“Hey, guys.”Gracie smiled.“Finally, some familiar faces.”
I looked around.“These aren’t locals?”
She shook her head.“Nope.Another video went viral and people are pouring in from Coeur d’Alene.I haven’t taken a break in three hours.”
“Wow,” I said.
“Tell me about it,” she remarked.“We’re out of the chocolate-glazed and sour cream donuts, and I’m no longer letting people wait for fresh-baked goods because it’s causing a bottleneck in the seating situation.”
“Don’t let them break you,” I stage-whispered.
“We better order so there’s no mutiny,” Archer said.
“Right.”I listed off an arsenal of requests.
Three baristas flew behind the counter, plating baked goods and fixing drinks as fast as they could.Archer paid and then we stood off to the side to make room for more customers.
I turned to examine the full bakery.Lenni was sitting in the booth we’d told her to snag.She’d removed her coat but had left her hat on.She caught my eye and smiled.I smiled back.
A couple at the table haphazardly perpendicular to the booth were attempting to soothe a cranky toddler.A boy on the verge of becoming a teenager with a mop of dark hair sat with them.And every now and again, his attention strayed from his family to look at Lenni, who seemed completely unaware of him.
I hid my amusement, not wanting to alert Archer that his daughter might have an admirer.
The baristas handed over our drinks which Archer and I brought to the booth.I slid in on the vacant side and I thought for sure Archer would take the seat next to Lenni, but he surprised me when he took the spot next to me.
Close enough that I felt his thigh against mine.
I looked at him.
He stared at me, almost like he was daring me to say something.
But I refused to give him the pleasure.So, I pretended like nothing was out of the ordinary.
Archer set Lenni’s drink in front of her.She gripped the mug and bent her head down and all but stuck her face in the mound of whipped cream.
I couldn’t help the laugh when she lifted her head and showed a whipped cream mustache.
“Do I have something on my face?”she asked with sham innocence.
Halfway through eating, the door to Sweet Teeth opened and Hadley and Declan walked in.
She waved to me and then awkwardly maneuvered her bulk through the maze of customers and tables.But before she made it to us, she halted, her eyes widening at the couple with the toddler and young teenager.
“Mia?”she asked in surprise.
The brunette turned her head, a wide smile appearing on her lips.“Oh my God!Hi!”
She shot up from her chair and foisted the toddler at her husband before wrapping her arms around my friend.
“What are you doing here?”Hadley asked, pulling back, her gaze bouncing between Mia and her husband.
“We bought a place in the area,” Mia announced.“And we just spent Thanksgiving with my dad in Coeur d’Alene.We’re hanging out here for a few days before heading back to Waco.Oh my God!You’re about to pop!”
“A few more weeks to go,” Hadley said as she placed a palm on her swollen belly.
Hadley grasped Mia’s hand and gestured to me.“Come meet my friend.Wyn, this is Mia.Her husband Colt and their two kids.Silas and Scarlett.”
“Damn.Good memory,” Colt said with an amused chuckle.
