Chapter 18
LIZZY
Lizzy had experienced her fair share of breakups.
Even a few times with co-workers. And never had she felt this gutted.
They hadn’t even really been dating. Their romantic interactions could be counted on one hand and had spanned all of two weeks.
But she felt worse avoiding him than she did ending her multiyear relationship with Steven.
She and Victor had been dancing around one another for days.
Now it was three days before Halloween, and neither of them was saying out loud what they were both thinking. Time was almost up.
She’d come into work with the intent of extending an olive branch of sorts to Victor. But that’d fallen flat. They’d been friends once upon a time, but this whole inheritance thing could get messy if they couldn’t get along.
The bell on the diner door rang, and Lizzy plastered on a smile to greet her guests.
She offered the strangers menus and took their drink orders.
Seeing new people in town was a rarity. Most everyone who came through the restaurant she recognized by name and order.
But it was getting closer to Halloween, just a few days away, and it was normal to see an influx of new customers.
She delivered the first table’s drink orders and was starting to take their food order when two more groups came in. She’d never seen any of them before either.
“Sit anywhere you like. I’ll be right with you,” Lizzy chirped.
It was quite a rush, but it was exactly what she needed in that moment. A task to apply herself to and get her mind off the sexy reanimated man whose heart she’d broken, now sitting in the manager’s office.
Lizzy was still taking the third table’s drink orders when three more groups came in. It was nearly nine o’clock at night, way past the usual rush hour.
Vivianne was almost off but scurried to the front to seat the guests and fill the last remaining empty tables. There wasn’t a single regular in the diner, and Lizzy was hustling to tend to the tables. There was no time to think.
“Can you stay late?” she asked Vivianne as they passed one another at the server station.
“Yeah. I’ll stay. There’s two more groups waiting for tables.”
“Is this your doing?” Lizzy asked.
“I wish! I checked. None of our posts have gone viral or anything…”
Lizzy huffed a breath and peered into the kitchen, where a panicked Jason was struggling to keep up with the orders. The POS churned as a line of tickets rolled out of the printer.
“Where’s Victor? I can’t do this myself,” he said.
She hesitated for a moment. Victor hadn’t seemed happy to see her earlier, but she couldn’t let the tickets pile up and Jason suffer.
“I’ll get him,” Lizzy said.
She went into the back room and knocked on the door.
She heard a mumbled, “Come in.”
She slid into the room and found Victor sitting at the desk. He towered over it, and in his large hands was a folder with a realtor logo and smiling witches and shifters in front of suburban homes.
Seeing that, her stomach sank. He was planning on selling the diner? That was what she thought she wanted. She should be overjoyed. That was before she had known the people who worked here. Knew their stories and how much the diner meant to the community. They couldn’t sell the diner.
He noticed her and stuffed the folder under the next week’s schedule. “Did you need something?”
She recomposed herself. “Yeah. Ugh, Jason needs help. We got a crazy rush all the sudden.”
“Oh god, did Vivianne put out another coupon code or something?”
“I already asked her. It wasn’t her.”
He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
She nodded and considered asking him about the realtor folder when Vivianne came running in.
“Guys, I’m dying out here. The crowds are getting worse. Locals are showing up. There’s a twenty-minute wait!”
“Coming,” they said in unison, and both bolted into the crowded dining room. Every seat in the diner was full, including the counter. And the air was buzzing with excitement.
Lizzy delivered a milkshake to the young couple at the counter, and she asked, “What brings you all into town?”
“We were coming for the Pumpkin Festival in a few days and heard great reviews from a local woman about this place.”
“Well, we’re happy to have you.”
“Thanks!” The woman took a sip of her strawberry milkshake. “This is divine!”
“Glad you like it.”
Lizzy moved to the next table, dropping off baskets of fries. She asked a few more of her tables who were chattier and more excited. All their answers were the same. The diner had been recommended by a local woman they’d met while visiting.
Lizzy returned, baffled, to the server station, where Vivianne was punching in an order.
“They all say some local woman recommended this place to them,” Lizzy said.
“Don’t look at me. I would take the credit if it were me,” Vivianne said.
“But if not you, who?”
“Don’t give her the credit,” Gertrude said as she walked up to the server station with a big smirk on her face. “I heard the diner was struggling, so I put in a few good words with my friends.”
“Gertrude. Thanks for the recommendation,” one of the nearby tables said. “The food here is amazing. I’m gonna tell all my followers about it.”
“Me too. My blog will love it,” the person at her table agreed.
“Who are all these people?” Lizzy asked, mind swirling.
“Just a few witch food bloggers and witch influencers.”
“That’s a thing?” Lizzy asked.
“Oh yeah, their huge online,” Vivianne said, nodding as if it were a perfectly normal thing.
“Old Witch communities like Pumpkin Hollow are rare now. But there’s lots of young people who love to travel and experience them.
Oh my god, is that Sabrina Hex?” Vivianne gasped, pointing to the young woman who Lizzy had just served a milkshake to.
“I don’t know her,” Lizzy said.
“What? How could you not?”
Lizzy shrugged. She wasn’t on social media much. She was always busy working.
“She’s like one of the biggest witch food influencers. She’s taking pictures, oh my god. If she tells people she likes this place, we’ll have lines every weekend.”
Lizzy’s heart swooped at the thought.
