Chapter 3
Leah and Reese had dinner at one of the Italian restaurants in town. When they entered the establishment, it no longer bothered her when several pairs of eyes turned in their direction. She ignored the cold stares from the women who obviously couldn’t understand why the town’s most eligible bachelor preferred hanging around with the woman who had broken his heart instead of moving on to someone else.
Reese escorted her to a table in the back. “Hungry?” she asked him.
“Always,” he said, grinning.
“That’s something I want to talk to you about.”
He lifted a brow. “What?”
“I’ve been thinking about your suggestion of expanding the café. I think it’s a good idea.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
“As well, I’ve been thinking of extending the café’s hours to include dinner. That would mean instead of closing at three, we’ll remain open until five.”
He lifted a brow. “Would you want to be at the café that long each day?”
“Well, it would change the way things are,” she said. “I get to the cafe every morning around eight to set things up, but you arrive at the warehouse at six o’clock. If we decide to continue having dinner together, it might mean an extra-long workday for you.”
He chuckled. “Not really. I usually spend an hour with you for breakfast and another hour for lunch. Then there are those days when you weigh so heavily on my mind that I can’t finish much work. So, I mosey next door to your place, sip a glass of iced tea, and watch you. I can’t see any of that changing, Leah. If I decide to close the shop early, I can always join you at the café for dinner. Sounds like a good plan to me.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Reese, for being so accommodating.”
“You need to stop thanking me so much. Whatever I do, I do because I love you.”
···
Later that night, Leah smiled as she slid between the covers. She had heard from both Angie and Marie. Angie’s test had come back negative, which was wonderful, and Marie had followed Silas’s advice and filed a restraining order on her ex-husband. Luckily, Silas’ father was the town’s sheriff. Sheriff Milner’s background check revealed a warrant for the man’s arrest. Last week, he’d assaulted his current wife in Kansas. The woman was still recuperating in the hospital.
Now that the police had been told the man was in town, it wasn’t long before he was picked up at a hotel on the outskirts of town and arrested. The plan was to extradite him back to Kansas this week. Leah was glad the man would soon be behind bars where he belonged, but she was even happier that the man’s unexpected appearance seemed to have drawn Silas and Marie closer together. While she and Marie were on the phone, she could hear Silas in the background, conversing with Marie’s seven and eight-year-old sons.
It seemed everyone’s lives were falling into place. Now, if only she could get hers to do the same.