Page 3 of The Good Luck Cafe
Darla looked skeptical. After a long pause, she grabbed a cup and set about making another coffee for Moira. A minute later, she slid it toward him. “That’ll be four dollars and seventy-six cents.”
Gil zipped his card through the reader, tapped in his PIN, and collected the two coffees. “Wish me luck.”
Darla shook her head on a soft chuckle. “Good luck, Mayor Gil. I think you’re going to need it.”
Chapter Two
Gil was uncharacteristically nervous as he stood in front of Moira’s front door. He was typically a laid-back kind of guy, which was good given his profession. Being the mayor wasn’t easy. Yeah, Somerset Lake was a small town, and the folks here were agreeable for the most part. But one truth he’d discovered in life was that you couldn’t make everyone happy all the time, and that fact kept Gil up more nights than not.
Gil shifted Moira’s coffee to his left hand and rang the doorbell. Then, seeing the little note that readDoorbell Broken, he finally knocked. From inside Moira’s home, he heard movement. She lived in a tiny one-story house in Wimberly Cove, a small neighborhood featuring one- and two-bedroom homes that catered to singles.
The door opened, and Moira crossed her arms over her chest. “What are you doing here?” she asked by way of greeting. She had on a headset, reminding Gil that she was on shift right now.
“Uh, hi.” Gil held out Moira’s drink, hoping she wouldn’t knock it straight from his hand. “I know you’re working dispatch. I just thought you could use that coffee I made you drop earlier. As the mayor, I want to make sure the ones keeping us safe are wide awake.”
She looked at the cup, not budging to take it. “That’s for me?”
“It is. Your mom made it just the way you ordered yours this morning. I may have driven a little bit over the speed limit to make sure I got it to you while it was still hot.” He offered a smile, hoping he didn’t look as nervous as he felt as he continued to extend the coffee to her. “Please, take it. I can’t stand to waste anything. If you refuse this coffee, I’ll be forced to drink it along with the one I have waiting for me in my truck. That’ll leave me tightly wound for the day. I might have to call nine-one-one on myself.”
Moira finally relaxed her guarded stance, extending a hand to take the coffee. Her gaze hesitantly met his. “Thank you. That was nice of you.”
“You’re welcome.” He stood there a moment, finding it difficult to actually leave. They used to be friends—the kind that could laugh at everything and nothing at all. Then things changed between them. Gil never should have introduced Moira to his college roommate. He shouldn’t have brought Felix Wilkes to Somerset Lake at all. Hindsight was twenty-twenty though. Foresight was twenty-seventy on a good day.
Finally, Gil backed away and stepped off her porch. “See you later, Moira.” He turned and walked back in the direction of his truck in the driveway.
“Gil?”
He turned eagerly toward Moira’s voice. “Yeah?”
Her expression was sheepish and hesitant. Even though she’d called out to him, she seemed to be at a loss for words. “How did my mom look to you? When you saw her this morning?”
Gil knitted his brows. “What do you mean?”
Moira shrugged. “I didn’t notice anything different, but my dad seems to think she’s not acting herself.”
Gil thought back on his interaction with Darla twenty minutes earlier. “She seemed fine. The same old Darla. Did your dad mention how she’s acting differently?”
Moira shook her head, her dark hair scraping along her shoulders. “No. I’m sure it’s nothing. Thanks again for the coffee.”
“Anytime.”
She stepped back and closed the door, leaving Gil standing there, feeling a bit foolish and off-balance. Wasn’t that how Moira always made him feel?
He continued toward his truck and got inside. Then he took a sip of his coffee before setting it in the cup holder and cranking his engine.Onward.He had things to do today, namely meeting with the town council about funding for a new parking lot on Hannigan Street. The next election for town mayor was this fall, and he wanted to promise his voters that he’d do whatever it took to ease the congestion on the main downtown stretch. But first he had to get the budget approved and find the perfect location, which was easier said than done.
***
The refrigerator was humming like one of those annoying flies that just wouldn’t go away. Normally, Moira could block out background noise, but today she was on edge, probably from her run-in with Gil. He always left her feeling a bit discombobulated. Or he had since their early twenties and that night that should never be discussed. It wasn’t Gil’s fault that she’d gone on a date with his roommate, Felix. It was Gil’s fault, however, that she’d gotten herself arrested the very next night. Gil had called law enforcement on her. That whole horrible weekend was one she’d rather just forget, and every time she saw Gil, she was reminded.
Moira blew out a breath and stared at her computer screen, blinking past the sting in her eyes, a hazard of too much screen time. Dispatch was dead. Not that Moira would ever wish an emergency on anyone, but no one had even called to report a deer munching on their greenery. Or a bird that had flown into their garage and was squawking angrily at anyone that entered. That was yesterday’s call, and it was the most exciting thing that had happened on the dispatch all week.
Moira closed her eyes for a moment, becoming increasingly aware of the refrigerator’s hum. She tried to block it out by following her stream of thoughts, which led her back to thinking about the mayor of Somerset Lake.
Great.
Her alert buzzed, announcing an incoming call on the dispatch. Adrenaline shot through her veins the way it always did.
“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” she answered.
