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She nodded then looked out the window again. “I miss it sometimes.” Her right hand was wrapped around her coffee mug, her thumb moving up and down the side.
He waited and watched. One side of her mouth turned down as if to frown, but the other tipped up just a bit. Both sides in a battle, as if whatever she was thinking was full of both good and bad.
“I miss the hanging out in the fire station,” she said. “The laughter. The jokes. Knowing more about each other than you want to know.”
“It becomes a family.”
She nodded and took another sip of coffee.
“Which can be both great and not so great,” he added. “Much like the families we’re born into.”
She smiled at that. “That’s very true.”
He had questions, but he didn’t dare ask them. She had laid her armor down and was giving him a glimpse into her life. He didn’t dare do a single thing to jeopardize that.
Franklin came and set their plates down. “There you go, Meghan. Enjoy.” He nodded at Chet, his eyes hard and narrow, before heading back to the kitchen. Chet sensed he’d just been given a warning.
“He’s a little scary.”
Meg laughed out loud. “He’s a massive heart with skin. He’s just protective of me, that’s all.” She grabbed the salt shaker and dashed some on her meal, then did the same with the pepper.
“Do many people call you Meghan?”
“No. Just my dad did. And my brother.”
Ah, another layer of personal information. One that Chet took and tucked away until she was ready to say more.
“Franklin is like a second father to me so, hence, the protectiveness.”
“Gotcha.” Chet cut into the Benedict. Heat rose from the center of the egg, golden yolk running down onto the ham and English muffin. He took a bite. “Oh my… That is the best eggs Benedict I have ever had.”
Meg smiled. “I know, right?”
“I’d ask if we could make this a tradition for our last week of running—breakfast here every day—but I fear I would gain so much weight that I’d lose miles every day.”
She laughed. “Yeah. People can’t believe I’m not four hundred pounds, with Franklin’s food. I would be if I ate every meal here. What they don’t understand is that I’m doing more running and moving than eating. Hence, not four hundred pounds.” She moved her hands from her head down her body as proof.
No. She was far from that. She was almost six feet of pure gorgeous, a face that kept Chet up most nights and filled his dreams. He took another bite of food to get his mind off Meg’s body.
“You’re welcome to, though.”
Afraid she’d read his mind and was giving him permission to daydream about her body, he coughed and asked, “Do what?”
She shrugged. “Come here after our run.” She moved her fork around her plate, avoiding his eyes.
“I’d like that. How about we take it a day at a time?”
She met his eyes then and nodded, smiling.
As they finished their meals, Chet had to work hard to not grin like an idiot. Breakfast every day with Meg? He couldn’t think of anything better.
Chapter Sixteen
The Harvest Festivalwas fast approaching. What had been a marathon pace for preparation quickly turned to a sprint. Meg watched Hannah as she moved around the park giving instructions in her usual energetic and kind manner, but Meg couldn’t help but notice Hannah’s grip on her clipboard get tighter and tighter every time she saw her.
Meg couldn’t imagine working as a real estate agent, raising two small children, and running an event like this. Hannah had an energy reserve unlike anything Meg had ever seen. It was beyond impressive.
“I’d be worried about her if I hadn’t seen her do this before,” Baylee said as she took a seat next to Meg at a picnic table. She placed a cup of coffee from Jamie’s Java in front of Meg. Baylee’s was filled with hot tea. “That woman could run the world.”