“And you won’t have to sell the diner,” Gertrude said with a wink at Lizzy.
Lizzy looked at her. “I wasn’t?—”
“You did say that was your plan when you got here,” Vivianne reminded her.
Lizzy couldn’t argue. That had been her plan. But the longer she’d sat with her feelings, the less the money mattered.
When she thought about this place changing in any way, or having new owners, it made her chest clench. And there was Victor. He’d poured his life into this place. She couldn’t make him sell.
“Well, we won’t need to if this Sabrina Hex is as big as you claim,” Lizzy said.
“She’s huge,” Vivianne assured her before rushing off to help clear a table and prepare for the next group.
“You should be the one to deliver the good news to Victor,” Gertrude said, patting Lizzy’s arm before shuffling toward the door, smiling and chatting with a few of the customers on her way out.
Lizzy looked back to the kitchen and heard Victor shouting to Jason. An order for her table came up, and she went to the window. Their eyes met through it, and a shiver ran down her spine. He held her gaze for a minute, but he was the first to look away.
She’d ruined her chance with him. Though she wanted him still.
It was an undeniable fact. He was never far from her thoughts, even when she’d tried so hard to avoid him.
When she closed her eyes, she saw Victor’s smile, she felt the memory of Victor’s hands against her waist. This diner made him happy.
And if she didn’t give it up, he would lose the thing that mattered most to him.
Lizzy took the order to her table and worked through the rest of the rush without stopping for breaks. By the time the diner had cleared out, her feet were aching but she was feeling light. She loved chatting with people, loved the excitement of her work. She loved the diner.
All the tables were empty, and Vivianne was slumped at the counter, while Lizzy sat on the barstool next to her, rubbing her aching feet.
Victor came out of the kitchen, apron balled up in his hand.
“Now that it’s slowed, I’ll head home. Brayden needs me,” he muttered.
Lizzy stared at him, willing him to meet her gaze, but he wouldn’t look back at her. And instead, he walked out through the kitchen.
Lizzy slumped against her chair, defeated. Why she kept trying was a mystery.
“What are you two fighting about?” Vivianne asked. Lizzy felt the swirl of curiosity flowing off her.
“Who says we were fighting?” Lizzy said, keeping her tone neutral.
Vivianne tilted her head at Lizzy and rolled her eyes. “I’m not an idiot. He’s been moping around for a week, burning food, locking himself in the office, taking things apart. I know Victor. He’s upset.”
“It’s complicated.”
“And I’m not a toddler.”
Lizzy sighed and slid on her shoes once more. “I just broke up with my ex.”
“Are you still in love with him?”
“No.”
“Do you not like Victor back?”
“I do like him, a lot. But he can do better.”
She scoffed. “Don’t sell yourself short. You’re a catch.”
Lizzy shook her head. “I’m a mess.”
“As if Victor isn’t? I saw the guy remake a pancake three times in a row ’cause it wasn’t the right shade of golden-brown.”
Lizzy snorted. She could see Victor doing that. It was charming in its own way and also reminded her of what he’d said to her the day she’d ended things. That he wasn’t enough. She knew how much his perfect image meant to him. But she didn’t need perfection. She wasn’t sure what she needed at all.
“Why do you care?” Lizzy asked her.
Vivianne hesitated a moment and leaned back in her seat, holding onto the edge of the counter so she didn’t fall off the stool.
“I love this place. Have since I was a kid. My grandma used to bring me here every Sunday for pancakes. Frank always made me feel special. I applied here thinking it would be a temporary thing, just while I got my degree online. But I’ve had my diploma for almost a year, and yet I stay.
I tell myself it’s ’cause I’m getting my master’s, but really, I can’t let this place go. It’s got this magic pull, you know?”
Lizzy did know. She had been resisting its charm, but it was working its way under her skin, and the thought of leaving made her stomach churn.
“When I first got here, I felt pressured to keep up the family legacy,” Lizzy said. “And I stayed out of obligation.”
“But you’re not staying just for that anymore, are you?”
Lizzy exhaled. “No.”
“Is it for Victor?”
She hesitated to answer. She’d thought it was for him.
But it wasn’t merely Victor. It wasn’t for her dad either.
She wanted to see the diner thrive. She’d forgotten how much she loved this place until she’d come back.
It held memories, both good and painful.
She’d wanted to run away because she was afraid to confront the fact that she’d distanced herself from a father she’d thought didn’t love her.
But in his way, he’d been reaching out to her.
This diner had been his last attempt. Staying here wouldn’t be for his memory though, but for her.
Something she could build; something she was good at and could be proud of.
“Not for him either,” Lizzy said.
“Then, what are you going to do?” Vivianne asked.
“I don’t know.”
Vivianne scoffed again. “That’s a shitty answer. You know exactly what you want.”
Lizzy blinked at her for a moment. Vivianne gave her a look as if daring her to argue.
“I dunno if I’m brave enough,” Lizzy said to the countertop.
“If Victor rejects you, I’ll kick his ass myself. It’s obvious he’s head over heels for you.”
“You think?”
Vivianne gave her another withering look, and Lizzy laughed.
“Don’t let him get away. Or I’ll kick your ass too.” Vivianne paused. “Or I’ll push another discount out on our socials. Whatever’s worse.”
“Goddess forbid.”
She and Vivianne laughed, but by the end of her shift, she knew what she wanted.