“Caroline and I have been to other places besides the diner.”
“Sure,” April said. “But they’re not new. They’ve been in town for years.”
He frowned, though, technically, April was probably correct. Three Rivers had seen a pretty big boom in growth about a decade ago, but he supposed it had slowed down in recent years. She reached over and turned the radio up, her signal to him that she didn’t want to talk on the way there.
Dawson knew his niece exceptionally well, and they wouldn’t be going to breakfast if she wasn’t going to tell him something. He figured he could wait and just enjoy having someone else drive. He did exactly that, not even bothering to catch up on texts or emails or anything ranch related, which he maybe would have done as a past version of himself. But he’d been trying to enjoy the moment more and worry less about work and life circumstances he couldn’t control.
He wanted to be present for his kids, and his wife, and his friends. Right now, if April wanted to start talking, he wanted to be ready to listen, but she just sang along to the radio in her beautiful soprano.
Since they hadn’t come super early, there was space in the diner parking lot. And when they walked in, Dawson only had to look toward Sandy, and she said, “Hey, I haven’t seen you guys in a while.”
He grinned at her. “It’s been a couple months.”
“Yeah. Your usual table?”
“Yes, please,” April said.
“Do you need menus?” Sandy picked them up and held them out. “We’ve got a couple of new pancakes.”
Dawson looked at the sign board beside the hostess station and saw they had white chocolate chip macadamia nut pancakes listed there. He always got the buckwheat with blueberry syrup, as he’d never tasted anything better than that.
“I don’t need a menu,” he said. “Buggy?”
“I’ll take one.”
Sandy handed it to her and nodded to the corner booth they liked to sit in when they came for their talks.
A waitress named Linda arrived before Dawson had truly found a comfortable position, and she put two coffee cups on the table. “Are you drinking coffee this morning, April?”
April reached to flip over the coffee cup. “Yes, ma’am, but can I have the half-decaf?”
“Absolutely.” Linda looked at Dawson. “I know you want the fully caffeinated.”
She flipped over his cup. “Always.” She poured him a cup and left to get April the half-decaf she wanted.
She returned with it, as well as cream and sugar, and said, “Are we ordering anything different this time?”
April picked up her menu.
“Well.” Dawson reached for the sugar. “Yeah,” he said. “I want one order of regular bacon and one order of that candied, spicy bacon. You know what I mean? Do you still have that?” He wasn’t sure what was a special and what wasn’t. Last time he’dbeen here, they’d had brown sugared bacon with chili flakes, and he’d taken a chance and loved it.
“We’ve got it,” Linda said, and she smiled at him, her ordering pad missing entirely.
“I want that,” Dawson said. “With my regular pancake order.” He spooned a healthy heap of sugar into his coffee. “Keep the coffee coming too.”
Linda smiled at him, and April handed her the menu. “I want the fresh peach pancakes,” she said.
“So the usual.” Linda grinned at her.
“Can I have extra whipped cream?”
“Of course you can, honey,” Linda said. “Any other modifications?”
“Yeah.” April said. “I want a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios.”
Dawson raised his eyebrows. He didn’t understand eating cold cereal from a restaurant, but April claimed the milk was way better. He suspected it was whole milk, or half and half, or even cream. He always paid for their breakfasts, and he didn’t mind the five-dollar bowl of cereal. If April wanted it, she could have it.
“I’ll bring the cereal out first,” she said.
