She didn’t want Lucas to think she was potentially failing at everything – work, life, love …
‘Well, that’s great.’ He grinned back, nodding.
‘You left here too, didn’t you? Jenn mentioned it. She said you went to New York?’
He seemed to hesitate.
‘Yeah, not for long.’
‘How come you came back so soon?’ she asked lightly. ‘And how come you took over this place? Because no offense, Lucas, but I never would have expected to see you here. Didn’t you have bigger dreams? Didn’t you want to—’
‘You know nothing about me,’ he suddenly snapped, those dark eyes flashing. ‘You don’t know, Willow. You never did. I’m happy here. This was always the plan.’
And without another word, he stormed into the backroom, leaving Willow standing alone.
Chapter 10
Lucas
He shouldn’t have done that. He shouldn’t have stormed out like that. He just found it hard to keep it together sometimes. His thoughts swirled around his head like a dark mist.
For most of the morning, he replayed his conversation with Willow and regretted every moment.
Why had he been so harsh?
Would she even forgive him?
By late afternoon, it had gotten a little busier in The Diner, but Lucas was too distracted by movements going on outside to be content with this. He left the counter briefly, leaving Janice, his number two, in charge and rushed out the door, only to find that Tommy and Joey – two local boys – were helping move the van out from behind the building onto the edge of his parking lot.
‘Hey,’ he called over. ‘Who gave you permission to move that?’
Tommy jumped out of the cab. He was a kid of sixteen, who had recently passed his driver’s license test and was a jock. Joey was his best friend. Lucas liked both boys as they had hearty appetites and usually ate well at The Diner. Theywere also decent kids and Tommy was Janice’s son, so he knew them both pretty well.
‘Jenn asked us to,’ Tommy said, wiping his hands on his jeans. ‘It’s pretty neat, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah, I guess so,’ Lucas muttered, remembering their conversation earlier. When Jenn had mentioned the boys, he hadn’t quite realized that she had meant these two. ‘Although, I wasn’t expecting her to be moving it so soon. Or so close to The Diner. When she said the parking lot, I was kind of thinking the other side.’
Like right over – ideally out of sight and out of his hair completely. Or maybe right by the dumpster, or was that a little unreasonable? Was it his imagination or had the thing grown in size since he last saw it?
‘It needs to be close, so that it can connect to your utilities,’ Joey said helpfully, his bright ginger hair sparkling in the late-afternoon sun. ‘I think Jenn is hoping to get everything going soon. That new woman is eager to start.’
‘Willow …’ Lucas said quietly. ‘And she’s not new. Not new at all.’
This was the first time he had looked at the van closely. It had been easy to ignore when it was shoved behind the building. He guessed he hoped it would disappear completely. However, here in the cold light of day, there was no missing it.
The van had been painted a pale mint green color and had been customized, so that there was a serving hatch that could be bolted up when not in use. It was kind of cute, in an annoying, kitsch way – but out here, it was bigger than Lucas expected, and bolder.
Not only was it in the way, it was a massive reminder that Willow would be working next door to him for theforeseeable future. And he had just messed things up. He could feel a headache brewing.
‘What’s she going to be selling anyway?’ Tommy asked.
‘Matcha, apparently.’ Lucas screwed up his nose. ‘Who even drinks that stuff anyway? Doesn’t it look and taste like grass?’
‘Oh, I drink it a lot,’ Joey said enthusiastically. ‘It’s meant to be good for you, isn’t it? That’s cool she’s selling it here. I’ll be lining up for some, for sure.’
‘Good to know,’ Lucas replied with a growl.
‘Maybe you should have thought of introducing matcha to The Diner, Luc?’ Tommy added helpfully. ‘You know, hopping on that trend.’
