My head was feeling a little better by the time I had taken a shower and made my way to the restaurant. It was close enough to her house that I didn't have to drive, but it took about fifteen minutes to walk there. I could have taken my car, but I wanted to walk. I liked Montana a lot, and I felt calm and peaceful breathing the morning air.
My sister had told me she got Luna some new toys to play with at the restaurant. I imagined my niece was having fun with those this morning, and I knew the staff and all the regulars were excited to see her. Picturing it gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling. I also had some sort of feeling about the business card in my pocket. I woke up during the night thinking about Alex and his series, and I had to marvel at the unlikeliness of running into him in a tiny grocery store in the middle of nowhere. There was no hope of a real relationship with someone like him, but I was undeniably attracted to him.
I had a way to reach him, and I was attracted to him. Those were two facts that I didn't know quitewhat to do with. I was thinking about Alex and the chances of calling him when he appeared out of thin air, walking on the sidewalk in front of me. He was coming from the other direction, and we converged in front of my sister's restaurant. I felt like I was in a dream.
"Just the woman I wanted to see," he said as we came closer to each other on the sidewalk. "I was going to go in here and see if I could get some food for my crew."
"Oh, I don't… I don't work here anymore. But I'm sure they can… aren't you guys like an hour from here?"
"It is an hour," he said. "I was wondering what the chances were that you could maybe just come out there and cook it on site."
"Oh, none," I said, shaking my head. "Not me, at least. I'm so out of practice with eggs… I'm getting heart palpitations just thinking about it."
"Are you sure that's what they're from?" he said.
My heart actually skipped a beat when I realized what he was saying.How was he this confident and wonderful?"W-what?" I said stalling, feeling breathless and speechless.
He smiled. "No, I figured it was a long shot. We have someone on site who cooks. It's nothing fancy, but there is someone who makes food for us. He's just not a big breakfast guy." He shrugged and pointed at the hand-painted lettering on the windownext to us. "And I'm going to eat right now," he said. "I also came to get breakfast."
"Me too," I said.
"Will you sit with me?" he asked.
My eyes met his. "Are you alone?"
"Yes. Are you alone?"
"Yes. I mean, I came alone, but I'll know everyone in there," I said.
"We don't have to eat together if you don't want to. I was just hoping to run into you. We're not shooting until sunset tonight, so I had some time to—"
"No, I'd love to catch up." I almost added that I had just been thinking about him when I walked up, but I stopped myself from saying it right before it came out of my mouth.
Alex opened the door, and I walked inside before him. It had been a year since I had been back, and I had lost that familiar, easy feeling. It came back quickly when I realized nothing had changed. The tables were full, and it was noisy in there with music and chatter and dishes clanging.
"Josieee!" It was Carly who said my name. She was behind the counter, but she came around it, moving quickly to get to me.
Carly crashed into me with a hug that caused me to bump into Alex. He put a hand out to steady me. He took it off me at the same time that Carly let go of the hug, and I wished he would touch me again.
"It's so good to see you!" she said. "We almost had to close after you left. We had two sucky chefs before Audrey came back." She smiled at me. "But thankfully, she's back now. And Luna! She's gotten so big, I couldn't believe it. Did you guys have fun? Are you staying for breakfast?" She was talking so fast that I didn't even pay attention to our movement. She went to the counter again, pulling me along with her. "Just a minute, let me help this gentleman. Oh, hey," she said, focusing on Alex for the first time. "You came here a few weeks ago asking for… here she is." She glanced at me and then shrugged, looking like she had no idea we came in together. "He was in here a few weeks ago asking if you still worked here."
"Yeah, this is Alex. We ran into each other outside. We're going to sit together and eat," I said. I hesitated, looking around.
"Luna's in the back," Carly said. "You can just sit back there at her table." She smiled. "He's been back there before. I'm sure Audrey won't care if you both go."
Carly took our orders, and we went to the back through the swinging door and into the kitchen. The whole place was small and cramped, and I knew that Luna had the best table.
I spoke to Cal, and then I turned to speak to my sister. It was no longer quiet in her little nook like it used to be. The same music that was playing in the front was also pumping through a speaker back here.The partition was there, and Luna and Audrey were doing their own thing, one on each side of it. Both of them saw us when we came around the corner.
"Hey, sleepy head," my sister said.
"Hey, sleepy head!" Luna called as she came to me.
"Who's this?" Audrey said, looking way cooler and calmer in the kitchen than I ever did.
"This was Jojo's friend in the grocery store," Luna said.
Audrey gave me a curious glance.
