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coming back from Atlanta.”
     
    “Yeah, it’s an adjustment for sure. I mean, I grew up here but I’ve been gone for so long. I really thought I left this place behind.” Addison sighed and looked out the large plate glass window facing January Cove’s main street. It was a far cry from the sky scrapers of Atlanta.
     
    “Pardon me for asking, but why would you want to leave this place behind, Addy? I mean, your family is here and this town is a jewel. Most people would kill to live in a place like January Cove.”
     
    “I know, and I feel bad that I was trying to leave it behind,” she said, a sad smile playing on her lips. She leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. “Do you know what it’s like to grow up with four brothers?”
     
    “No. I was an only child. I only know what’s it’s like to grown up lonely.”
     
    “Well, it’s a double edged sword. On the one hand, you have all of these guys to protect you. But on the other hand, it’s hard to live your life when someone is always watching. I could barely date in high school because Jackson would try to interrogate every guy who came along,” she said giggling. “Once, this boy I’d been drooling over for months finally asked me out and Jackson scared him so bad that he switched schools!”
     
    “Seriously?” she said laughing. “That Jackson Parker is something else.”
     
    “Then I finally had my high school boyfriend, but he turned out to be gay.”
     
    “Nice…” she said as she started cleaning the espresso machine.
     
    “Yeah, it did wonders for my self esteem,” Addison said with a chuckle. “I guess I just wanted to get away and be myself, not a Parker kid. I wanted to make a name for myself and start my own life, free from the protection of my brothers. But look what that got me,” she said with a sigh.
     
    “Addy, you had a great life in Atlanta. You had that big career you wanted, and you made a name for yourself. You shouldn’t feel bad about yourself because your rat bastard of a husband cheated on you,” she said, a little more anger seeping from her than Addison expected. “Sorry. I just hate cheaters.”
     
    Addison realized she was a cheater too. “Rebecca, I’m the one standing her pregnant with another man’s baby. Yeah, Jim was wrong for what he did, but I basically did the same thing. I’m still married.”
     
    “It’s not the same, Addison.”
     
    “Why? Because he started it? That would be an immature way of looking at it, wouldn’t it?” she asked. Rebecca bit her lips and rubbed Addison’s arm.
     
    “I’m so sorry that you’re going through all this. But it will get better. Trust me. Even when you’re at rock bottom, things always get better.”
     
    Addison knew that Rebecca was speaking from experience. After losing her husband in the September 11 th bombings in NYC, Rebecca had been left to raise her young son alone. Leo, now almost fifteen years old, didn’t remember his father. It occurred to Addison that her baby would never know its father either, whether she gave it up for adoption or not.
     
    Her heart hurt.
     
    What kind of life could she provide for her child as a single mother working in a coffee shop? She didn’t want to struggle to make ends meet like her own mother had in those early days, but then again Adele Parker had picked herself up by her bootstraps after the death of her husband and started a thriving real estate business. Addison knew it could be done, but she didn’t know if she had the fortitude to do it.
     
    Addison spent the first half of the day learning the ropes at Jolt, everything from how the coffee machines worked to how to make the perfect blueberry scone. It was a far cry from her interior design business, but it was calm and quiet, which was what she needed right now.
     
    Her plan was to stash every dime she made at Jolt, which wasn’t much, and save up to get her own place. Maybe it would be in January Cove or maybe somewhere closer