Drops of Blue

Drops of Blue

Alice Bright

Copyright 2014 by Alice Bright

The recent death of her mother has left single mother Emily wounded.

Never before has she felt the pain she experiences when she whispers one last
goodbye
to her mom’s casket.

Believing that her world is ending, Emily throws herself into her work. When a handsome stranger begins to notice her, though, Emily starts to feel like maybe, just maybe, the world can move on.

Henry is carefree and lighthearted.

He’s everything that Emily is not.

But when she looks into his deep blue eyes, she feels, just for a moment, that everything is going to be all right.

Drops of Blue
is an erotic story by author Alice Bright that will leave you squirming in your seat and wishing for more.

Chapter One

“More coffee?” Emily asked the man in the corner booth. He nodded, and she tried to keep her hands from shaking as she poured the stale black liquid into his cup. Before he could thank her - which he wouldn’t, anyway – Emily continued on to the next table, and then the next.

The work was dull and routine, but it gave her something to do while Dillon was at school. Now that he was in the 3
rd
grade, he needed her more than ever to help him in the afternoons with his homework.

And now that her mom was dead, Emily needed something, more than ever, to keep her mind from dwelling too much on the past.

Work gave her something to do to keep her mind off of things.

It kept her normal, at least on some level.

She knew that things would never be completely
okay
again, but whose life was ever okay? Everyone had something that bothered them, that kept them awake at night.

At least, that’s what Emily told herself.

Sometimes she almost believed it.

Emily slipped back behind the counter to start brewing a fresh pot of coffee.

“Welcome to the Blue Moose Diner,” she called out as the bell on the front door jingled and sang. Wiping her hands on her stained apron, she turned around to see who had entered the tiny restaurant.

The man who stood in the doorway was tall and athletic, with jet black hair and eyes that could burn a hole in her heart.

“Can I just take a seat anywhere?” He asked her with a smile.

Emily nodded. “I’ll be right with you,” she told him.

He chose a barstool directly in front of her.

She turned around, trying not to worry about getting the order right, the staleness of the coffee, or what she looked like after working double shifts this week. She was exhausted and the dark circles beneath her eyes gave it away. All she could think about was making it through the day. Just a few more hours and she could go home and collapse until her son came home.

“You can do this,” she whispered to herself.

Just a few more hours.

“Can I start you off with a cup of coffee?” Emily asked the man with the deep eyes.

“Yes, thank you.” He smiled at her. “Long day?”

She nodded, surprised that he had actually spoken to her. Most of the diners at this time of day weren’t very talkative. It was after lunch, so all the local businessmen were gone, but it was too soon for the retirees to be in for their late afternoon coffee. Nearly everyone who came in during the early afternoon hours were truckers or travelers too tired to talk.

And Emily didn’t really mind.

“Yes,” she told the man. “How are you doing today?”

“Better now that I’m here, Emily,” he squinted briefly at her tiny name tag. “I’m Henry.”

“Nice to meet you, Henry. I’m glad you stopped in. I’ll go get that coffee now.” She turned to grab a fresh pot from behind the counter and started brewing the coffee.

She could do this.

Just a few more hours.

Chapter Two

“What kind of work do you do?” Emily asked the stranger as she poured him another cup of steaming hot coffee. She handed him a few packets of cream and sugar, which he promptly tossed into his mug.

“I’m in marketing,” he told her. “Don’t worry,” he added quickly, “no one ever knows what that means.” When she smiled, he laughed. “I help companies create ads. It’s nothing spectacular, but it pays the bills.”

“Sounds like a fun job to me,” Emily told him.

“It is, sometimes,” he conceded. “Sometimes it would be nice just to get away, though. My wife passed away a few years ago and ever since then, I’ve just been lost. I pour myself into work because it keeps my mind off of things, but sometimes I think about just quitting and running away.”

Emily’s face must have given away her surprise at her customer’s overshare, because Henry quickly added, “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have told you all that.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” she told him. “I get it. I mean, my husband isn’t dead, but he’s gone. He left me last year,” she frowned. “And my mother passed away a few months ago, so I get it. I get the pain. Sometimes it seems like it would be easier to leave, you know, and just start somewhere new. Just start somewhere fresh.”

“I’m really sorry,” Henry told her. “I’m sorry that you’ve gone through this.”

Emily shrugged. “What can you do?”

“I just take one day at a time,” he admitted.

They talked for awhile longer, but then Henry had to go.

