You Never Find a Persephone

There was an influx of customers all of a sudden and Wyatt excused himself to help behind the counter.

Persephone's attention went back to Micaela who sat with her hands under her chin giving her a look of curiosity. She chose to ignore the look she was being given because knowing her friend as she did, Persephone knew Micaela would speak her mind any moment now. She opted to reach for the latte in front of her instead, giving it a tentative sip.

"Still too hot," she said as she set the bulky brown mug back on the table.

"How exactly do you know he's the new homeowner?" Micaela finally asked.

Persephone slowly leaned back against the chair as she crossed her hands across her lap. "Happenstance," was all she said, looking at Micaela and quickly averting her gaze.

Micaela raised a brow.

Looking at the arch on Micaela's face, Persephone crossed her arms. "Oh, put that eyebrow away, Micaela, there's no need for it here." She inhaled deeply and huffed. "If you must know, I felt a need to be near my old home after Christmas," she said forcefully. "Your sister made me feel so inadequate that the feeling of lament at not having my own space to escape to came back with a vengeance in the days that followed." She reached for the handle on the mug as she sighed. "It's still there."

Micaela's eyes filled with pity as they looked back at her. She reached across the table stopping just shy of Persephone's hand. "I'm so sorry, darling. I should have checked up on you sooner."

Persephone pulled away. She tightened her lips and gave a small head shake. She unrolled the black cloth napkin and pulled out the spoon to stir the hot liquid in the mug. "It's fine. Chris's parents barely moved back here, and I don't want to make any waves. It was probably just a misunderstanding." Persephone tried to minimize the gravity of the situation, but it was hard given Maggie and Michelle had followed her and Chris to the den after the couple tried to put distance between the two former lovers.

Micaela's phone started to ring, Persephone was able to read Maggie's name upside down on the phone screen before Micaela swiped to send the call to voicemail.

"Don't do that on my account," Persephone offered. "At the end of if all, blood is thicker than water."

Micaela opened her mouth as if to protect at the very moment the phone began to ring again with the same name appearing on the screed.

"It might be important," Persephone said before standing to give Micaela some privacy. She had noticed a wall with built-in shelves decorated with dozens of uniquely painted coffee mugs with the shop's logo sloppily drawn on one side and random names on the other. She went to take a closer look as an excuse to step further away from the phone conversation between the two sisters.

Persephone reached up and spun the mugs one-by-one hopelessly searching for her name. She knew the attempt was futile since she had one of those names that were never imprinted on memorabilia in bulk.

"There's a houseware shop two blocks over that holds mug painting classes every Tuesday night," an unexpected voice spoke from beside her causing her to jump. The mug she had been rotating flew off the shelf.

Persephone gasped as her reflexed made her reach for the falling mug but failed to so much as make contact with the item. She braced herself for the sound of shattering ceramics, but none came.

She looked from the ground and back up toward the shelf finding the mug which was sitting in a large hand.

"Didn't mean to scare you," he said as he invaded her personal space to put the cup back on the shelf.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she placed a hand over her rapidly beating heart. With the shock of the potential damage so fresh, she stood still. Her gaze slowly moved to the tall guy beside her. "Try harder, buddy," she said just as she felt an arm snake around her waist and pull her away from the close proximity of the guy next to her and against a familiar mold just as a familiar scent invaded her sense of smell.

"What's going on here, babe?" Chris asked as he pulled her body against his.

Persephone turned to look at her lover, noticing the deeply burrowed frown between his eyebrows first and his unwavering stare at Wyatt next.

"Hey!" she said immediately. "What are you doing here, my love?"

Without removing his eyes from Wyatt, Chris motioned toward the towering male next to them. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your buddy?" He mocked the term she had used.

Wyatt laughed facetiously. "Wyatt Ransom," he said as extended a hand toward Chris.

"Chris Ericson," her beau extended his own hand to the other male. Persephone noticed some knuckles were turning white during the handshake.

"Hey! You're that guy in the viral videos that gets stuff dumped on him by former conquests, right?" Wyatt immediately said with a smile.

Realizing she was in the middle of a pissing contest Persephone broke up the handshake by grabbing Chris's hand and pulling it away. "He's not that guy anymore. We're dating," she informed Wyatt making sure to give Chris a tender look and a smile when she said that.

Chris scoffed as he looked at Persephone. "It's more than that, babe," he looked back at Wyatt. "We're living together and we're talking about starting a family, isn't that right babe?"