AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Michelle smiled. “I’d love that. I’ve only been back in town a few months, and it’s been hard finding girlfriends, since I’m either working or mothering. I could really use some estrogen time. I’m trying to remember you from when you were a kid, but I’m drawing a blank.”
“Most of my time was spent here until I was in my teens, then my crowd was mostly out of town kids.” That was as much as Toni would be telling anyone about what she got up to before she left. Some things were better left unsaid.
Shell nodded. “And I was the daughter of a biker, so we weren’t exactly eating in here.”
“No offense, but I’m surprised my parents hired you.” She put the coffee pot on the counter and almost sang for joy at the relief in her arm.
“I was too, actually. My dad died about ten years ago. Lung cancer. Anyway, I applied kinda on a whim when I returned to town, and I don’t think your parents realized whose daughter I was.”
“Makes sense. Well, go give those bikers a run for their money, and we’ll plan a night out soon. I’m going to refill everyone’s coffee, then I’ll be in my office for a while if you need anything. A few staff members have given me some great ideas for some updates to the place.”
“Hmm,” Michelle said, tapping her pen against her pursed lips. “You know, you sure don’t sound like someone who is about to pass the restaurant off to an outside manager, then sell it.” She winked. “You sound more like someone who’s excited about a new opportunity.” With that parting shot, she spun on her sneaker covered heel and left the kitchen.
Well, shit. Toni blew out a breath and sagged against the walk-in, in much the same pose she’d found Michelle in. Her employee was right. She sure didn’t sound like a woman ready to turn over her business.
Didn’t feel like it, either.
Instead, she felt a renewed excitement. Ideas flowed through her head on ways to make the place even better than it already was. It was an old, dormant feeling coming to life. Remnants of a time when she was happy. Before it had all gone bad.
She’d loved working the floor that morning, chatting with customers, bustling around.
Shit.
She wasn’t going to find a manager for the diner.
She was staying.
But just for six weeks.
And now she had to spring that surprise on her boyfriend. The boyfriend she was also pretty sure she should dump.
Chapter Four
“You can’t be serious!” Droplets of Chardonnay and spittle spewed from Chris’s mouth and dotted the deck of the wraparound porch outside Toni’s new/old house. “Shit, Toni, warn a guy before you pull something like that.”
He coughed again and Toni whacked him on the back. Clad in a tailored shirt and slacks, Chris was dressed about as casual as he got, at least when there was a chance of someone beside Toni seeing him. At least he’d lost the tie and jacket.
Had he always been so stuffy? So formal? Judgmental?
Maybe she was being too hard on him. So he was more conservative and close minded than she was. Different ideas and opinions on life were what made relationships interesting. Weren’t they?
Toni shot forward in her seat and squeaked.
Holy crap. It hit her like a lightning strike.
Chris was her parents.
She was dating her parents.
Everything she’d rebelled against.
She’d come full circle.
“What’s wrong with you?” Another cough shook Chris’s body. “I’m the one who’s choking over here.”
They were lounging on her porch, much to Chris’s chagrin. He was much more an inside kind of guy. In the ten days they’d been there, Toni had taken to sitting on the porch and watching the sun set each evening with a glass of wine. The house had woods behind and a view of the Great Smoky Mountains from the front.
Beautiful sunsets. So focused on education and forming a life she could be proud of, Toni had forgotten how wonderful being still could be. She’d forgotten so many things about the sleepy town she grew up in. Especially the sense of community. In Chicago, in a building with fifty apartments, Toni had only spoken to one of her neighbors, and that was because she’d accidentally gotten some mail for the tenant above her.
“Nothing’s wrong. And I am serious, Chris.”
His wineglass hit the side table with a clunk and he shot her an incredulous glare. “You’re going to stay here and run a diner. For six weeks? Here? In this shit town.” He snorted. “If that’s not a joke, I don’t know what is.”
Frustration rose and she stood, jamming her hands on her hips. “Why is that so funny? I grew up here. In this town. In that diner.”
Chris stood as well, damn him for being so much taller than she was. He was handsome in a very Wall-Street-investment-banker kind of way. Or an attorney way, which made sense because that’s what he was. Polished, coiffed, expensive. Good on paper. Everything she’d be smart to want. So she’d tried to force it.
