Chapter 27
N ora
The day is crazy. The snowstorm shut down a lot of local businesses because no one needs to buy insurance during a blizzard, so naturally everyone goes out to get coffee and food.
The diner is busy—I don’t think we’ve had an open table since seven thirty, which is incredible for business but bad for my staff.
Karina and Letty are ready to bite someone’s head off after another complaint about coffee not being black enough, Roman is ready to throw knives if someone tells him the runny eggs are not runny enough, and I’m ready to throw snowballs at everyone so they finally go home to their families.
Because I need to go home to mine—Grams’s waiting for me at home.
She’s been there alone the whole day. I called her a few times to check on her and offer her a ride to Cheryl’s because her place is around the corner from the diner, and it’s easier to check on her, but she refused, saying she’s bingeing a new show and wants to be left alone.
Cheryl did drive to the house to deliver her a hot meal from the diner and check on her just to be sure, but everything looked fine. So I’m leaving her be.
The snow has been going strong, and the plow trucks have been working relentlessly. Every time I hear a plow scraping the road, my head shoots up to see if it’s Jericho. And every time it’s been hard to tell.
Every time the door chimes, my gaze darts toward it in hopes it’s Jericho taking me up on my offer of having a hot lunch on the house.
But he never comes.
My mood gradually plummets. Is it because I’m tired or my expectations of the day haven’t been met? I’m not sure. The only thing I do know is that by seven p.m. the hope has died out, and my eyes have stopped jumping to the door with every new customer walking in.
No one has noticed my specifically sour mood because everyone has the same, so we all blend in.
“Why is everyone still here?” Karina complains, planting her butt on a free chair at the counter. “Don’t they have shit to do at home?”
“What shit?” I say. “It’s snowing in Big Love. Everything’s closed.”
“I don’t know.” She throws her hand in the air and hides her face on her shoulder. “Go home and have sex. Get busy.”
“Are you talking about Miss Lenny?” I laugh, glancing at the lady’s direction who’s currently standing next to the table of a man half her age.
Karina snorts. “That woman gets more action than I do.”
I glance at the local legend, and sure thing, she’s already sitting down at the guy’s table, who looks a little petrified, with her hand on his shoulder. I consider if I should go and save him but then decide against it—we could use some entertainment tonight, in whichever form it comes in .
“What should the rest of us do?” I ask, starting another pot of extra black coffee per someone’s request.
She looks at me like I’m an idiot. “Still go home and have sex. Get into that magic drawer of yours and get your partner out.”
My cheeks heat up. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She tsks. “P-please. Everyone has one.”
At eight p.m. my eyes start twitching. And they nearly fall out of their sockets when a woman enters and approaches the available space at the counter.
I’ve seen her around town, but she usually doesn’t come here, preferring Dick’s new place.
I heard she moved here a couple of years ago and works in city hall and that she’s not the locals’ favorite.
I’ve never encountered her because we move in different circles, but it’s odd that we’ve never actually talked.
Roman is usually the person who goes to city hall if we need anything since he has a buddy who works there, and when I see her in the grocery store, she’s usually talking on the phone, ignoring people around her.
She has a reputation of being a rather unpleasant person who hangs out with Dick sometimes, but what’s nagging me about her is her sleek, dark bob and the way she carries herself.
I’ve seen that before. At Jericho’s doorstep and then through the window when I was peeping at her walking around his place like she owned it.
I have no idea why I didn’t recognize her.
Of course, it was dark out, and I saw her only from her back the whole time, but it’s hard to misplace that short, sleek bob.
So Dick’s friend is Jericho’s girlfriend .
She wipes the stool before lowering her ass in silky pants onto it and places her black leather purse on the counter, then her attention focuses solely on me.
“Hi. What can I get you?” I start in the friendliest tone I can muster .
She doesn’t say anything but keeps watching me with narrowing eyes. At some point, they turn into tiny slits, making her suddenly look older.
“Nora, right?” Her voice is sweet like poisoned honey.
