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“You’re welcome.” Lizzie paused by the front door as Patty came up to her. “Will you let me know what happens next, or is that confidential?”
“If we need to speak to you again, I’ll be in touch,” Patty said, firmly shutting the door on Lizzie’s fishing expedition. “Have a great day.”
Lizzie followed Patty down the stairs and locked the outside door behind them. She was due back at the café, having used her lunch hour for the interview. She felt slightly better having met Patty. She had a sense that there was very little else she could do except hope, and wait for the matter to be resolved.
As she approached Yvonne’s she was struck by a pang of guilt about how busy the place was. She normally ate later to manage the rush, but Patty had asked to meet her at twelve, and Lizzie hadn’t wanted to argue. She hurried through the café and into the kitchen, washed her hands, put on her apron, and went right back out there to help Yvonne and Angelo.
The next couple of hours rushed by until she finally looked up and noticed the crowd had disappeared. She made herself a cup of hazelnut coffee and leaned against the corner of the counter catching her breath.
“Hey, Lizzie.” Daisy came in with her boyfriend, Jackson. “Can we have one coffee to go—that’s for Jackson.” She beamed fondly up at him “And two for the table? Ben’s just parking his truck.” She perused the sadly depleted offerings in the glass case. “And a slice of carrot cake for me, too, please.”
“Coming up.” Lizzie made Jackson’s coffee and handed it to him with the lid already on. “Black, no cream or sugar, right?”
“Yup. Thanks.” Jackson handed over his debit card. “Put it all on my account.”
Lizzie handed him back his card and he went to kiss Daisy good-bye, which seemed to take a ridiculously long time.
Ben Miller came in the door and walked up to the counter. “Hey, Lizzie. What’s up?”
“Nothing much.” She pointed at the table where Daisy was sitting. “Your sister’s waiting for you over there. I’ll bring your coffee.”
“Thanks.” Ben made a revolted face as Jackson gave Daisy one last lingering kiss. “Dude, enough. You’re only going back to your own ranch, not off on a world tour.”
Lizzie concealed a smile as she plated up the cake and put the two coffees on the tray beside it.
Jackson departed, looking very smug. Ben took off his Stetson and placed it on the vacant chair beside him. Lizzie delivered the coffees and was just about to turn away from the table, when Daisy spoke up.
“Have you got a minute?”
“Sure.” Lizzie did a quick sweep of the café, but everything was under control. “What’s up?”
“Ben and I were wondering if you’d like to bring Roman up to the ranch for Sunday lunch this weekend.”
Lizzie blinked at her. “I beg your pardon?”
“Adam said Roman was very interested in fossils and fool’s gold, and that he would probably enjoy coming out to our place.”
“Adam said that?” Lizzie asked doubtfully. “Like, out loud?”
“Yeah, we couldn’t believe it, either, but he’s definitely been thinking about you and Roman a lot,” Ben chimed in. “It would be nice to see him crack a smile occasionally, and you two seem to make that happen.”
“Does Adam know you’ve asked us?” Lizzie countered.
Daisy and Ben exchanged a guilty look. “He’ll know when you get there.”
“I’d have to check if it was okay with him first,” Lizzie said firmly. The thought of having a reason to contact Adam was way too exciting.
“Sure! Ask away.” Ben added sugar to his coffee. “We’d love to see you both.”
After they left, Lizzie checked in with Gabby who had offered to hang on to Roman for another hour so that Lizzie could make up her time. It was always quieter around five as the tourists left, and the townsfolk transferred their allegiance to the Red Dragon, which offered good bar food and, more importantly, beer.
Yvonne was sitting in the kitchen, her tablet in her hand, making up her list of tasks for the following day. She got up at four to make the bread and pastries and was usually asleep by nine at the latest. She glanced up as Lizzie entered.
