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"No thanks. I'll stay in the sane world," she said.
"It's your loss," I called to her as she started away. She turned and smirked back at me before tending to a new table of customers.
Another half dozen customers sauntered in, and I took their orders and stayed busy for a while. I never noticed that Duncan had left, but when I did, I didn't have much time to think about it, because we started to prepare for the dinner crowd. It was Missy's night off, so she was gone after the lunch rush, and Cassie was off as well. Aunt Zipporah and 1 took on the full waitress responsibilities with Mrs. Mallen standing by to jump in if need be.
According to Tyler, we had a lively crowd for midweek. He was very happy about it. He had done a minimum of print advertising, so the cafe was building its following through the best way possible-- word of mouth. When it came to food and where to go to eat, most people were heavily influenced by the opinions of others, even people they didn't really know.
"A satisfied customer is worth a ton of advertising," Tyler chanted periodically to his employees. "Keep that smile and give them good service. Make them feel special. The food will do the rest," he promised, and from what I could see during the few days I had returned, he was right. It felt good to be part of something successful.
I was pretty tired by the time the dinner crowd thinned out and we were dealing only with some stragglers. Everyone pitched in to help with the cleanup. Finally, close to nine-thirty, I had a chance to stand back and catch my breath. I didn't want to mention it, but my bad hip was aching. If my aunt and uncle weren't so busy, they surely would have seen how much more pronounced my limp had become.
However, from the look on Aunt Zipporah's face as she approached me sitting at the counter, I thought maybe she had noticed and was waiting until now to say something I was preparing myself for her telling me I couldn't work this hard again.
"You didn't tell me he would be here again tonight, Alice?"
"What? Who?"
She nodded toward the front of the cafe. Sitting on his scooter and looking as nonchalant as he had the night before was Duncan Winning.
"I didn't know myself," I said.
"You sure you didn't agree to a few more trips on that thing in order to read his poems?" she asked, smiling.
"Yes," I said. "I'm sure. Believe me, I'm more surprised than you are, Zipporah."
"Well, you'd better see what that's about then," she added and returned to the kitchen.
I slid off the stool and walked out.
"What are you doing out here?" I asked him.
"Just hanging out to see if you needed another ride."
"You didn't tell me you would be back."
"I didn't know I would myself," he said. "It wasn't so bad last night, was it? I'm not reckless or anything."
"I didn't say you were,"
"So?"
I looked back into the cafe. Although they were working at the cleanup, my uncle and aunt were watching us.
"I have to ask them if it's all right."
"If it was all right last night, why wouldn't it be tonight?"
"I'm not saying it won't be," I replied as sharply as he spoke to me. "I just said I have to ask. They are responsible for me now."
He shrugged and looked away.
Was I crazy? I should simply tell him to make like the wind and blow, but I didn't. I went inside and spoke to my aunt and uncle.
"And what are you getting for the ride this time?" Aunt Zipporah teased.
"A week's supply of single-syllable words," I told her, and she laughed.
"Be--"
