Coffee With You

By T. Thomas

Kaecee is dying to escape from the pressure of her parent's constant disapproval, constant push for more. She's tired of allowing them to live through her.

So, on a whim shortly after graduation, she takes a job in a small town in Tennessee, packs up her necessities, her cat, and hits the road.

But during her first week in town, her cat runs up a tree. And she has to call the fire department to come get him down.

The hunk of a man who shows up doesn't just save her cat . . . he rescues her heart, too.

And he's not letting her parents force her back home without a fight.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tiff Thomas
• Release date: Aug 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215144275

T. Thomas

If you’re looking for happily ever after, you’ll find it here.T. Thomas is a sweet, clean romance author of emotionally gripping books that always end in love and happiness.She has been writing since she was thirteen years old. She enjoys spending all of her spare time writing, but she absolutely detests editing and proofreading.T. Thomas can normally be found in her little room of her own that she calls her "woman cave" writing her next book and putting off editing and proofreading for as long as possible.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Kaecee

There was something about a small town that just called to me. After living in the city all my life, I was tired of the constant hustle and bustle. Everyone was always doing something. It seemed like no one ever took the time to just rest .

And God, I wanted to rest. I needed to—desperately. I was so tired. I always felt like I was running on zero energy. Caffeine didn’t even fuel me anymore these days. My mind had just had enough.

I had to get away.

My parents had pushed me so hard all throughout my entire childhood and my teenage years to always do better. Be better. Achieve more. What I did never seemed to be enough for them. And it continued on through college.

I was never good enough in their eyes, and it exhausted me. I was tired of living for them. I was ready to just live for myself.

So, when I graduated, I finally did something for me. I applied for a part-time veterinarian position in a small town in Tennessee, which was a pretty far cry from my life in the hustle and bustle of New York City.

Did my parents know? No. Did I care? Maybe a little, but I just needed to be free. And they never let me just be my own person.

It was always all about them.

And the even worst part was that I couldn’t tell them. I didn’t know how. And I was terrified that they would come down here and drag me kicking and screaming all the way back to New York. But they wouldn’t care. Because I was part of their image. Everything I did reflected on them.

Even now, I was sure they were having a panic attack over my sudden disappearance. I’d just packed up whatever I could into my car and left. I didn’t leave a note. I even left the phone they paid for and purchased me another one on my own phone plan. I left my laptop and my tablet.

I didn’t want them tracking me before I even got a chance to freaking breathe.

My fingers drummed on the steering wheel to the soft sound of the rock music playing through my car speakers. I’d gone out to get groceries this morning and was currently on my way back home. And buying groceries for myself had been something strange. I’d never done it. Throughout my childhood, someone had always done the shopping for us. I didn’t even know how to properly make a grocery list, to be honest, because even when I went to college, my parents had my groceries delivered to me.

It had felt so . . . good to finally purchase my own food. No one dictated what I could and couldn’t eat. There was no one to reprimand me if I wanted to eat an entire tub of ice cream in one sitting. There was no mother telling me I couldn’t have pizza because it was unhealthy for me.

I could just be me. Do me.

There hadn’t been much in the way of places to rent in this small town, but thankfully, my boss and her husband had a loft over their barn that they allowed me to rent from them for an extremely cheap price. Two hundred dollars a month. I sure wasn’t complaining, especially since the place was so quiet, which had been surprising with the horses just below me. And they’d insulated it well enough that I didn’t hear any of the farmhands throughout the day.

It was absolutely perfect. Despite me never having been outside of New York City except for vacations my parents decided to take, I knew this was where I was meant to be. I felt settled—calm. It was like my soul had found a place to call home.

I rolled up the dirt drive, my car bumping along over the bumpy road until I pulled up next to the barn, right beside the door that led straight up to my loft. I had to pass the animals on my way in, but I didn’t really mind it. Besides, the horses loved when I gave them carrots.

I pulled open the door, and suddenly, Bax darted out, his black fur standing straight up.

And he rushed straight for the tree.

Bax! I screeched, dropping my purse on the ground. Bax, no!

I would never be able to get him down from that tree! He didn’t know this kind of life. He was used to being confined to an apartment with a heavy door that my parents had insisted be installed so it couldn’t be kicked in so easily. It was nearly impossible for Bax to get out back in New York, and when he did, it was only out into the hallway.

Oh, God, I must have left the door to the loft open by accident. It was the only way he could have gotten out. He wasn’t used to such big animals, and he’d never been outside since I adopted him as a tiny, itty bitty kitten except to put him in a cat carrier and take him to the vet for his shots.

Panicked, I looked around for Grayson, but his truck was gone, and all of his farmhands were out in the field. Drawing in a deep breath, my eyes back on Bax who was super high up in the tree, I pulled up the number to the local fire department.

I was about to become known as the town’s crazy cat lady before I’d ever had my first freaking day of work.

But if it got Bax down from that tree and safely back up in the loft, then I didn’t care what anyone thought about me.

This is Alan, a deep, gruff voice answered the phone.

Hi,