Gwen and I sit at one of the two top booths against the wall. Farrah comes over with a pot of coffee in her hand. “Hey, ladies. It’s Gia, right?”
“Yeah. It’s good to see you again, Farrah.”
She tilts her head with a self-deprecating smile. “A teacher’s salary doesn’t quite cut it, so I work here on the weekends.”
“You do what you have to, girl. I get it.”
“You want some coffee or something else?” Farrah asks.
Gwen asks for a Coke, and I get an iced tea. Farrah brings us some menus with our drinks and tells us she’ll be back in a bit to get our order.
“I hate that she has to work on her weekends,” I say to Gwen.
“Same. When did you meet Farrah? She’s become a good friend of mine since she moved to town last summer.”
“She’s Leah’s teacher. The girls asked me to go to their book fair, so I met Farrah there.”
“The girls asked you to go to their book fair?”
“Is that weird? I thought it was a little odd, but I was also kind of honored.”
Gwen shrugs. “Those girls are spitfires. They’re like grown women in little bodies. I wouldn’t put anything past them. It’s a big deal that they invited you to a school event though. ”
I grin. “I really like them. They’re strong and fiercely independent.”
“Holt’s done an incredible job of raising them by himself. We’re all a little in awe of him.”
“It’s one of the many reasons I couldn’t stay away from him despite knowing that dating him is a horrible idea.” After our date the other night, we’ve been talking constantly. We haven’t had a chance to go out again, but he calls me every evening. We talk for hours about whatever comes to mind. No one else has kept my interest for this long. Normally, I’d be bored by now. Instead, I’m counting down the minutes until we talk again. I feel like a silly schoolgirl with a crush.
“I’d never have been able to resist either.”
Farrah takes our orders a minute later, and Gwen and I chat the entire time we have lunch. Besides my sister, I’ve never connected with someone this fast. It feels like we were always meant to be friends, and I’m grateful I made the spontaneous decision to come to Pine Creek Falls.
It won’t be just Holt that I’ll be sad to leave when the time comes.
CHAPTER 14
Holt
“Pop Pop!” Leah yells as she tears through my parents’ house like a banshee. Lauren follows behind her at a slightly slower pace.
“Lee Lee!” Dad yells back at her. He’s in the kitchen, rolling out pie dough. He’s covered in flour as usual, and his grin is just as wide as it always is. His hair is mostly gray now, but it used to be jet-black when I was a kid. He might be seventy, but he acts twenty years younger. That’s mostly due to the fact that Mom and Dad still work the farm like they always did. My twin brothers, Camden and Reese, live on the property and run it as a business, but our parents still help every day.
Leah moves a stool around the island to stand next to Dad. “I want to help.”
“Go wash your hands first. Then you’re on flour duty.”
She dutifully climbs off the stool to wash her hands in the hallway bathroom sink before racing back.
Dad narrows his eyes at her. “Did you use soap?”
“Yes?”
He just gives her his “I wasn’t born yesterday” look, and she turns around and is gone much longer than the first time.
“What’s something new you’ve learned this week, Lo Lo?”
Lauren grins as she settles onto a stool. “My art teacher taught us how to watercolor.”