Shit, does she know I kissed Jericho? Are they a couple? Am I in trouble?
Those are the first thoughts that run through my mind.
But only for a second. Then I recall who I’m talking about and instantly change my narrative.
Jericho, a man who cleared the snow from my doorsteps so my grandmother wouldn’t slip.
The very same man who told me to follow him so he could clear the road before me. The man who protected me from Dick.
No, this is not the man who would be doing the cheating or putting me or his girlfriend (if he had one) into this kind of situation. Fueled by this new resolve, I square my shoulders.
“Yes, Nora. Welcome to Moons’. Can I get you a cup of coffee?”
Her nose scrunches as she looks around. “Do you know how to make a latte?”
I do. “I don’t,” I reply with a sad face. “Sorry.”
“Figures.” Her nose remains wrinkled and perched as if she sniffed something foul while her eyes keep flickering to the carnelian stone on a golden chain on my chest.
We have all sorts of coffee and a very fancy espresso machine because we get a lot of tourists, but it’s a small-town diner where the local regulars prefer drip coffee with an ungodly amount of caffeine.
I could make her a cup, but her attitude of a big-city-person-stuck-in-this-small-town stinks, so I’ll just play into the stereotype.
Not to mention, I still remember her face smooshed onto Jericho’s, so the only mixed coffee she’d get from me would be mixed with dirt.
“Get me whatever you have then.” She points her finger to the sink at my right. “But wash the cup. ”
“All our cups are clean.”
“Yeah,” she replies with a quick roll of her eyes. “Wash it anyway.”
I pointedly take the cup and rinse it with water before placing it in front of her. The desire to splash coffee into her face is strong, but then I remember my promise to Cheryl to not embarrass her anymore because she’d be the one to book me, so I disregard the idea.
Even though her cup is full, she doesn’t touch it. It sits right where I placed it while her gaze doesn’t move from my face. She knows something, I’m just unsure what exactly.
“Nora,” Karina comes to me, “I might need your assistance with table five. Can you take over? And I’ll help your guest.”
The woman’s head whips toward the voice, and before she says something nasty to set Karina off on her warpath, I give her a gentle shake of my head.
“I’ll help you in a few if you don’t mind.”
Karina’s gaze jumps between me and the woman. “Are you sure?” We both know she felt the tension in the air and came to my rescue.
“Yes. Thank you.”
She gives the woman a long stare before returning to the floor to already yelling customers while my ‘guest’ follows her with a narrowed stare.
“How are you liking your coffee?” I ask, totally aware that she hasn’t touched the cup.
Her face stretches with an evil but very sexy smile. I bet she uses it on a lot of men who fall to her feet. Is Jericho one of them?
“How are you liking this diner?” she asks back in a sweet voice.
“Love it. It’s a family business,” I reply with a neutral smile.
She glances around. “So I’ve heard.” Another evil smile plasters on her face before she focuses her attention back on me. “You’ve got a lot of violations in your family business.”
A sudden wave of panic steals my breath. I don’t know exactly what she does at city hall, but it very well could be something that could ruin the diner.
“My cousin was right,” she continues while running her watchful eyes over every single surface. “The place needs to be shut down. It’s not safe.”
“Your cousin?”
“Richard. You know him, right?” her smile turns into a self-satisfied one as if she just fulfilled her life-long goal.
Now I see where it’s all coming from.
She pushes the cup with her finger. “Anyway,” she starts with a tired sigh. “I might be able to overlook some of the violations. You know, for a favor.” Her eyes jump to me. “I’m still considered a newcomer in town and could use some friends.”
“You want to be my friend?” I ask, confused.
“Gosh no.” She laughs loudly as if the idea itself offends her. “But I need you to back off from your neighbor who I’m planning to make one.”
“Jericho?” This conversation has turned very bizarre.
“Yes. Him.” Now she’s watching me without blinking, not missing any emotions that might pass through my face with her request. And I do have a lot of emotions. A lot.
