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Maybe that was part of the reason her late husband didn’t like him. Thomas was a great guy, but his personality tended to be a bit on the gruff side. He made more enemies than friends. He’d never been the guy who walked into the diner to a chorus of greetings. Gus was that guy.
Mike filled Bobbie’s small bag with popcorn, spreading a little butter in the center just as she liked it. After filling it the rest of the way and adding some more butter, he set it in front of her and pulled out a much larger bag, starting to fill it.
“I guess I can tell the two of you since you’re two of my most loyal customers,” Mike said as he worked. “I’m shutting the place down.”
Bobbie had been busy noting just how much popcorn he was scooping out. But those words pulled her attention away from Gus’s apparently butter-free popcorn.
“Closing?” Gus asked, echoing Bobbie’s thoughts.
They no doubt wore matching frowns as they stared at him for a good while. Mike kept working as though he hadn’t just dropped a big old truth bomb.
“For better or worse,” Mike said. “It’s time for me to hang up my business owner hat and do some things I enjoy. I’ve got some great nieces and nephews I need to spoil.”
Mike didn’t have a family in Cupid Ridge. He’d never married or had children. This place had been his home, and the townspeople were his family. It was for that reason that this announcement was so surprising.
“Are you leaving town?” Gus asked. “Moving to Oklahoma?”
That was where his sister had settled after graduation. Sometimes she came back to town. She’d even helped out at the movie theater a few times.
“Nope.” Mike shook his head. “Just longer vacations, I guess. And I can spend Christmas and Thanksgiving there. As you know, movie theaters are never closed. In fact, Christmas and Thanksgiving are our busiest nights of the year. I’ve missed…a lot.”
Every year, Mike took a two-week vacation to Oklahoma to see his sister and her family. He’d been doing that for years. But lately, even that had become tougher as he struggled to run this place by himself. And it had to have been hard on him to spend every single holiday working.
“Do you know anyone interested in buying a movie theater? It’s a great place.” Mike set Gus’s popcorn in front of him and looked at Bobbie. “It’s been really good to me.”
With that said, he headed over to grab a couple of drink cups. She assumed the large one he grabbed was for Gus, since the small one was for her. As he did all that, Gus glanced over at Bobbie for a moment. She lost herself in that stare. It was the warm brown eyes. They seemed to see right into her soul. She was pretty sure he hadn’t even noticed her until that morning at the diner, so it was no wonder his sudden attention was so startling.
What she couldn’t explain, though, was why it made her feel so weak in the knees.
“Anywho,” Mike said, walking back toward them, filled drink cups in hand. “It’s been a great run. And don’t worry. You’ll see me around plenty. This town is family, too.”
Bobbie smiled to herself. She could imagine Mike becoming one of those guys who ate all his meals at the diner. He was a loner, but he also loved people, so he’d find a way to get out of the house every day, she was sure.
Mike popped a lid on each drink and set them on the counter directly in front of his two customers. Moving over to the cash register, he punched some buttons, then said, “That’ll be twenty-two forty-three.”
Without even looking, he grabbed Gus’s card, even though Bobbie had hers held out in front of her. She flashed Gus a look.
“I’m paying for my own, remember?” she asked Gus, not bothering to disguise her annoyance.
“My treat,” Gus said. “You can pay me back by having me over to the inn for dinner one night. I’ve been dying to try out some of that great cooking I always hear about.”
Bobbie stared at him, stunned, as Mike returned his card. Gus slipped it into his wallet, then stuffed the wallet in his back pocket. He grabbed two straws, handed her one, and picked up his popcorn and soda.
“Let’s go watch a movie,” he said.
Was he expecting to sit next to her in the theater? This was an activity she did alone. That was the point. She’d never invited even her closest friends. Yes, sometimes her kids accompanied her here, but that was different. This was her “me” time.
That wasn’t why it bothered her, though. No, it was the way her hands trembled slightly as she lifted her popcorn and soda, gripping them tightly so she didn’t drop them.
Gus headed to the auditorium ahead of them, but only so he could pull the door open for her. Then she was in the lead.
She headed straight up the aisle, continuing far past where Gus, no doubt, would have normally stopped. Good. He could sit back there. The farther away, the better. Otherwise, she’d have to spend the full two hours battling this weird draw she suddenly had toward him.
Once she got to her row, Bobbie saw him out of the corner of her eye. He was taking his spot toward the back of the theater.
Instead of breathing a sigh of relief, though, she was fighting disappointment. Why had he chosen to sit back there? Was that some sort of rejection? Didn’t he want to sit near her?
She almost laughed at herself. How absurd.