“Thanks for the great conversation,” he told her, dropping some cash on the counter. “You’re good company, Emily.”

And then he was gone.

When Henry left the diner that day, Emily didn’t expect to see him again.

But she did see him again.

And again.

And again.

Henry came in every day at 1:30 and ordered a cup of coffee and a sandwich. He chatted with Emily as he ate, inquiring about her little boy and always asking how her day was going. He shared more about his late wife and their life together. They had so many great plans that Emily wondered how Henry could go on living without her.

He must be so lonely.

He must be so lost.

But somehow, something about Henry seemed strong. Something in him seemed brave, courageous. She knew, deep inside, that he was going to be just fine. He was going to make it.

It wasn’t long before she began to look forward to the last few hours of work because it meant she’d get to see him.

One day, as Henry stood to leave, he paused for a second.

“Go out with me,” he said to Emily.

“What?”

“I mean it. Go out with me. Tomorrow.”

Emily felt her heart leap and then melt back down into its usual state of sadness and emptiness.

“Henry, it’s complicated. I can’t.”

“If it’s Dillon you’re worried about,” Henry assured her, “it’s fine. I’m not trying to replace his dad, and I’m fine with the fact that you have a child. I just want to spend some time with you. You’re amazing, Emily. I want to get to see that a little more.”

She sighed. “It’s not Dillon. It’s just-” She thought of her mother. She thought of her dead mother and what she would say. It had been months since she died, and still Emily felt lost. Still she felt alone. Still she felt like it was a struggle just to get through each day.

Henry understood, she knew. He had lost just as much – if not more – as she had.

But still, she wondered if it was too soon.

“What is it?” Henry asked her, softly placing his hand on top of hers.

“My life is really complicated, Henry. It’s messy. It’s sad and it’s boring and it’s nothing that would interest you.”

“I’m already interested,” he told her with a soft smile. “Give me a chance.”

Emily tried to stop staring at him, but she couldn’t.

She tried to resist him, but it was futile.

She felt washed away by his attention, buy his presence. They’d known each other only a short time, but she already knew he was a good man. He was a kind man. He was the type of man who didn’t care that her family was gone and she was all alone.

He was the type of man who’d come sit at a diner in the middle of the day just so that she didn’t have to be alone.

“Okay,” she told him. “I’ll go out with you.”

Chapter Three

Emily stared in her reflection in the mirror for what felt like hours, but was probably just a few minutes. Her hair was curled. Her makeup was on. Her lips looked kissable.

But she still had to remind herself to breathe.

Dillon, always the trooper, was happy to spend the night at his best friend’s house so that Emily could go out.

“Thank you,” she told Kyle’s mother as Dillon sprinted off into the house, excited about a night of video games and pizza.

“Have fun,” Allie winked at Emily. “Seriously, Sweetie,” she hugged her friend. “You deserve it.”

Emily smiled softly and turned to leave, but Allie grabbed her arm. “And Emily? You look beautiful tonight.”

Feeling better than she had in months, Emily headed back down the walkway and climbed into her car. She headed back to the house to wait for Henry to pick her up. She had no idea what he had planned for them, but she was ready for anything. It had been so long since she had felt anything but sad that Emily was hesitant to allow herself to feel excited.

Despite her worries, she felt herself growing more and more anxious to get to spend time with her mysterious friend on her own. Though she had known Henry only a short while, she already felt comfortable with him. She felt safe. She felt like she had wings and that she was falling and flying at the same time.

She reminded herself to breathe.

Just when she didn’t think she could take waiting any longer, the doorbell rang.

He smiled when she opened the door and looked her up and down.

“You’re always beautiful,” Henry said, “but tonight you look just radiant.”

He leaned in to give Emily a gentle hug. As he pulled away, his lips grazed her cheek softly. A shiver of excitement shot down her spine. For a brief second, she felt more womanly than she had in a very long time. She felt alive. She felt ready.

“I’m excited about tonight,” she told him.

“I am, too.”

He offered Emily his arm and led her to the car, stopping to open the door for her. She shouldn’t have been surprised that Henry was such a gentleman. Of course he would be. He had never been anything but kind at the diner, so why change now?

It wasn’t that Emily had been in bad relationships.

It was that Emily had been in
so many
bad relationships that she had lost herself along the way. She had somehow, over time, forgotten what a good man looked like.

Now one was standing right in front of her.

And she was ready for anything he wanted to throw her way.