]

Cleo liked Jude. She felt a little disloyal to Andrew, since he’d hated the man for reasons that were obvious to everyone except himself. But they seemed to be getting along better these days and Jude was a cool guy, so Cleo couldn’t bring herself to feel guilty when she waved to him from the […]

Roman had never been to an AA meeting outside of New Winslow. But despite his nerves, the group in Petersham had been a good one. Noah went with him and between his presence and the familiar setup of the meeting, Roman had almost felt comfortable enough to talk. Not quite, but he was almost there. […]