Erin started to answer, but customers came in and the lunch rush began in earnest. And thank god, because she wasn’t sure what to say. Of course she wanted to support her friend through the process. It was a horrible process for the victim, because she wouldn’t be able to be in the courtroom until after she testified, so all this stuff would be happening and it was about Ella’s life, but she couldn’t be there.

At the same time, Erin’s hands shook at the thought of going through a trial again. Administrative buildings in general gave her a stomachache for days.

But in the end, Ella needed her; she’d reached out, and there wasn’t any way Erin could say no.

Once the initial rush passed, she leaned back and Ella exhaled. “Wow, I can’t believe you did that alone every day.”

Erin laughed. “I don’t normally do panini, and today is particularly busy for some reason, but yeah, I’m so grateful you’re going to take this promotion. I think Dave will appreciate more hours too, since he’s only working part-time. He and I spoke last week about it and he said he could easily take on another fifteen or so. And that means actual days off for me.”

Ella nodded with a grin. “I expect Todd would like that.”

“Yes. He wants to go on trips and stuff and now it’s possible. Can you stay after we close today? Then you and I can talk about some of the ideas I’ve got for staffing and the future?”

“Definitely.”

“And of course I’ll go through the trial stuff with you.” Erin hoped she sounded more sure than she felt.

Ella hugged her. “Thank you. Really. I know it’s hard for you. My mom will be there and of course my advocate, but I feel totally lost in so many ways. You’re so strong and so calm. I need that.”

Todd walked in and looked at Erin, of course knowing something was up. He had that way about him.

“Hello there, beautiful wife. Take pity and feed me?”

She rolled her eyes. “Go sit. I take it Cope will be joining you too?” she asked as she turned and put a panini in the press and began to ladle some soup into a bowl.

“Of course. You know he likes to come in here and flirt enough to make me annoyed.”

Ella laughed as she got coffee for some customers.

Cope came in as she was putting the food down. Once she did, he swept her up and kissed her smack-dab on the lips. Erin couldn’t help but grin at him. He did it purely to poke at Todd, like any other little-brother type would.

“Your mother must have a hell of a lot of gray hair from you boys,” she said as she walked away.

“But I’m so cute!”

“He is,” Ella said in an undertone. “Sort of scary with that face he gets sometimes. Ben too. But they’re all so nice to look at.”

“You should see the rest of them. Todd’s brothers and all the assorted fathers, cousins and other cop types who show up at barbecues and stuff. It’s like  p**n  for women.”

“I have noticed more cops in here on a regular basis. I like it.” Ella took a deep breath and Erin understood her. At least Erin’s attacker was in prison. Ella’s was out on bail, which had to be terrifying.

“They take my being Todd’s wife and Dean’s daughter-in-law very seriously. It’s amusing to look out there and see all our funky people mixing it up with the cops.”

“It’s a hotness buffet in there at least three days a week,” Ella agreed.

Closing time came and Erin locked up but didn’t shoo Todd and Cope out. She and Ella cleaned up and then went to a table of their own to spread out a calendar and some new menu ideas Erin had.

She wanted to keep the hours they had; that much made sense. She might make more money with dinner, but really, she didn’t want the hassle and she sure didn’t want to work more. She liked the income from the cafe. It wasn’t a lot, but was enough to keep everyone’s salary paid and to pay for more hours from her employees so she could take time off.

But she wanted to be there less and she wanted weekends off so she could be with Todd and Ben. That meant not only hiring Ella on full-time, which she’d just done, but bringing Dave on for more hours so Ella could have days off too.

They planned and agreed on hiring a third part-timer to supplement the hours. Ella was smart and organized and had a good business mind, and she wanted to make something of her life. Erin sure couldn’t argue with that goal.

When they finished, Todd was still there but Cope had left. They walked Ella to her car and then Todd turned to Erin, kissing her.

“Tell me.”

“She asked if I’d go through the trial stuff with her. I’m okay, just a bit shaken.”

“I’ll come too. Or Ben. One of us will be there with you both. I don’t like this ass**le being out on bail.”

“You don’t have to come, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t appreciate it. As for that ass**le being out, me neither. Anyway, I’m going every day until she testifies and then she’ll be able to attend as well. It shouldn’t be a really long trial. They’re not charging him with attempted murder. That f**ker. First-degree assault along with unlawful imprisonment because he wouldn’t let her leave when she tried. And there’s this other thing, interfering with reporting of domestic violence, because he yanked her phone from her hand and stomped on it. Then there’s violating the protection order and other random stuff. It seems to me that the prosecutor is gunning for the ass**le. Which is nice. King County has good laws. Some other places, not so much.”