Page 36 of After You

“No,” Vi said. “No, no, no. You’re not getting strawberry jelly with your toast this morning, Doc. That is also a topic not allowed inhere.”

“But, Vi,” Kyle said, clearly fighting a smile, “these are just normal, everyday things for me. I forget that they sometimes make people a little uncomfortable.” He gave Hannah a wink and then said to Vi, “Maybe we should make a list of things that come up at my place of business that wouldn’t be appropriate here. Maybe the guys canhelp.”

And just like that, the nine grown men in the middle of the diner became a group of kindergartners who had been told they had to make a list of naughty words. All with grins as they watched Vi’s reactions.

“Well, obviously there’sshit.”

“He’d call it something more official thanthat.”

“Yes, true.”

“What aboutsnot?”

“He’d probably say mucus, right?”

“Hey, Doc, is it snot or mucus?”

“How about menstruation?”

“Is someone actually writing thisdown?”

“Vi, you writing thisdown?”

“Oh, fecal material.”

“Definitely a goodone.”

“Ejaculation.”

“Is thatbad?”

“In a diner?”

“Yeah, okay maybe.”

Vi looked down at Kyle. “Now you’re not even getting toast,” she told him under the hubbub that continued.

Kyle laughed. “Totally worthit.”

That laugh. Hannah felt heat curl through her belly at the sound. And at the amusement on his face. And at the familiar taste of Dottie’s terrible coffee. And the smells, and the faded apple wallpaper border that hung above the window where Dottie handed the food to Vi, and the napkin dispensers. Yes, even the napkin dispensers were exactly as she rememberedthem.

Hannah drew a shaky breath and sipped her coffee. Dammit she was in trouble. She missed this place with an ache that was only growing. And she’d been in town less than twenty-four hours. She’d been with Kyle for only a couple of hours altogether, and she was feeling a similar ache about missing him. No, not similar at all. Much, much stronger.

She rubbed her head. She couldn’t believe her grandmother had hung that much hope on Hannah coming home. And yet…she could. Why would anyone, least of all the grandmother who had spent her life in Sapphire Falls, believe that Hannah had found something better? Hannah’s life plan had always been to stay here. Even before she’d fallen for Kyle, Hannah had pictured her life in her small hometown, living the life her grandmother, and even her parents to some extent, had lived. Her parents had had a rougher time, with her dad’s injury and money being tight. But honestly, Hannah knew they would have never chosen anywhere else tolive.

Yes, Hannah had to go back to Seattle. But she wasn’t sure she could convince her grandmother that she wanted to goback.

This was going to be very complicated.

It seemed clear that the easiest way of handling being back here—and not buying a house and calling dibs on this booth…and the man across the table from her—was to stay away from the public places and social times as much as possible.

That could work. Alice wasn’t going to feel up to much for a while, so Hannah would just lie low at her house for as long as possible. She’d make short trips out, she’d take Kade with her when she could, and she’d just avoid as many things as possible that would remind her of how much she loved ithere.

That meant no races at the track, no get-togethers at the river, very little time at the Come Again—though if Kade was writing there, she needed to be there to keep an eye on him—and nothing to do with the summer festival.

“How do you want your eggs, honey?” Vi asked.

Hannah snapped back to the moment and the fact that they were now ordering breakfast. She looked up at Vi. The warm, friendly, familiar face that had served her more French fries than all other waitresses combined.

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