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She found her pace again, her feet hitting the pavement to the chant ofNo, Meg. No.
*
Chet watched Megjog away and couldn’t help but smile.
She knew his name. That had to mean something, right? Most times he ate at her diner, someone else served his table. Of course, as the owner, she had a thousand other things to do than wait on him, but she even found ways to avoid him when he sat at the counter by himself.
He’d seen her talk to guys at Garrett’s Saloon and even flirt lightheartedly with other men at the diner. But never him. She avoided him on purpose, in fact, and he was hell-bent on finding out why.
He rubbed Dottie’s head. “You’re a good girl. Not for running off and startling someone, but for giving me a chance to talk to Meg. You get extra treats for that today.”
At the sound of the wordtreat, the dog’s ears perked up. Chet laughed. She was the most expressive dog he’d ever seen. He hadn’t exactly woken up one morning thinking it was the perfect day to adopt a Great Dane. He had, however, been wanting a dog for some time, and when he’d called the local shelter, they’d asked if he’d consider Dottie. It wasn’t easy to find someone willing to adopt a dog that could grow to be 150 pounds or possibly more. Chet agreed to meet the dog; one look and it was game over. She was his dog.
He took another half hour to work with Dottie and then headed home. She’d have her first nap of the day while he ran five much needed miles. He had to think through how to get to know Miss Meg Malone better, and that was going to take patience and determination. Fortunately, he had plenty of both.
Chapter Two
“Have I toldyou yet how much I love these new ovens?”
Meg’s “head chef” at the diner, as Franklin liked to be called, looked back over his shoulder and shouted to her through the din of sizzling food he had cooking on the griddle.
He made a mean hamburger and added a flair here and there to the menu that wasn’t typical of a diner. He was a big reason Meg’s Diner was such a special part of Silver Bay.
“You have,” Meg answered as she smiled at him through the small opening between the kitchen and the main area of the diner. “Keeping you happy is my main goal in life, Franklin.”
His shoulders bounced as he chuckled.
The bell over the door of the diner jingled, a sign that another customer had entered. Having run around Meg’s Diner since she was a little girl, that sound caused her to look to the door no matter what she was doing. A Pavlovian response, of sorts. She and her brother used to joke about how any time they heard a bell anywhere in the world, they’d both turn and look, anticipating someone entering a door like the one at the diner.
Meg smiled when she saw her friend Baylee come through the door. Her eight-year-old autistic son, Casey, stood beside her holding her hand.
“Hey you guys! Want your favorite spot?” Meg addressed Casey who was already headed to “his” booth. Meg held a super soft spot in her heart for him.
“Thanks, Meg.” Baylee smiled at her as they passed her and then settled into the booth.
“I’ll be right there with some water.”
Baylee nodded as she peeled off her jacket. Casey pulled some paper and a pen from his backpack and began to draw.
Meg refilled two coffee mugs for a couple at the end of the counter. She placed Baylee and Casey’s standing order with Franklin, then got two fresh glasses of water and brought them to the booth. She scooted into the booth next to Casey. The breakfast rush hadn’t rolled in yet, so Meg had a minute or two to sit with her friends.
“You okay, Baylee?” Baylee was Meg’s closest friend in Silver Bay. At the moment, she didn’t seem like herself.
Baylee sighed. “It’s just that time of year. Drew is in the thick of the playoffs, so we don’t get to see each other much.”
Baylee had married Drew MacIntire almost a year ago. He was the star pitcher for the New York Empires, a major league baseball team. Although he spent the off season at home in Silver Bay, during the season was another story.
“I’m sorry,” Meg said. “It’s not exactly the ideal setup for your first year of marriage.”
Casey kept drawing seemingly unaware of Meg’s presence. The sound of sizzling steam, splashing water, and clanking plates echoed through the air, the background music of Meg’s life.
Baylee shrugged. “We both knew what we were getting into. There is no other place on earth I want Drew to be right now than on the pitcher’s mound. He’s born to do it, and he needs to finish his career strong. But that doesn’t make the nights any less lonely.”
Although Meg felt for her friend, loneliness was not something she liked to think about. She wasn’t against marriage; it just didn’t fit her independent streak. And she had dated casually through college, but love asked too much of a person.There was more loss than love in her history, and she had no desire to repeat it.
After an injury that almost sidelined Drew for good, Baylee had been the one to help him heal mentally and emotionally so he could go back to baseball and finish the way he wanted, rather than have his injury dictate his exit. They’d committed a lot to one another and were absolutely, madly in love. If they couldn’t make it work, who could?
Her memory flashed to that morning talking to Chet in the park. His blue eyes twinkling as he looked at her, his smile making them squint a little. She blinked his face away and shook her head. What was that about? Why would that pop into her mind?
