I chuckle into my mug.
“If I were twenty years younger …” he muses, trying to get my goat.
“She still wouldn’t give you the time of day,” I say.
“Oh no?” He laughs.
The bell over the glass door tinkles and Hallie’s smiling face appears.
“Good morning, Mo,” she practically sings her greeting.
Hallie waves around at the three other customers, all older people from the outskirts of town—the ones who naturally protect our secret because they keep to themselves.
“Good morning, everyone!” Hallie says in her sing-song morning voice.
“What’d I tell you?” he says. “She greeted me first.”
“You’ve got coffee,” Hallie says, taking the stool next to me and kissing me on the cheek.
I give Mo a smug look.
His face softens. “My Dixie would have loved you, Hallie girl.”
“Dixie? Was that your wife?” Hallie asks.
“Yeah.” He nods. “Orneriest woman in the state, but she knew good people when she met ’em. She would’ve eaten you up with a spoon.”
He pours Hallie’s coffee, adding flavored creamer just the way she likes it. “You know I don’t go fixin’ anyone’s coffee for them but you,” he tells her.
“I appreciate it, Mo. I love a man who fixes my coffee.”
Mo gives me a look of triumph and I smile. I know how to make her coffee too. And I’ve got her creamer in my fridge.
Hallie sets her hand on the counter between us. I place mine over hers, holding it while we order biscuits and gravy to share. She smiles over at me and instantly all’s right with the world.
After we eat, I leave an extra large tip on the counter.
“Too bad your mom’s sharing TV time with Jonathan these days,” I say when Hallie and I are standing in the parking lot. “She and Mo would be a pair.”
“Oh my gosh!” Hallie’s laugh bursts out. “Can you imagine? Mo would give Mom a run for her money! But, yeah. I think Jonathan is actually growing on her.”
“How can you tell?”
“She’s complaining about him more.”
“Always a good sign,” I say, reaching over and brushing her hair over her shoulder.
“I don’t complain about you,” she says, her voice softer after my touch.
“Give me time. You will,” I say, leaning in to kiss her.
My chest releases when our mouths connect. She never fails to do that to me. I wrap my arms around her and draw her close. Kissing her to make up for lost time.
When we separate, she looks up at me. “I’d miss coming to Mo’s.”
“Why would you have to miss it?”
“If we ever get to the point where we can tell Mia about us … I guess I figured we’d stop all these secret rendezvous.”
