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“That I am. Going on six years now.”
“That’s awesome. Congratulations. I used to date Max in high school.”
“Is that right? Were you here for the reunion?”
Lexi nodded.
“How was it? Those things can be so awkward.”
“It wasn’t bad. I was really hoping to see Max again, and we had a nice time.”
Megan’s eyes lit up when she heard that. “Will you be sticking around in Butler?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’m here for the weekend, but I may come back to stay for a while.”
“If you do, you know where to come for pancakes.”
“Absolutely, and truth be told, they’re even better than they used to be.”
“I quite agree. Butch is cranky, but he’s a great cook.”
“I heard that,” Butch yelled from the kitchen.
Megan smiled as she walked away to tend to other customers.
Feeling as if she’d made a new friend, Lexi couldn’t wait to come back to the diner for more pancakes.
ChapterFour
“It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed is you.”—F. Scott Fitzgerald
Because it was right across the street, Lexi decided to stop into the Green Mountain Country Store before taking a ride to Dude’s house. Another flood of childhood memories overtook her the second she stepped inside the iconic store. If nostalgia had an aroma, the smell of the store was it for her. Lemon-scented furniture polish, potpourri, sugar and spice and a million other things that combined into a scent she’d know anywhere as this amazing place.
It looked just as she remembered. Rough-hewn wood beams and bins of products that couldn’t be found anywhere else. Vintage toys, coolers full of icy-cold bottles of Coke and samples of cheese, maple syrup, smoked meats, dips and fudge. She tried a little bit of everything, each flavor bringing back memories of simpler times when she’d come here with her mom or grandmother to pick out a toy or penny candy from the colorful bins. Usually both, especially when she was with her grandmother.
A man in a flannel shirt and well-faded jeans was on a ladder restocking the maple syrup display. When he came down and turned, she recognized him as Colton Abbott. He still had the distinctive bushy beard he’d worn since he was a teenager.
He did a double take when he saw her. “Lexi?”
“Yes, it’s me. Hi, Colton.”
“Wow, how long has it been?”
“Ten years.”
“Ah, the reunion. That’s right.” He gave her a quick hug. “It’s so nice to see you.”
“You, too. I hear you’re still up on the mountain making syrup.”
“You heard right, although I’ve got a wife and three boys keeping me entertained these days.”
“I heard that, too.”
He pulled out a phone and had a picture of his family up in a matter of seconds. “That’s Lucy, Christian and the twins, Camden and Cooper.”
They all had reddish-gold hair, blue eyes and cherubic cheeks. “They’re beautiful.”
“They’re holy terrors, but we love them. And yes, they look exactly like their gorgeous mother, thank God.”
