“On it.” Nico waves her away. “Go. I have eyes in the back of my head.”
Before I follow Lina to the table, I glance toward the back of the diner, where it’s still quiet. “Is Sam working his magic? I haven’t heard any banging today.”
Sam spends a couple of hours in the afternoon with Ben and me and eats dinner with us, but most of the time, he’s hard at work in Nico’s office.
“He’s been in there since before I started this morning, but he might have run to the hardware store for something.” She shrugs. “I’ve never seen my dad so happy at someone else taking over that job for him. And he finally tossed out the crap he’s been cramming in that office for years.”
“Lina!” Nico scowls at Lina, proving he doesn’t just have eyes at the back of his head, but sharp ears too.
“Much-loved belongings that are both precious and sentimental,” Lina says with an apologetic smile. When Nico turns away, she mouths, “Crap. So much crap.”
I choke back my laughter.
Lina straightens from the counter she was leaning against and motions for me to follow. “Come on. Let’s tackle this table mess before I get more customers.”
As I trail her, I think about how to phrase a question that’s been on my mind since Ben said he wanted to stay in Rios and buy the house. I’ve searched Murph's, Win's, and Joel’s expressions, but they don’t seem the least bit worried about it. Ben wouldn’t have lied about what he overheard, so I’m certain that he heard them say they wanted to keep the house instead of selling, but that it was too expensive.
Lina gathers dirty plates from the table and stacks them. She does it so efficiently that she leaves me with nothing to do.
“Isn’t this all a lot of work for one person?” I ask, giving in to my curiosity about how she manages this diner and makes it look so easy.
She grins at me. “I’ve been doing this since I was thirteen, and I love it. One day, I’ll be running this place. I never wanted to do anything else.”
“But it’s still a lot of work.”
“Not as much as it used to be. Maisie worked here for a bit, and it was great having her, but her taking over all the pie baking means Dad doesn’t have to wake up so early to do it. It gave him time to tackle the office he’s been procrastinating on for years, and Win asked for more hours, which helped even more. I only need a bit of help during the summer, when we get more tourists, but Lora always comes home then.”
“Lora?”
“My cousin. She’s in grad school in Arizona. Last year, she helped out a bit, then spent the rest of the summer with her parents in Greece—her dad sold the barber shop he ran here, and he and Lora’s mom moved out there to retire when Lora left for school. You have to ask her to play the flute. She’s incredible.”
“Oh, at least you’re not always on your own.” I’d have offered to help, but watching Lina has made me realize I’d be utterly terrible at this type of work. The thought of carrying the heavy trays she moves about with ease makes me break into a cold sweat.
“What’d you want to ask me?” she asks.
“What’s the elementary school like? Is it good? Is Harry happy there?”
She grins. “Ah, so you've made up your mind to stay, huh?”
I glance at Ben, happily kicking his feet and sipping his shake while chatting with Nico. “Not yet. It’s why I don’t want Ben to hear me talking about schools until I’m ready to make a decision. But Ben loves it here, and I do too.”
She shoots Win a pointed look. “And is thatallyou love about our little town?”
“Lina…”
“What? It’s not like everyone hasn’t seen you, Win, Joel, and Murph, walking around, making eyes at each other.”
She surprises a laugh out of me. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” She finishes stacking the dirty plates on her tray and straightening the condiment holder. She glances at the door when the bell chimes, calling out a greeting to a couple who walk in, and says she’ll be right with them. Then she turns to me. “Go visit the school. You have a couple of weeks before they close for summer vacation. Look around and take Ben. I promise you’ll love it. Harry is going into first grade this fall, but he loved kindergarten.”
“I’ll think about it.”
She snorts. “If you were still at the thinking about it stage, you wouldn’t be asking me about whether it’s a good school, would you?”
She’s right.
I watch her carry the tray of dirty dishes to the counter for Nico to take into the kitchen, then she hurries to the front of the diner to greet the new customers and show them to a table.
