Page 52 of Lovewell Lane

“Can we go tell Margo good luck?”

“She’s probably already at the diner, honey. Restaurant owners have to wake up very early,” I said.

“Okay, then if it’s open can we go?” Tessa asked with excitement.

“Maybe after school, for a late lunch.” I hoped she would forget about my proposal immediately after I offered that up.

She turned to me with a frown. “We should support her. She does lots of nice things for us.”

My daughter was right. So, I sucked up my pride and took her to the damned diner. I had to park further away from my store, with how busy the street parking was. That was new. People littered the sidewalk going in and out of their cars and to and from Margo’s diner.

“It looks like she’s doing great,” I muttered.

Tessa held my hand as we crossed the street. “I’m so proud of her.”

My heart clenched at my daughter’s words. Because honestly, so was I.

“It looks like there aren’t any tables left. We should get you to school, but we can wave hello to Margo if we see her.”

We walked through the door, and I held it open for a couple of out-of-towners leaving. She really had put in the work to bring new people to town. It was the first I’d seen out of any Dreamer’s business to bring in this many people, and on the first day no less.

“There are two seats there,” Tessa said, pointing at the bartop I’d built. Fucking hell. I really didn’t want to sit front row and center. Especially when I knew Margo currently hated my guts.

We took the seats anyway. I helped Tessa up onto the tall chair, and we sat patiently until Margo came over. She wore a pretty pink apron and looked like she’d lived a thousand lives in just the last few hours. Her hair was windswept, and she wore a slight pink tint to her cheeks.

“Hey,” she said. “You guys came.”

“Yeah,” Tessa said proudly. “You make the best cookies.”

Margo laughed. “I’m guessing cookies aren’t for breakfast today. How about a muffin?”

I nodded. “Thanks, we’ll take two.”

Margo nodded without looking at me. “Coming right up.”

She brought back two muffins with a sticker for Tessa. “These are for only my favorite customers, so keep it a secret between the two of us, okay?”

Tessa beamed at her. “Does Daddy get one?”

Margo nearly snorted. “Sure, he can have one.” She tore off another sticker and passed it to me over the counter.

“Thanks,” I said to the back of her head.

Just like that, she was gone again. The sinking feeling in my stomach told me I needed to make this right. There were only a few times in life that I regretted saying something. Being a complete asshole to Margo on that boat was one of them.

The entire way to Tessa’s school I spent thinking about what I could do to fix it. The few things I knew about Margo and what could make her happy. Back at the hardware store, I started researching on my computer. She never said why she named the diner Lucky’s, but she did say her father owned a diner. In Chicago if I was remembering correctly.

Sam came in around lunchtime. “Did you see the diner yet?”

“Yeah, I took Tessa this morning,” I said.

“She’s killing it, I had to park on a side street just to come in.” I hummed in agreement. “Are you okay? I know you were annoyed at the fishing trip prank, but it wasn’t a big deal. Margo knew it was just a joke.”

“Can we just drop it?” I asked.

“No,” Sam answered. “We can’t. I like Margo, and I’d like it if you weren’t so stubborn about this. You spend all of your time with us or alone. Don’t get me wrong, I love that we’re close as a family, but it would be good for you to expand your horizons.”

Sam leaned his hands on the counter separating us and pushed closer. “And you need to get laid. It might help you to not be so miserable all the damn time.”

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