Kasey glanced at Cardoon, now busy returning a dropped toy truck to its toddler owner as the parents looked on. “I thought he wasn’t your type.”
“He’s not,” she said. Although I did see a bit of a flush to her face as she began noisily putting things in the bus pan. Then the door was sounding again, a regular table of public works guys coming in.
“We’re going to need more bacon,” I said to Clark. They were infamous for their pork intake.
He peered out, then sighed. “Right. You hear that, Cross?”
“Got it,” Ben replied. Today’s shirt:WEST BAY MUSTANGS ARE WILD, with a pack of horses beneath. I’d tracked the design as soon as I’d seen him come in just before opening, as well as the way he’d not looked at me. Our goodbye the night before had been awkward, happening soon after my phone interrupted us when Clark was again awakened and did the same. Usually we’d just duck into the dark, hiding out another excuse for getting close. This time, I said I should probably go. He hadn’t disagreed.
The door sounded again. I looked over. It was my mom. With Jeremy.
“Well, I guess it’s not O’Grady’s,” Kasey said. I wiped down two free seats at the counter, waving them over.
“I can’t believe I’ve never come here!” Jeremy said. I gave them both coffee mugs, then silverware. “I already love it.”
“Kasey’s done really well,” my mom agreed. “The Egg is a local institution these days.”
The phone started up again.
“Can someone get that?” Clark barked. “Now?”
I spun, grabbing it mid-ring and fumbling for a ticket. By the time I got the order down—BREK SCRAM, BREKFRIED, NO TOAST—another group had come in the door.
“My goodness,” my mother observed from her counter seat. “Finley, it’s like you’ve worked here all your life.”
“Restaurants. No way to learn but on the fly,” Jeremy told her. When she raised her eyebrows, he added, “I worked summers flipping burgers at a diner in upstate Michigan.”
“Another surprise,” she observed, and he grinned.
“Cat! So good to see you!”
It was Angela, with her partner, Janine. Both of them were inNORTH LAKE ESTATE SALESgolf shirts. I wondered if they ever were out of uniform. “Liz said you were on the mend,” she said now. “I was scared todeathwhen they took you away in that ambulance!”
Jeremy, who’d been studying his menu, looked at my mom. “I was fine,” she said, then cleared her throat. “Finley? Can I have—”
She pushed her mug forward. As I grabbed a coffeepot, bending to fill it, Angela continued. “Oh, I understand. But, seriously. You don’t have to be brave! It’s been three years since my mastectomy and chemo.”
Janine nodded, then reached down to take her hand. “Such a hard time.”
“It was. In fact, most days, I still have a good cry about it. Cancer changes you. In all kinds of ways.”
My mom had paled at “mastectomy.” At “chemo,” she’d tried to turn away. By “cancer,” she’d just gone very still. Jeremy was staring at her.
“Order up for Angela!” Lana called out, grabbing a bag from the window.
“That’s me!” Angela patted my mom’s arm. “Anyway. Hope I didn’t overshare. I just… well, take good care, Cat.”
My mom did not reply. As they walked away, Jeremy said, “Cancer? I thought you said the nurse was there because of a routine procedure.”
“It is.” She picked up the mug I’d topped off, taking a sip.
“Catherine,” Jeremy said. His face was so worried.
“Can someone run this food?” Clark demanded from the window. As I grabbed a tray and began plating, I saw Cardoon hustling more people in the door. By the time I looked back at the counter seats, two were suddenly empty, a five left behind. A woman and a teenage girl soon took them. It was like my mom and Jeremy had never been there at all.
“Thanks for coming with me. Really.”
I nodded as Anne put her car in reverse and began backing up. All I could think of was mail trucks.
