"Felix," I whispered, my voice catching at the back of my throat. "Felix...thank you. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to thank you enough for this."
That grin spread a little wider over his face.
"You know, I could start with a good coffee," he suggested, and I laughed, the shock finally clearing to make way for the reality of this moment. And, as I gazed at him, I realized there was still something I needed to ask him.
"Does that mean...does that mean you’re going to stay?”
"Well, I’ve got to see what you’re going to do with the place, right?" he remarked. I giggled, but then furrowed my brow at him, still trying to piece it all together.
"But I thought you said you were always travelling," I pointed out. He nodded, his face taking on a more serious edge.
"You know, I thought I would be out of here by now," he admitted. "And when I told you that, about staying on the road, I meant it. But I realized, when I talked to my father the other day, it wasn’t that I wanted to spend my life adventuring. I just didn’t want to spend it trapped in the stress and obsession they made for themselves in that business. But here...?”
He gestured around.
"This is nothing like that. And I don’t want to go. I want to be here. With you. If you’ll have me, Dina."
I closed my eyes for a second, just letting those words sink in. As though, in a million years, I would have said no to something like that. Finally, someone was going to stay. The feelings I had for him flooded me completely, the dam that had been holding them back for my own safety finally giving way. He was going to stay. He was going to stay.
"Of course I will," I told him, and, before I could stop myself, I tossed my arms around him and kissed him on the lips. I didn’t even care that the large windows of the diner would mean that most of the town would be able to see us; let them. If he was staying here, with me, then I wanted everyone to know about it.
And, as our lips came together, I found myself smiling. A whole host of possibilities were laying themselves out in front of me, the thought of everything I might be able to do suddenly opening up with glorious clarity. But, right now, right in front of the diner that had just become mine, all I cared about was him.
And that he was going to be right there at my side as I brought each and every one of those plans to life.
Epilogue
Dina
Iflicked through the new stack of menus on the counter, grinning as I admired the glossy lamination and the fun new titles we had given to our favorite dishes. It was hard to believe that, in just a few days, the diner was officially going to be open again, but I could hardly wait to see how much everyone loved it now that I had switched it up.
Nine months since Labor Day, since Felix had put that deed in my hand. We had kept the doors open through the fall on Pam's old menu, then closed up in January, when the town was at its quietest, and gutted the place down to the floor tiles. Now Memorial Day weekend was just days away, and the diner would reopen right as the tourists came pouring back in.
The bell above the door tinkled, and I looked up to see Felix striding in, lifting his chin in greeting. He grinned when he saw what was in my hand, taking a seat at one of the new red leather stools that ran along the freshly-renovated service counter.
"New menus?"
"Mhm," I replied, pushing them towards him. "Looks good, right?”
"Dang, you’re going to make me hungry," he protested, as he looked over the offerings we had laid out. "I think I’d have to get the special, though. The waffles with the chocolate strawberries? That sounds amazing."
"Yeah, I think Mom’s going to order that tonight," I remarked, and he tipped his head to the side, raising his eyebrows.
"You sure you don’t want me to take us to Ford’s Italian Kitchen?" he suggested. "Family dinner, you should be there, not spending all night in the kitchen..."
"I’m not going to be spending all night there," I protested. "And besides, it’s good practice. I want to make sure my cooking skills are on point by the time we open."
"Well, if what you’ve made me is anything to go by, I’d say you’re ready to go."
He pulled a face.
"Apart from that time you charred the bacon. I’m pretty sure that was charcoal by the time you got it to me..."
"Hey, it wasn’t that bad!” I laughed, though I knew there was no point. Honestly, with how hard I had been working these last few months, how much of a blur everything had been, I was just glad there had only been one major disaster in the kitchen since I had taken this place over.
Pam had shown me the ropes before she had officially retired, determined to pass down some of the recipes that she had been using since she had opened the Jukebox Diner in the first place. I wasn’t a bad cook before all of this, but it had sure as heck been a crash course since I had taken it over, and I was glad for any guidance I could get. I had hired a few wait staff, but I wanted to be the one on the grill, making sure all the old favorites plus a few new ones had justice done to them.
Because everything else in this place was unrecognizable. Felix had helped me fund the renovations for this place, though I had insisted I would pay him back when the money started coming in when we re-opened. I doubted he was going to accept it, but hey, that was just how he was. Generous to a fault. With the family he came from, I supposed it shouldn’t have surprised me. He had more money than he knew what to do with, and he was just glad to have somewhere to spend it.
