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“There’s at least four women in my past who would disagree,” he said.
“Their loss.”
Todd didn’t know what else to say to that, and as he hit the highway, he said, “Tell me about your family.”
“Oh, boy. Going for the jugular.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
Laura took a moment to answer, and Todd regretted asking until she said, “I’ve got an older brother named Eddie. He lives with his wife and family in Hidden Hollow—that little farm town I told you about.”
“Hm mm.”
“My parents still live there. It’s about an hour from here. My daddy had a hip replacement about a week before I started here at Longhorn, and Mama makes jams and syrups and honeys—the most delicious honeys ever.”
She spoke with pure love for them, and Todd smiled at her. “Sounds like you get along with them.”
“I miss them,” she said, looking out the passenger window.
“You’ve never left to go visit.”
“You didn’t tell me summer at Longhorn was like one long marathon.” She cocked one eyebrow at him, and he laughed.
“Fair enough.” A few minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot at The Sunflower Café. “Wow,” he said. “Looks busy.”
“I’ll run in and see,” she said, and just like that, she hopped from his truck and went jogging toward the entrance. She was petite yet powerful, and Todd couldn’t help the swooping in his stomach.
She texted a minute later with,They said an hour wait.
He frowned. What were they going to do for an hour? He quickly tapped out,We can go somewhere else. I’ll circle around and pick you up.
As he did that, he tried to think of somewhere else to take her. His heart and stomach had been set on Sunflower, and he cursed himself for not making a reservation on a Saturday morning. Duh.
Laura climbed back into the truck, and he said, “We can head over to this little place in the next town over. It’s pretty good.”
“Sure,” she said. “We can wait here too.”
“They won’t be as busy at The Live Oak.”
She told him about her fear of zip-lines as he drove from Chestnut Springs to nearby Franklin, and then she asked, “What would be the worst gift someone could give you?”
Surprised, Todd had to think for a few seconds. “I’m gonna go with oranges.”
Laura burst out laughing, and Todd enjoyed the sound of that. He grinned too and slowed as the speed limit dropped going into town. “Why’s that so funny?”
“Who would give oranges as a gift?”
“We get a whole heap of them at Christmastime,” he said. “Honestly, it’s not a gift. It’s a punishment.”
She let out another string of laughter, and Todd joined in this time. Pride filled his chest, and he told himself this wasn’t so bad. No, they weren’t going to his favorite café. He’d made her laugh, though, and that had to be good.
“A punishment,” she said, still chortling. “That’s terrific. I’m going to tell my mom and dad that.”
“Let me guess,” he said dryly as The Live Oak came into view. “They give oranges to their neighbors at Christmastime.”
“You got it.” Laura beamed at him, her pretty eyes like dazzling diamonds.
Todd dang near drove off the road but managed to make it seem like he meant to pull into the parking lot a little erratically. Inside, The Live Oak wasn’t exactly empty, but they managed to get a table after only a minute.
