Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Feeling relieved, unburdened… and maybe like a silly goose, Tamara watched as Liz got up, looking completely relaxed, and walked out the door. She was back five seconds later. “Oh, I completely forgot to tell you—Zach wants you to come to his wedding.”
“What?” Tamara wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“He called to ask. He said that anyone who could do so much to find the perfect coffee for them needed to be part of their special day.”
Sensing her hesitation, Liz said, “Come on, Tamara, when a billionaire wants you to go to his wedding because he’s eternally grateful, you go to his wedding.”
“All right, then.” Tamara smiled. “I’d love to.
Through the window, Tamara watched Liz walk across the street, back to Married in Malibu, knowing she had the best friend anyone could have. The fact that she’d recognized that something was bothering her in the first place meant the world. Liz had helped her out of her fog, or funk, or whatever you called it, and gotten her thinking straight. She would be eternally grateful.
Tamara quickly completed her final chores, turned out the lights, and then locked up.
Driving home, she couldn’t stop thinking about Nate. Liz was right. Nate was a keeper. She had known that about him ever since he had started at Married in Malibu more than six months ago, and they’d hit it off immediately. They had so many similar interests—most noticeably loving coffee and the beach with a passion. They both had quirky families and the same sense of humor. Not to mention, Nate was drop-dead gorgeous and super smart. He had gone out of his way to make sure she’d had a good time over the weekend, and then he’d driven them back to Malibu and gone straight to work. And, according to Liz, he had been slogging away for the whole week—no wonder Tamara hadn’t seen him!
As she pulled into her parking spot at home, Tamara came up with an idea. She wanted to do something special for Nate, something that would show him how much he meant to her. Nate was always the one making the grand gestures, like that beautiful bouquet of forget-me-nots, but she knew he also appreciated the little things.
Tamara went inside her apartment and rummaged around, gathering the things she needed. She heated up some leftover pasta, had a quick meal, and then got to work. A few hours later, probably about the same time Nate was leaving his office, Tamara sat back and examined her handiwork. She smiled. Nate—her dear, wonderful, kind, handsome Nate—was going to love it.
Nate was working furiously, testing and retesting, compiling new data, only to find more problems, and then coding some more. By Wednesday, around midnight, Nate knew he was finally on top of everything. But this morning had been a different story. He’d been working until past midnight for the past two nights and getting only a few hours of sleep before coming in early the next morning. He figured the long days had been worth it, and things were looking good. But that wasn’t the way coding worked. You thought everything was fine, and then the moment you beta tested, things started to go wrong. The best that could be said about the beta testing was that they’d caught the issues before they went live with the wedding feed on Friday.
Nate stood and stretched. All he wanted right now was to go home and get more than four hours of sleep. He would never admit it to anyone, but he was exhausted, physically and mentally. He had to be back at work at nine a.m. for a last-minute meeting with Zach and Yuriko. If he left now, he would be home in thirty minutes and in bed in thirty-one minutes.
He walked out to his car, looked wistfully across the street at the darkened coffee shop, and then drove home.
Chapter Fifteen
Tamara got to work early the next morning, long before anyone else. She parked and then ran across the street to see which cars were in the Married in Malibu parking lot. Fortunately, Travis was the only person at work. Perfect. She planned to drop off some things for Nate before he arrived for the day, and she wanted to make sure he wasn’t already there.
She hustled back to the coffee shop and turned on the espresso machine. While it was heating up, she got out her stainless coffee carafe and filled a small box with creamers and sugars, stir sticks, and a couple of fresh doughnuts she had picked up on the way in. She filled the carafe with Nate’s favorite blend of coffee and then gathered everything and walked back across the street.
Tamara stood on Married in Malibu’s front door step, right under the security camera. Travis must have been looking at the security screen in his office because he suddenly appeared at the door before she had a chance to ring the bell.