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A group of moms and babies interrupted us, plus one dad pushing twins. They were regulars now—if them saying they’d like to use the back of the coffee shop every other week made them regulars.
“Please, serve customers first.”
The order included a large amount of salad and mac 'n' cheese, as well as toddler versions of the same. I was in the kitchen doing my thing when I suddenly realized that Merle was behind the counter, taking care of the drink orders. He saw me glancing his way and nodded.
“Worked my way through college in a coffee shop. It’s been a while, but I think I still remember a thing or two,” he said to me as he steamed milk.
Surprised, but intrigued, I nodded. “Um… okay, go ahead.”
He moved behind the counter with an ease that spoke of familiarity. As he worked the coffee machine, dealing with new customers alongside me, he told me about his early retirement from a city job and how his wife had passed away. “Came back to Whisper Ridge to find some peace,” he said, pouring a perfect cup of coffee. “I’m fifty-nine, so I know I’m probably too old, but I’m not looking for a job because I need the money, just… something to do. And I love to be around people. Got it from working in the campus coffee shop way back when we thought having three options on the menu was fancy.”
I didn’t have to interview him. He was slipping seamlessly into working next to me, the moms (and dad) laughing and chilling and ordering a second round of coffee and desserts, and for the first time since I’d opened the doors, I felt more in control.
I took a sip of the coffee he’d made—it was excellent. His story touched me. Here was a man searching for a purpose, a way to heal and connect with people. After the lunch crowd thinned, it was moving into the slow rundown to closing, and I placed a couple of twenties under a slice of the lemon cheesecake I was working on. “I pay a fair wage, and we can arrange a schedule. How about you come in tomorrow, give it a try? We can see how it goes.”
Merle’s face lit up with a smile, a mixture of relief and gratitude. “I’d like that. Thank you, Noah.”
As he left, I felt good about the decision. Merle wasn’t only an employee; he could bring something special to the diner, a life experience that was invaluable. Plus, his coffee skills were a definite bonus.
And today, I felt good in my place, and it was more than serving food; it was about building a community, a place where people like Merle could find a sense of belonging and purpose.
Lily’s Diner was mine, and I was making it work.
* * *
I was finishingup some paperwork when the last of the customers left their table—Hardware-Store-Ed, who said he could find matching leather from his suppliers if I needed it for the bench seats. He sketched a wave, and I waved back as he left, a swirl of snow the only evidence he’d been there. Well, that and the plates and mug, which were easy enough to deal with.
Although, the dishwasher was leaking, and I really needed to fix it. So many things to juggle when it was your own place, jarring when back in Columbus I’d been head pastry chef with a team supporting me. Not that I hadn’t known what I was taking on, but a leaking dishwasher did not bode well.
The bell jangled, and I pasted a smile on my face, which widened when I saw it was Fox walking in from school. But he didn’t smile back, and it was easy to see he was upset about something with his shoulders slumped and avoiding my gaze. He almost slunk past me to the hall, but I called his name, and he stopped and turned.
“Hey, buddy, what’s wrong?” I asked, concerned when I got a closer look at him and thought he’d been crying. “Bad day?”
He hesitated, then blurted out, “I didn’t know what to do, and I got scared because all I could think about was…” He slumped to a stool, burying his face in his hands.
Fuck. What scared him? Was it Briggs? Had his asshole of a papa contacted him? Or turned up in town? He mumbled something, and I went to the door, turned the board to closed so no one could interrupt whatever was going on here, and locked up, then hurried back before Fox thought I was ignoring him.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Ainsley. And I didn’t know what to do, but I said Chris could help. Mr. Sheridan I mean. But Clarke went with him, and Ainsley wanted help, and then, when I was getting on the bus home, Ainsley’s dad drove up, and he was so angry, and I should have stayed because Ainsley is my friend, but I couldn’t!” Hot tears spilled over his hands.
“Okay, back up, start again.” I sat on the stool next to him, put my arm over his shoulders and hugged him to me. “What happened? Did someone hurt you?”Who did I need to kill?
“Not me,” Fox hiccupped, “Ainsley. His dad hurt him like…” That started off a fresh round of tears, and my heart sank.
“Hurt? How?”
Fox sniffed, and I reached for a handful of napkins before he wiped his nose with his coat, which he’d yet to take off. “They had a fight. Ainsley’s dad grabbed his wrist really hard. He showed it to me. It was all red and bruised, and it looked like… when…”
It hit me. It looked like when Briggs had done the same thing to me, grabbing my wrist, and shoving me against a wall, breaking two bones, leaving my wrist swollen and bruised.
He’d done that in front of Fox, and that had been the day we’d left with nothing but the clothes we wore, and relied on the kindness of friends who offered us a place to sleep. That had been the night before the media exposé on what he’d been doing. He was a pressure cooker waiting to explode, and he’d used his strength fueled by anger to hurt me.
“Oh, Fox, sweetheart,” I whispered.
He turned into me, and I held him tight and close, and was thankful this corner of the counter was hidden from the street. He’d never wanted anyone to see how he felt back in Columbus, and he wouldn’t want to start now. “That part of our lives is done now; your papa is nothing to us until you decide you want to see him again.”
“I don’t want to.You’remy dad.” My heart swelled. I might not be Fox’s dad biologically, but it made me so happy to hear that I was the dad he trusted and wanted to be with. “But, when I saw Ainsley’s dad, he was so angry, and I don’t want him to hurt anyone.”
