Sean gave her a dazzling smile and she felt it all the way down to her toes. “Let’s get cracking.”
She groaned playfully at the pun. Sean apologized to the rest of the line and quickly made Nicole’s omelet. Her mouth watered as she watched him work, mostly from the delicious smell of sauteing ham, onion, and peppers. She let her eyes slide up his chest to his neck and then she allowed herself to take in hisface. She felt a crack in her defenses when she saw the tip of his tongue stick out just a tiny bit as he flipped her omelet.
“I know you are going to love this omelet. The ham is actually from Hampshire and the green peppers are from our garden.”
“You have a garden here?” She looked around as if she could see it from where she stood.
Sean plated her omelet and then held the cheese grater. “Would you like a little cheese on top?”
Nicole nodded, her auburn waves dancing around her face.
Sean once again handed her the plate. “Be careful now,” he said.
“Will do,” Nicole said solemnly and made her way to her table navigating the restaurant patron traffic.
Nicole slid into the booth and waved down the hostess who was refilling guests’ coffee. The younger girl had long blond hair pulled up in a high ponytail and was wearing a Jesse’s Pub T-shirt. Nicole felt a tiny pang of jealousy. She wished she could go back to the days when she could wear a tight T-shirt and feel good about herself. Nicole swore she knew her from somewhere but couldn’t place her. Just as she was about to ask the girl her name, Devin plopped down. Her plate was heaping with French toast, strawberries, whipped cream, and a side plate of bacon. “You just got your food? I was in line for the longest time, and then my omelet fell off my plate, so I had to get a new one. I figured you’d be done eating by the time I got back to the table.”
Devin paused, her fork halfway to her mouth, “You dropped your food?”
“It flew off the plate.”
“Mm-hmm,” Devin said and then took a bite of her food. “Oh, my god. This is so good.”
Nicole took another bite of her omelet and nodded. For a few minutes, their table was silent except for the scrape of forks and a few small moans of pleasure.
“I am never not having Nutella on French toast again,” Devin announced.
“This is the best breakfast I have had since I don’t know when,” Nicole said. As they finished their meals, Nicole asked Devin, “Why did it take you so long to get your food?”
Devin rolled her eyes. “More Oktoberfest trouble. Mrs. Woodsman,” Devin gestured over her shoulder and Nicole saw the retired librarian sitting at a table next to the patio doors, “was livid. Apparently, she was out walking her dog and saw someone peeing in the alley by her house!”
“Ick.”
“Yes, definitely ick, and she noticed that the guy had a Hop’s Heaven shirt on. Now I’ve got to check in with the Chief and see if we can start keeping an extra car on patrol around Hop’s Heaven. Did you know that I have checked with towns all over the Midwest and we are the only one that has an Oktoberfest Celebration that goes on for four weeks? All the other fests are just one or maybe two weekends in September. We aren’t finished until mid-October for Pete’s sake! Chief Hendrick wants to add a couple more auxiliary police officers and Public Works is telling me that they need to do more street sweeping and trash pick-up on the surrounding streets. Do you have any idea how much overtime is costing this town?”
“No clue. That’s why you’re the mayor and I work at a school talking to little kids and parents all day.”
“Let me tell you, it’s a lot. And we’re already over budget! I don’t know how we are going to come up with the money or the manpower to keep up! I hate to do it, but I’m going to have to go along with Councilman Sanchez and his campaign to shut down the Oktoberfest.” Devin blew out a breath in frustration. “Enough about me and the mayor woes. Did I see you hit your fifteen year anniversary?”
“Yep, the first day of school was my anniversary! "Nicole sat up straighter.
“That’s wonderful! Now you can take that dream trip to Scotland you kept talking about during your treatment. What was it you said? Cancer owes you an amazing trip because it took so much away?”
“Yeah, about that.”
Devin stilled.
Nicole quickly continued, “N-nothing’s wrong, I’m fine!” she waved her hands.
Devin put her hand on her heart, “You scared me there.”
“I’m so sorry. I was just going to say that I’ve had second thoughts.” She looked down at her empty plate. “I’m putting the trip on hold. I need to keep my five-year paid leave just in case, you know? What if I get sick again?”
Devin reached over and patted her hand, “Oh honey, I’m sorry you feel like that, but remember the promises you made to yourself? How beating cancer was going to be your second chance?”
Nicole frowned, “Right, that once I was done with treatment I was going to live, live, live. My bucket list wasn’t going to wait, Carpe Diem and all that. I remember, it’s just…I think I don’t know how to do that.”
Devin gave her hand a squeeze, “Maybe it’s time to say yes once in a while.”
