AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Without a doubt,” he answered.
I closed the door and walked around to my side of the car, but the whole time I couldn’t help but reflect on the look in his eyes when he said it. He wasn’t lying, but I also wasn’t certain he thought the change had been a good one.
Chapter Two
We had enjoyed one of Mason’s turkey bacon clubs and fries while the diner was quiet. Soon the afternoon shift at the factories would let out and the workers would pile in. Sarah, the new waitress at the diner, slid a piece of pie in front of each of us. “Blueberry for Lance and strawberry for Indigo. Anything else you need?”
“Thanks, Sarah,” I said, smiling up at her. “We’ll finish our pie and get out of your hair before the work crew arrives.”
She chuckled as she refilled our coffee mugs. “It’s no problem, Indie, but fair warning, if you’re still here at four, we’ll probably put you to work.” She winked and then spun around to put the coffee pot back under the machine.
I yawned, covering my mouth with my hand. “My goodness, I’m sorry,” I said to Lance as he picked at his blueberry pie. “I worked four long days at the bakery. I need to get some sleep.”
Before he could say anything, a bustle of activity greeted us in a way that could only mean one thing. Ivy Lund. She burst through the swinging doors from her office, holding Lucy’s hand. Lucy was two, but walked and talked like she was twenty.
“Wumdwop!” Lucy squealed as she ran to me on her tippytoes.
I scooped her up and set her on my lap, the tiny tot no bigger than a one-year-old, but she was all sass. “Hello, Miss Lucy,” I said, squeezing her in a hug. “I missed you.”
Ivy slid into the booth next to me and made herself comfy. “She missed you too. She doesn’t get to see you as much now that you’re at the bakery. How are you doing, Lance?”
“I’m okay,” he said, stabbing at his pie. “I found Indie in the park, and she suggested we get some lunch.”
“Well, at least you know the food is good,” Ivy said, tongue in cheek. “I heard you were over to see the other Lance today.”
Lance Burleson was the one and only lawyer in the town of Bells Pass.
“I suppose the gossip mill started and ended with Audrey Violet,” Lance said, dropping his fork.
“No, I saw you walking into his office,” Ivy said with a shrug.
While they talked, I played patty cake with Lucy and rocked her back and forth gently when she leaned her head on my shoulder and smiled up at me. She was such a sweet little girl who loved everyone. She was raised in the diner from day one and I wasn’t convinced that she didn’t carry the spirit of her namesake. She was named after the previous owner of The Nightingale Diner, Lucille Bevvywetter. Lucille was the reason Ivy made it to where she is today. If she hadn’t taken Ivy under her wing when her mom died, Ivy may have slipped through the cracks. Instead, Ivy worked hard at the diner for Lucille for years. In an unexpected twist, when Lucille passed away several years ago, she left her house and diner to Ivy to carry on the nightingale ways.
It was working, too. Ivy not only ran the diner successfully, but she had recently reopened the Bells Pass Bakery. When the previous owners retired and closed the doors, the diner tried to supply the town with their baked good needs, but they couldn’t keep up. With the help of Cameron Robbins, a local businessman and philanthropist, Ivy was able to buy the bakery and turn it into not one, but two, successful businesses.
I managed the bakery side of the business and baked alongside Mel, while Becca ran the eggnog side of the business. The workforce was rounded out with kids and adults from the school to work programs in the area and the adult services for the disabled.
When I finished school and my rotation in the big city to complete my certification, I decided to move back to Bells Pass. I was hoping to work at The Hideaway, a restaurant I’d worked at through my entire high school and college career, but they weren’t hiring. I lucked out when I stopped into the diner one day to find Becca, the only waitress and baker there that day, unable to keep up. I helped her out and Ivy called me that night and begged me to come work for her. She didn’t have to ask me twice. From that day on, I had worked in the diner while helping Ivy, Becca, and Mel get the bakery ready to open. Now that it was, it was as successful as the diner. Hence, why I was so tired all the time. The hours were long, but the job was so satisfying that I rarely noticed the time pass.
“Indigo?”
I snapped my head up and glanced around. Ivy and Lance were both staring at me. I noted that Lucy was snoozing on my shoulder while I blinked my eyes a couple of times to clear the fog.
“Yeah, sorry, what did I miss?”
“You’ve been asleep for fifteen minutes,” Lance said with confusion.
“Are you feeling poorly?” Ivy asked.
I shook my head to clear it. “No, just tired. I worked four days in a row at the bakery. I need some sleep.”
“You were sleeping when I found you in the park this afternoon,” Lance added, as though he was being a help instead of a hindrance.
“If you’re that tired, why don’t you go home and sleep?” Ivy asked with confusion.
This conversation was inevitable, but I had hoped to do it at a time when I wasn’t exhausted.
“I wanted to support Lance. He had a rough day.”
