I poured coffee and brought it over, setting the mugs down carefully. “So,” I said, already suspicious. “What’s the occasion?”
They exchanged a look. A long one.
The kind that should come with a warning label.
“Well,” Mabel said, stirring cream into her coffee, “we thought it might be time for a little confession. Eliza knows some, you do too. But it’s time to lay it all out there.”
My shoulders tensed. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Oh, hush,” Grandma said. “You love a good story.”
“Actually, I do not,” I said flatly. “This one feels like it’s going to be a big one.”
Mabel leaned forward, eyes sparkling. “Do you remember, Nate, how youjust happenedto come through the Coffee Cabin every morning when you moved to town?”
“Yes,” I said slowly. “I remember falling in love with Eliza over a takeout cup and an outdoor counter.”
“And do you remember,” Grandma added, “how Elizajust happenedto be working those mornings all by herself?”
“I made sure she was alone,” Mabel said. “And I very graciously kept myself out of the way. Which, for the record, was not easy.”
My stomach dropped as I stared at them. “You didn’t.”
They both smiled.
They actuallysmiledand they were smug.
“I may have told her I had a little cold,” Mabel said smugly. “I needed my rest, isn’t that right?”
“Absolutely, you did.” Grandma winked. “And let’s not forget about the cocoa,” she added. “I told Tilly to ask for it. Told her it was the best cocoa in the entire world, and it was made by the prettiest Christmas coffee elf who ever lived. Children can be very persuasive when given the right motivation.”
“You used my kid,” I said, horrified.
“She was delighted to help,” Grandma said proudly. “She loves Eliza, just like I knew she would.”
“I love Eliza,” Mabel said. “Very much. And she needed someone good. Someone kind. Someone who would make her feel like she deserves to feel.”
“And you,” Grandma said, softening, “needed someone who would choose you,andTilly. We knew the two of you were perfect for each other.”
I opened my mouth. Closed it again.
“You’re unbelievable,” I said finally.
“And yet,” Mabel said, lifting her mug, “here you are, happy as you could possibly be…”
Before I could respond, the bell over the door chimed again.
I didn’t have to turn around to know it was her.
But I did anyway.
Eliza stood just inside the diner, sunlight catching in her hair, one hand tucked into the pocket of my jacket—myjacket. I loved seeing her in things that were mine. I just loved her.
She smiled when she saw me, that easy, knowing smile that still knocked the breath out of me. “There you are,” she said. “I was looking for my fiancé.”
My heart did the thing it always did now—stumbled, then settled.
“Fiancé,” Grandma repeated brightly. “Don’t you love the sound of that?”
