make it harder for you.”
Hunter grunted out a laugh. “You being alive makes it harder for me with her.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
He waved off Will’s apology. “No worries. You have a couple of other redeeming qualities.”
“Just a couple?”
“Don’t push your luck.”
“I’ll quit while I’m ahead and let you get some work done. Good luck with Megan.”
“Thanks.” After Will left, Hunter stared at the piles of folders and papers on his desk that required his attention. But rather than dive into work the way he usually did, he sat behind his desk and stared off into space thinking about the important question he needed to ask Megan, how he should ask it and what she might say.
News traveled with the speed of wildfire in a small town, and Butler was no exception. By the time the diner opened that morning, all their regulars already knew Brett and Nina were moving overseas and the diner was closing down after the weekend. Moving from table to table, refreshing coffee and taking orders the way she did every day, Megan did her best to dodge the endless questions about what she would do now that her sister—and her job—were going away.
Over the course of the first hour they were open, Megan must’ve said a hundred times that she was happy for her sister and Brett to have the opportunity to live overseas and no, she didn’t know what her plans were after the diner closed.
As the breakfast rush started in earnest, Megan was too busy to answer questions, which was just as well because she’d run out of answers, and her emotions were swinging all over the place.
“Megan!” Butch, the cook, was never the jolliest of fellows, especially first thing in the morning, but he’d been extra surly this morning after Nina broke the news to him that his job was going away—soon.
Megan scurried toward the open window where several plates of pancakes and eggs waited for her to deliver them.
Butch grunted at her. “Move your ass, will you?”
“I’ll move my ass if you shut your mouth.”
He grunted again, half laugh, half aggravation, which meant business as usual between them.
She secretly loved Butch, who was big and burly with sleeve tattoos on both arms and bulky muscles, all of which he loved to show off by wearing tank tops year-round, even when it was freezing outside. Though they bickered nonstop most days, she knew there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her, which he frequently proved when he fixed her car for free or gave her rides when it was snowing, allowing her to keep her eyes closed while she breathed deeply and tried to forget that she was in a car in the snow—her least favorite place to be. There wasn’t much she wouldn’t do for him either.
Butch was someone she would miss when the diner closed. Their relationship defied easy definition—it was part brother-sister, part angry coworker, part dysfunctional relative. He was a member of the family she and Nina had put together in the years since they lost their parents, and he was important to both of them. Nina had cried when she told him her news, which had made Megan cry, too. She felt like she was losing her family all over again as the closing of the diner loomed large in the immediate future, like a dark, threatening cloud.
Megan moved through the diner, tending to seventeen tables at once without having to think too much about what she was doing. Nina manned the register and kept the coffee pots full while busing tables, dealing with customers and handling takeout orders.
The three of them had a good groove, one that had worked well for years. It was funny, Megan thought, as she refilled the mugs of Hunter’s grandfather, Elmer Stillman, and his friends Cletus Wagner and Percy Flanders, how you don’t think much about the people in your daily life until they aren’t going to be in your life anymore. People like Mr. Stillman, who always made her laugh with his homespun sayings about everything from coffee to moose
Hunter grunted out a laugh. “You being alive makes it harder for me with her.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
He waved off Will’s apology. “No worries. You have a couple of other redeeming qualities.”
“Just a couple?”
“Don’t push your luck.”
“I’ll quit while I’m ahead and let you get some work done. Good luck with Megan.”
“Thanks.” After Will left, Hunter stared at the piles of folders and papers on his desk that required his attention. But rather than dive into work the way he usually did, he sat behind his desk and stared off into space thinking about the important question he needed to ask Megan, how he should ask it and what she might say.
News traveled with the speed of wildfire in a small town, and Butler was no exception. By the time the diner opened that morning, all their regulars already knew Brett and Nina were moving overseas and the diner was closing down after the weekend. Moving from table to table, refreshing coffee and taking orders the way she did every day, Megan did her best to dodge the endless questions about what she would do now that her sister—and her job—were going away.
Over the course of the first hour they were open, Megan must’ve said a hundred times that she was happy for her sister and Brett to have the opportunity to live overseas and no, she didn’t know what her plans were after the diner closed.
As the breakfast rush started in earnest, Megan was too busy to answer questions, which was just as well because she’d run out of answers, and her emotions were swinging all over the place.
“Megan!” Butch, the cook, was never the jolliest of fellows, especially first thing in the morning, but he’d been extra surly this morning after Nina broke the news to him that his job was going away—soon.
Megan scurried toward the open window where several plates of pancakes and eggs waited for her to deliver them.
Butch grunted at her. “Move your ass, will you?”
“I’ll move my ass if you shut your mouth.”
He grunted again, half laugh, half aggravation, which meant business as usual between them.
She secretly loved Butch, who was big and burly with sleeve tattoos on both arms and bulky muscles, all of which he loved to show off by wearing tank tops year-round, even when it was freezing outside. Though they bickered nonstop most days, she knew there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her, which he frequently proved when he fixed her car for free or gave her rides when it was snowing, allowing her to keep her eyes closed while she breathed deeply and tried to forget that she was in a car in the snow—her least favorite place to be. There wasn’t much she wouldn’t do for him either.
Butch was someone she would miss when the diner closed. Their relationship defied easy definition—it was part brother-sister, part angry coworker, part dysfunctional relative. He was a member of the family she and Nina had put together in the years since they lost their parents, and he was important to both of them. Nina had cried when she told him her news, which had made Megan cry, too. She felt like she was losing her family all over again as the closing of the diner loomed large in the immediate future, like a dark, threatening cloud.
Megan moved through the diner, tending to seventeen tables at once without having to think too much about what she was doing. Nina manned the register and kept the coffee pots full while busing tables, dealing with customers and handling takeout orders.
The three of them had a good groove, one that had worked well for years. It was funny, Megan thought, as she refilled the mugs of Hunter’s grandfather, Elmer Stillman, and his friends Cletus Wagner and Percy Flanders, how you don’t think much about the people in your daily life until they aren’t going to be in your life anymore. People like Mr. Stillman, who always made her laugh with his homespun sayings about everything from coffee to moose
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