Page 45 of Here With You

“I’ll send Cormac around to pick them up. Can you get them done in an hour?” He figured it would take his nephew that long to get here from the ranch.

She nodded. “They’ll be ready.”

He paid with his credit card and turned to leave. “I’m heading to Cricket’s for pie. It would be nice if you could join Cormac for lunch. You do eat lunch, right?”

“I love lunch.”

“Have a good day, Tiffany.”

“You know my name.”

He smiled. “It’s a small town.”

Rather than pull out and park a few spaces down, he opened his door and let Ollie out. He wasn’t sure if Cricket would allow a dog inside, but it was worth a try. If she didn’t, he’d get his meal to go.

He told Ollie to sit when they got to the door. He peeked his head inside and saw Cricket staring at him.

“Miles, is that you? Come and give me some sugar.” Cricket rushed forward with her arms opened wide.

Miles smiled. He’d only been to the diner after hours when Cricket had gone home, and one of the high schoolers took over. “I’ve got a friend with me.” He pointed to Ollie. “Can he come in?”

She wrapped him in a hug. “We allow all service dogs to enter.” She stepped back, winked, and waved him inside, pointing to a booth under a sign with a chicken holding aCreative Pork Recipes Cookbook.

He took a seat, and Ollie crawled under the table.

“What will it be?”

“You choose.” He remembered Cricket well enough to know that she’d rather give you what she had than go to a fuss and make you what you want.

“I don’t like my men cheap, but I like ’em easy. Blue-plate special for you.”

While staying at Marybeth’s, he ate a lot of blue-plate specials in the diner. They weren’t what he’d call cheap, but they were always delicious.

“Sounds good, Cricket.”

“I thought you’d be dining at The Brown, seeing as you and Emmaline are back in the boathouse.”

It really was a small town. That was only this morning, and the rumor had hit the wind and traveled far and wide. He imagined it was Tilly or Charlotte or Marybeth who said something. “Those girls can’t keep their lips shut.”

“It wasn’t them. It was Emmaline. She called and said you might be in and asked me to convey her apologies for being, and I quote, ‘The painful boil on a monkey’s ass.’”

“She said that?”

“Yes, and she asked if you were coming back to please bring her a whole cherry pie and a quart of ice cream.” Cricket leaned her hip on the table. “What did you do to my girl?”

His eyes widened. “Me? I didn’t do anything. Don’t forget, she’s the one apologizing.”

Cricket leaned in. “She didn’t go into details but said something about the day not going quite as planned.” She moved in closer. “If things were a little awkward in the boathouse, it’s because no one has floated her boat since you left.”

He sat back like he’d been slapped. “Impossible.”

Cricket crossed her arms and leaned against the booth. “True. That girl is a born-again virgin.” She shook her head. “Obviously not after today, but she’s never so much as gone on a real date.” She lifted her hand and wagged a finger. “I suppose that’s a tiny lie. There was that one guy, but he only made it to the booth across from her, and I kicked him out. He’d been sitting in the same booth with Charlotte the night before. My girls deserve better than that.”

“She didn’t look sorry when I left. She looked like she was ready to skin me alive.”

“Emmaline never does anything with subtlety. That girl does everything with bravado. I’d bet she didn’t think you’d leave her again, but you did.”

His heart lurched. “I didn’t leave her. I left her to come and eat.”

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