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Chapter 2
Charlie.
The man version of Charlie Morgan stood in the doorway of Stacy's restaurant, and he was a sight to behold. He was too big for this establishment. Both of them were. Caleb came in first and—wait—there were three of them. Lila was standing behind Charlie, and I had been unable to see her because the boys were that big now. Caleb and Charlie were brothers and their cousin, Lila (from Houston), was with them.
I straightened my posture as I took in the threesome. It had been so long. They were dressed casually in jeans. They had been on a boat—I could tell by the things they were wearing and the general windblown look of their hair and clothes.
"It's been a while, Morgan family," Stacy said in her restaurant tone.
How was she able to act normal in front of them?She walked toward them while I peeled my eyes away from Charlie and finished adjusting the napkin holder.
"I saw your dad in here a little while ago," she continued, talking to Lila.
"That's why we came," Lila said. "Dad came home talking about how good this mushroom swiss burger still was, and we were likewhere's ours?"
"So, Lila took orders and now we need a catering van basically."
"It's not so bad," Lila said. "We need ten burgers."
"Oh, yeah, that's not so many," Stacy said. "Do you want me to go ahead and put in your order, or do you need a minute to look at a menu?"
"We'll come in and sit down," Caleb said.
"Yeah, I forgot how much I loved this place," Charlie added, looking around. "Hope, is that you?" He caught sight of me and figured out who I was after only a few seconds. I was so relieved that he remembered me.
"Yeah, I thought that was Hope," Lila said, coming toward me.
"I was thinking we knew her, too," Caleb added.
"Her dad used to work for Grandpa and Nonnie," Lila said. "Remember? She was at the house all the time."
"Oh, yeah," Caleb added, pointing and nodding at me.
It wasn't busy in the restaurant, and I walked toward them. Lila reached out like she was going to hug me, so I went to her. "Heyyy," she said. She looked me over. "Some things never change, huh? I never dreamed we'd come back here and find you in this same… are you a nurse?" she asked, pausing and looking at my scrubs.
"Oh, no, I'm a… I work at a pediatrician's office."
"Oh, that's cool," Lila said, being friendly.
I had stepped next to Charlie and he reached out to hug me. "What's up, Hope? How are you?"
"I'm good," I answered, stepping back. "Well," I added (since they always seemed so fancy and proper). "Doing well." I nodded and stepped back, trying to be casual. "How are you guys?"
They walked toward the counter, and Charlie looked at me like he expected me to follow them. "We're great," he said. "We just got here this morning. It's been a looong time."
"Eight years," Lila said. "We had a bunch of people over at the house working for the last month. Has your dad been helping with that?"
"Oh, no, he's working here, in Graham Springs at… the… hardware store… Ace." I regretted feeling the need to tell them exactly where he worked, but I was nervous.
"That's good, Ace is the place," Charlie said.
"Yeah, Charlie might know him if he worked at Ace Hardware in Miami."
"Do you work at Ace?" I asked.
I regretted asking it the instant he started shaking his head.
"He owns a construction company," Lila explained.
