Page 20 of Wilde Ride

Leaning closer, I asked, “Do they all work here at the café?”

Dipping the menu so I could only see her eyes, I could tell she was smiling when the corners crinkled. “They’ve all worked here at one point, and at the newspaper.”

Looking toward the kitchen, I sighed. “The cook?”

“That would be Monty, Jed’s youngest son. Monty and Lucy are the only two left in town. The rest all left.”

“Fled the town, huh?”

She looked up again, brow raised. “Fled the gossip.”

“The gossip they caused, or were they subject to it?”

“Oh, family members aren’t excluded when it comes to The Daily Dirt.”

“Their own grandmother gossiped about them?”

“Yep.”

When I didn’t say anything, just gaped at her, she laughed and said, “They have an excellent BLT here.”

“A BLT? Em, I can make that at home.”

“Yeah, but is the bacon from your own farm, with an aioli sauce to die for?”

“Nope, it definitely is not.”

I quickly reviewed the menu. When Lucy came back with our waters, we both told her we’d have the BLTs, and I added a Coke to my order. She took our menus, then slipped away.

“So, what would you need from me for this volunteering gig your mother signed me up for?”

Emeline set her water down. “Levi, if you don’t want to do it, you really don’t have to. Just because my mother guilted you, doesn’t mean I’ll hold you to it.”

“I want to do it. I think it’ll be a good way to re-enter the community and ease my way into my father’s practice. He’s been talking about retiring, and I’m not so sure I’m ready to do this all on my own.”

“Was the vet practice you worked at very big?”

“Six vets, and two who were large animals only.”

Her eyes went wide. “Wow. I take it you were one of the large-animal vets?”

“Not exclusively, but if the other two vets needed help, I’d step in.”

“Are you looking forward to going to a smaller practice?”

I chuckled. “It may be smaller, but it’s going to be a lot busier. Dad really should have brought in another vet years ago.”

She smiled softly. “Maybe he’s been waiting for you to come home.”

Sitting back against the seat, I let out a small sigh. “Probably. I know he was upset with me when I decided not to come back to River Falls to work with him. It was what I’d intended, but…”

“Life happened.”

“Yes, it did. Not exactly what I’d planned.”

“What were your plans?”

“School, which I can’t believe we never saw each other.”