“Lady,” I start on a full lungful of air, “I don’t know who you think you are?—”
“A city inspector,” she replies with a sweet smile. “In fact, you’re on my schedule.” She pulls a notebook and pen from her bag and flips it open. “Let me see.” After another glance around, she starts scribing something on the paper. “I don’t see a fire extinguisher around here.”
“Over there.” I point at the kitchen.
“Well, it’s not enough. You need to have more.”
“How many more? ”
A corner of her lips rises up, making her look like a horror movie character. “More.” Another scribble in her notebook. “Inadequate kitchen sanitation.”
“We clean our kitchen just fine,” I say through pursed lips.
“We’ll see about that. Poor personal hygiene of the staff,” she continues.
“What the fuck is that?”
Her face turns to me. “Make your staff wash their hands properly.” Then she mumbles under her breath, “Damn hillbillies.”
Both my eyes start twitching. Along with my hands. My fingers itch to scratch her face and show her real hygiene. I couldn’t care less what she says about me—God knows I’m used to it—but I don’t let anyone run their mouths about the people that work with me. They’re my family.
“Listen here, lady,” I lean over the counter closer to her, “this place has been following all rules and codes since my grandmother founded it. If you bring a real inspector here, they’ll agree with that.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “But I am a real inspector, you see. And your inspection is way overdue.”
“So you’re blackmailing me?”
“Blackmail?” She laughs. “No. Simply trying to find common ground. Richard prefers I close this place, but I’m willing to compromise.”
So this is the core of it all. Damn Dick again. I can’t believe I was ever in love with him. Removing Moons’ as competition would open the way for his not very successful diner. Local folks don’t like new things very much, and his place, run by the jerk himself, must not be very profitable so far.
I push back from the counter. “And why is that?”
“I have my own agenda.”
“And what’s his agenda?”
“You’ll have to ask him.” She tsks like she doesn’t agree with whatever reasons he has .
“Nora, need a hand? With that coffee?” Karina’s voice forces me to shift my attention from the woman in front of me to the room where my best server is watching me with a concerned look on her face.
“Coffee’s good,” I assure her with a nod, but she doesn’t go back to serving customers. Instead, her eyes dart between me and our ‘guest.’
“You sure?”
“Positive,” I reply with a big smile even though I don’t feel cheerful at all.
Karina gives the woman another long stare. “Call me if you need help… with the pot.” She nods meaningfully at her, making me smile sincerely for the first time since our guest’s arrival.
With a quick nod to my loyal friend, I return my attention to my extorter.
“I didn’t know it was rocket science to brew a pot of coffee,” the woman says with a loud snark.
“It is for us hillbillies.” I shrug.
“No doubt,” she snickers. “Do we have a deal?”
“What deal?”
She rolls her eyes tiredly. “You stay away from Jericho, and I’ll keep Richard away from your diner.”
“Richard?” I ask with a raised brow. “I thought it was you who found all these violations.”
Her smile turns evil. “Do we have a deal or not?”
She looks like she has me right where she wants me.
Town officials can make anyone’s life a living hell, especially in small towns like ours where their jobs are passed down through generations.
The diner has been in our family since Grams founded it in nineteen sixty-five, and losing it over a man I barely know seems ridiculous.
I’m deciding between rolling over to show her my belly and pouring a pot of coffee over her head when the door chimes. Differently this time. The air changes, the light brightens, and clarity descends. Jericho’s large body barrels toward us, and my heart skips a few beats.
I’m not planning on losing my diner over a man.
I’m not planning on losing my diner, period.
I hate bullies, and that’s what she is. I was bullied enough when Dick dumped me, and it felt like the whole world decided to turn against me.
My old friends from school sided with him because he was a popular local superstar.
Now, when they’ve seen his true colors, they sing a different tune, but back then, I was cast out and couldn’t find my way back because I was young and devastated.
Plus, I was still figuring out how to live a life without my parents.
I’m different now. And the town is different. Nicer, kinder. There’s no place for the likes of her or Dick.