AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, why not?”
“Sounds disgusting, that’s all.”
She shrugged.“On a normal day it would, but I’m pregnant and that’s all I really want.”
“For now.Until your next craving.”
“Hey, I’m eating for two now, mister,” I joked with him.
He laughed.“I know you are, and that makes me so happy.”
“So unbelievably happy,” I echoed his words.
* * *
“Why is it that this café never changes?”I inquired, taking a bite into my fried pickle.“You know why?”I decided to answer my own question.“Because Peggy has been here for forty years and she’s never going anywhere.I like that.”I explained myself further, “Knowing that this café will always be here.”
He took a sip of his ginger ale.“Just be happy she made those pickles for you.”
“Yeah.”I took another bite.“Who knew she didn’t make these?I knew she had the world’s best milkshakes, but no fried pickles?That’s just sad.”
“You’ve never wanted them before.”
“No, I guess not.”I frowned.“But now everything I want is fried.”I moaned, happily.“You know what, you don’t know how to make fried Oreos, do you?”
“Please don’t tell me you’re actually going to eat a fried Oreo, are you?”
I laughed.“I would if you knew how to make them.”
“Sorry.”He held up his hands.“I don’t.”Then I heard him mutter, “Thank God.”
“I heard that,” I said, taking a sip of my milkshake.
Peggy came out from behind the back just then.She looked older than she did when Brandon was taking me here after my parent’s funeral or the many times I got a good grade on one of my school assignments.“Peggy!”I greeted her with a warm smile.
I tried to stand, but she insisted I sit back down.“Don’t you worry, we can hug right here.”She gave me a hug in the booth.
The wrinkles around Peggy’s eyes had worsened and she had frown lines around her lips, though we both knew she was one of the happiest women in Miami.Her white hair was pulled back in a neat bun and she looked like she lost some weight, but her nails were still freshly done and her makeup on-point.
Peggy was someone I looked up to.She had gusto and wasn’t afraid of what life might throw at her.“Everything happens for a reason,” she always told me.
She lost her husband in a plane crash coming back from their honeymoon.They had been married for two months when her happily ever ended in a blink of an eye.They never had any children.She was one of the few survivors of the crash.She had survivor’s guilt for a while, but her faith in God turned her life around.She went to confession and prayed a lot before she was finally able to return to living her life.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to Brandon’s memorial service,” Peggy told me.
I shook it off.“Please, don’t be.Brandon would’ve understood.You have a very successful café to watch after.”
“I just don’t trust anyone to take it over.Even if it is for a few hours.”
“It was your father’s and you don’t want to entrust it to anyone else.I understand that.”
Colt cleared his throat.“And who is this handsome man?”Peggy asked.
I answered, smiling the entire time.“This is my boyfriend, Colton Ryder.”
“Please, call me Colt,” he insisted, shaking Peggy’s hand.
“Dear,” Peggy said, “I’m a hugger.”
