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Talulah started to laugh.
“What?” Ellen said.
“You are the biggest softie I’ve ever met. And yet I’ve never seen anyone try harder to hide it.”
Ellen rolled her eyes. “Stop. I’m not soft. I just...couldn’t disappoint him. I’m not going to hold what I feel for my derelict father and myHansel and Gretel–like stepmother against Leo. He’s completely innocent.”
“And helovesyou.”
Ellen wouldn’t go that far. They barely knew each other. But that was the beauty of Leo. He opened his heart to everyone. He seemed to accept her and everyone else exactly as they were—no qualifying necessary. “He loves everyone,” she pointed out.
Talulah began to gather up their dishes. “You seem to be a new favorite. But that doesn’t surprise me. You’re way easier to love than you think.”
“It’s okay, then?”
“Of course it’s okay. Brant will be thrilled to hear I have another day off. I’ve been putting so much into my business that we haven’t been able to finish a few of the projects we’ve been working on around the house—like getting our storage organized in the basement.”
“You should ask me to run the diner more often. I can spell you.”
“You work hard enough as it is. It’s so nice of you to do this for me and for Leo. But I have to admit, I’m surprised Hendrix would agree to bring him here tomorrow so he can be with you.”
That had taken Ellen aback, too. He’d been hesitant to agree—she’d read that in his expression after she’d made the offer—but not quite opposed to the idea. Otherwise, he would’ve said no. That he’d agreed signaled a monumental shift. “Leo only needs a ride. Not a big deal.”
“Itisa big deal. Hendrix has to cross the Wicked Witch of the North in order to give his cousin that ride, which is saying something.”
Ellen hadn’t considered that he’d been making a choice between her and his aunt. Or maybe it was between Leo and his aunt, and that was why he’d done it. “Then why do you think he agreed?” she asked.
Talulah smiled. “I think Leo’s not the only one who’s starting to like you.”
It was Ellen’s turn to laugh. “It’ll be a cold day in hell when Hendrix likes me. It wasn’t that long ago he tried to steal my driller. The increase in Ben’s wages is killing me, and I have Hendrix to thank for that.”
Talulah started toward the door. “You have to get Ben to be reasonable again.”
That was easier said than done, or Ellen would’ve made it happen already. But after struggling through the past week, she’d come to the same conclusion. She couldn’t continue to employ him, not at the wage he was demanding. “I know. I have to tell him that I’m going to hire and train someone else, and he can go work for Hendrix.”
Concern filled Talulah’s face as she turned. “Will you be able to manage until you can get up to full speed again?”
“I’ll have to. What’s happening now isn’t sustainable.”
“Then he either accepts what you can pay, or he moves on.”
“He won’t have any other choice—because I don’t have any other choice.” Ellen held the door so Talulah could carry in the dishes, then took down their “break” sign. “He’s attending an out-of-town wedding, and I don’t want to ruin it for him, so I’ll wait until Monday to talk to him, when he’s back.”
A fork fell and clattered on the floor as Talulah whisked around the counter. “It’ll be interesting to see if Hendrix will really hire him,” she said as Ellen picked it up for her. “Especially at the salary he offered.”
“Maybe I’ve actually raised the price for him. That would be poetic justice, wouldn’t it?”
“Indeed.”
Ellen followed her friend into the kitchen to get her purse and keys. The morning rush was over. She was going to leave Talulah at the diner and head to the hardware store so she could try, once again, to fix the sink in her guest bathroom. “Yeah. I give up. If Hendrix wants Ben, he can have him.”
Talulah deposited the dishes in the sink. “What if Hendrix wasn’t making him a sincere offer?”
“What do you mean?”
“It could be that he was only trying to get under your skin and show you some of the things hecoulddo if he ever really decided to come after you.”
Ellen hadn’t even considered that. “We’ll find out soon enough,” she said. “Because if that’s the case, I’m about to call his bluff.”
