Chapter 2: Bitter and Sweet
Emma leaned against the back counter of The Daily Grind, watching the espresso drip slowly into the ceramic cup. The hiss of steam and the hum of her small machine were oddly comforting. It was the kind of sound she imagined filling her future — soft, steady, hers.
But her mind wasn't on the coffee.
It was on him.
Jake Matthews.
She hadn't said his name out loud in years, but it had been whispering through her thoughts all morning. The way he looked at her — like time hadn't really passed, like they hadn't missed an entire decade of each other's lives — made her chest tighten.
And the smile. God, that smile. It was the same one he wore when they were seventeen, when he caught her doodling in her notebook instead of paying attention in economics class. Back then, she thought he was out of her league. Too charming. Too sure of himself.
She remembered how she crushed on him silently, fiercely — and how he seemed to never notice.
But now? Now, he noticed.
She sipped the espresso and grimaced. Too bitter. Much like her timing in life.
"Maybe we could help each other out," he had said. Friendly neighborhood rivalry.
Emma turned that over in her mind. Rivalry. It was safer than friendship. Safer than… whatever was trying to spark back to life in her chest. She wasn't here to fall for anyone. She was here to build something real. For herself.
Still, a small, dangerous thought crept in:
What if Jake wasn't just a distraction? What if he was the reason she came back to herself?
No. Too soon. Too messy.
The doorbell jingled as a customer entered. Emma straightened, pasting on a practiced smile.
But as she took the order and steamed the milk, she couldn't shake the feeling that her story with Jake — the one she thought ended years ago — might just be beginning.
******
Jake leaned back against the counter, his eyes fixed on the sidewalk outside. His barista, Sam, was running the front while he pretended to review inventory on the tablet in his hands. But really, he was watching her.
Emma.
She was standing outside The Daily Grind, flipping her sign to OPEN, her hair catching the morning light like it always used to when they were teenagers. There was something in the way she moved — calm but uncertain — like she was still deciding if she belonged here.
Jake knew the feeling.
He hadn't expected to see her again. Especially not across the street, opening a coffee shop that looked like a Pinterest board come to life. Clean lines, warm wood accents, plants in cute little mugs — it was exactly the kind of place that made people feel safe.
It was the kind of place Emma would build.
He hadn't forgotten her. Not even close. And that was the problem.
When she left after high school, she didn't say goodbye. Not to him. He told himself it didn't matter — that they weren't really friends. But it had mattered. More than he'd ever admit.
Seeing her now? It stirred up things he thought he'd buried under ten years of espresso grounds and early mornings.
Sam poked his head around the corner. "You watching her again?"
Jake frowned. "What? No."
"Dude." Sam smirked. "You've been pretending to do inventory for twenty minutes and haven't typed a single number."
Jake sighed. "It's complicated."
"She your ex or something?"
"No." He hesitated. "Not exactly."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "So… she's the one that got away?"
Jake didn't answer. He just turned back to the window and watched Emma smile as she handed a customer their drink. It was a real smile — soft, a little shy — and it punched him straight in the chest.
Yeah, he thought.
She's definitely the one that got away.