Page 37 of After You

“Hash browns,” Hannahsaid.

Vi tapped her order pad. “Got ’em. With brown gravy. But do you want fried eggs or scrambled? You always went back and forth on those.”

And Hannah felt tears well up. Vi remembered her order. After all these years. All she could do wasnod.

“Fried,” Kyle said, glancing from her up to Vi, “It was usually fried.”

“Got it.” Vi made a note. Then she put a hand on Hannah’s shoulder. “Good to see you, honey.”

She moved off to place their order. “No toast for Doc!” she called to Dottie through the window.

That pushed a soft snort out of Hannah.

Kyle gave her a grin. “Some things never change.”

The words could have felt like a jab, a reminder about the things that had changed and the fact that it was Hannah’s fault, but in that moment, with the scent of bacon and toast and coffee swirling around them, and the sounds of the older men now arguing about whether it was okay to say penis and vagina in the middle of the diner, and those stupid napkin dispensers that had always been there, and it felt more like they were just reminiscing.

She nodded. “Thank God forthat.”

And she meant it. The unchangeable, the steady, the dependable meant so much more to her now than it had even when she was young and just sensed that she wanted that in her life. Now she knew how valuable it was to have things to hold on to when you were adrift in the sea of the-shit-that-sometimes-happens-in-life.

The accident had changed her whole perspective about plans. She’d had a whole to-do list of plans that day. They’d even been written down. In Sharpie marker in her planner. And nowhere on that list had been an ambulance trip or a fractured C5 vertebra. She knew now that plans were no guarantee about how things would go, and that you couldn’t make the universe bend to yourwill.

Kyle’s gaze hadn’t wavered from her face. “Some people find it boring. Or too easy. It’s not very exciting aroundhere.”

Hannah met his eyes directly too. She had known this guy all her life. Maybe more importantly, he knew her. Did she feel guilty about leaving and not coming back? Yes. But dammit, she’d learned a few things while she’d been gone. Things she was glad to have learned. Like how to not get so hung up on perfection and how not to take things for granted.

“I guess it depends on your definition of boring and easy and exciting.”

Kyle opened his mouth to reply, but just then Jerry got up from his chair to go the restroom. One of the other men gave him a hand up, almost automatically, as if he did it all the time. Within the first three steps, it was obvious that some things didchange.

“Jerry had a stroke?” Hannah asked Kyle quietly.

Kyle glanced at Jerry and nodded. “About ten monthsago.”

Jerry was a lifelong farmer, on and off farm machinery, lifting and carrying and pushing and pulling…even a moderate stroke would change his life, and from the way he was having to lift his leg to move his foot and not trip, this was a little more than moderate.

She swallowed as she watched him. “Is it hard?” she asked.

“His boys took over the farm but yeah, it’s hard for him to not be able to do all the things he loves.”

She shook her head and focused on Kyle. “Is it hard for you? To see people you’ve known your whole life aging and getting sick and going through things that change everything?” She knew she was treading close to a topic that was far too personal for her that she didn’t want to talk to Kyle about. But his answer mattered. A lot. Maybe Kyle had learned something about how life changed in spite of your best efforts sometimes, and that it was okay to adjust your plans.

“Of course,” he replied, keeping his voice low. “But it just makes me all the more determined to help things not change when Ican.”

Right.

“Hey, Doc, what time are you and Butch going fishing next Saturday?” one of the men from the table calledout.

“Early,” Kyle said. He glanced over at the men. “You want tocome?”

“Thinkin’ aboutit.”

“Let me know. I’ve got Brady and Hunter coming over to collect night crawlers before that,” Kylesaid.

“Willdo.”

“You go fishing with these guys?” Hannah asked. “That’s new.” She liked thinking there were new things in Kyle’s life. Maybe things he hadn’t expected.

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