His eyes narrowed, and then he was blank again. “So where do we go from here?”
That was a painful but easy question to answer. “We go our separate ways. You have your business to run, I have mine. It’s not like there’s anything between us... right?” She stared at him, trying to see any flicker of emotion in his eyes. Despite her anger and frustration, she held on to the last thin thread of hope that he would tell her what she wanted to hear. That there was more between them than a superficial friendship.
“Right,” he finally said. “There’s nothing between us.”
Her heart turned to ice. “Then we have nothing else to say.”
Tanner nodded, his jaw set. “Give me enough time to find someone to take your place.”
Pain pierced her. He was all too eager to get rid of her now. All she could do was nod.
He turned and walked out the door, slamming it behind him.
Numb, she moved to the couch and sat down. She hadexpected the final nail in their relationship coffin to hurt more than this. Maybe telling herself that she didn’t have feelings for him anymore had helped prepare her for this moment.
After a few minutes she got up and took a Post-it note and a pen from the junk drawer in her kitchen. She scribbled a few lines:
Official notice: 2 weeks. Anita Bedford
She stuck the note on her fridge. That way she’d remember to take it with her when she worked her next shift. She wouldn’t bother going to the meeting. She knew what he had to say. She also didn’t want to change her mind. She could have used the money she’d make at the diner until the café was ready to open, but she couldn’t work there anymore. Not with Tanner as her boss. Not when she knew he thought so little of her, so little of her right to have her own plans and dreams.
She tried to put a positive spin on things. She could get a bigger loan. She could focus on the café without any distractions and open the coffee shop sooner. She could discuss some ideas for cross-promotion—something she’d read about in the marketing section of her book—with Knots and Tangles and Petals and Posies. Even Hayden would be open to talking about it. Tanner would be sorry he’d kept his mind closed.
She clenched her fists. He would also be sorry he’d let her go.
***
For the next three weeks after the Maple Falls business meeting, Tanner threw himself into his work. Fortunately, he’d been able to cancel his coffee orders and get most of his money back. No point in serving special coffee now. He’d also picked up two more catering jobs and had put an ad in the paper to hire more waitresses who could also cater. He’d barely seen or talked to his mother. They were both so busy working, their schedules never matched up. If he had been burning the candle low before this, he was burning both ends now.
He was also still angry with Anita. She hadn’t showed up to the Wednesday meeting. Not that he expected her to. After he’d met in the kitchen with the staff, who were all happy about the news that he’d bought the diner, he went back to the office and found Anita’s Post-it note notice. He couldn’t believe she was so petty. It was as if he didn’t know her at all anymore.
Beyond pissed, he crumpled the note and threw it way. Then he marked her off the schedule, leaving his own note on her time card:Employment terminated as of today.A low blow, but she had her own business now. She obviously didn’t need a measly waitress job.
To throw salt in the wound, his own staff was abuzz with the news that Anita was opening a café. “I can’t wait to try the coffee,” Bailey had said two days after the meeting—the length of time it had taken for the news to spread.
“We all figured this place would end up being yours someday.” Fred poured batter into the waffle maker. “The real shocker is Anita.”
“You’re not mad she didn’t tell you about her café?” Tanner had asked.
“Why would I be?” he said. “I’m happy for both of you. A café will be good for Maple Falls.”
“Anything she serves will be better than our swill.” Mabel piled the top of a cherry pie high with meringue. “I’ve been after George for years to change it. Now it won’t matter.”
Tanner had gone back to the office, frustrated. Everyone was happy with this situation except for him. Not only had he lost the best waitress he’d ever have, but he’d also lost her friendship, for good. He refused to play back their last conversation in his head. Like she’d said, there was nothing left for them to talk about.
At the end of the day, he finished cleaning up the diner after closing, having sent Pamela home a little early. He hadn’t closed the diner in a while, and like the last time he’d worked second shift, he thought about that evening when Heather had showed up. He hadn’t seen or heard of her since then. But thinking of Heather made him think of Anita, and this time he couldn’t stop.
He leaned against the mop handle and scanned the empty diner. Everything here reminded him of her. Like the time it was Jasper’s eightieth birthday, and she had encouraged the entire diner to sing the birthday song to him, which they did. The old man had grinned for a full hour after that. Or the time three Girl Scout troops had come into the diner and all sat on her side. She’d worked hard to serve all of them, and she didn’t complain once. Like she never complained when she had to serve Mayor Quickel, who always kept her hopping and was a lousy tipper.
Tanner gripped the mop handle and went back to scrubbing the floor. It would take time, but eventually he couldbe here without thinking about her—or about what she was doing at #3. The sale had gone through, and he had heard some of the customers talking about construction starting there, but he’d avoided checking it out himself, not wanting to run into Anita.
He was starting to realize how much of a jerk he’d been to her the other night. She’d told him about feeling like an outsider in her family, and he knew that having her own business would elevate her in their eyes. Still, his anger and panic over losing even one customer had overridden common sense and decency. She was furious with him, and she had the right to be.
But that didn’t change the fact that one of them had to give in—and it wasn’t going to be him.
Quickly he finished closing and took the trash out to the dumpster. He was about to get into his Jeep when a red sports car zipped into the lot and stopped in front of him. There was still some daylight left, along with a lot of humidity. Sweat ran down his back as the window rolled down and George poked his head out. “Hey, Tanner.”
“George?” His old boss was the last person he’d expected to see driving a sports car.
