by Jacie Floyd
“Wait up, Zach.” Hank stepped toward him and, just like that, it was too late to avoid the man’s questions. “How’s Jason doing? When I talked to Marcia earlier, she said he was hanging in there.”
Zach skimmed over the details he could discuss about Jason’s condition, while Harper continued further along the block to inspect the genuine barber pole outside Vic’s shop and then peer into the window of Favorites, the local gift store.
While they talked, Maggie Stemple pulled up and parked on the street. Breaking off his conversation with Hank, Zach got the stroller out of her trunk while she unstrapped John, Jr., from his car seat. Of course, she had to ask about Joey, Tommy, and Jason, too. Before her marriage, she’d lived down the road from Joey and Tommy and used to babysit for them when Vanessa had her Bunko night with the girls.
“Those tea sets are adorable.” Harper linked her arm with his as he finally rejoined her.
There she stood in her up-to-the-minute workout gear, high-tech exercise shoes, tote bag with some kind of designer logo on it, not to mention her expensive haircut, the epitome of a modern woman-on-the-go article in Cosmo, and she was looking at children’s tea sets? What was she doing? “Do you need a tea set?”
She actually appeared to think it over. “I can’t imagine why I would, but now I know where to get one.”
“Right, Granny Smith, that knowledge will come in handy. But about breakfast… were you saying you don’t eat pork?”
“No pork.” She shook her head. “No beef. No meat of any kind.”
“My God, you’re a vegetarian?” He missed a step and almost tripped on the curb. “This town’s going to love you. You do know this is farm country, right? And you came here to live? On purpose?”
“Of course.” She waved the observation away. “I’m looking forward to the farmer’s markets, all the fresh, homegrown vegetables, corn, tomatoes, and whatever else they grow here.”
“Saying you came to farm country to eat farm-fresh vegetables is like someone saying they’re visiting Iceland because they like ice.”
“You don’t have fresh vegetables here?”
“Sure, but there’s more to it than that.” He rubbed the back of his neck where tension pulled like a vise. “The farmers around Sunnyside grow the best corn, tomatoes, and green beans you’ll ever eat, but they also raise pigs, cows. and chickens. It’s kind of a symbiotic relationship, hard to separate the two.”
“You said you sometimes get paid in produce.”
“Yes, but at Dad’s sixtieth birthday party this weekend, we roasted a pig Pete Latham gave me for removing his wife’s gall balder last spring. I take what they can give and say thank you. The payment is just as likely to be a side of beef as a bushel of corn.”
“Fine, I understand other people eat meat. What does that have to do with me?”
Vegetarian. He’d never considered that. Not like she was a terrorist or anything. He was fine with it, really. He’d known some vegetarians when he went to Northwestern, but her dietary preferences wouldn’t win many friends in Sunnyside. And they weren’t predisposed to be enamored with her in the first place. If he didn’t count his own self. He was enamored with her plenty. He hadn’t had two spare minutes to think all night, but when he had, his thoughts had been all about her.
Chapter Six
Zach loved the people of his hometown, but they didn’t tend to embrace anything outside their own experience. If they gave Harper a chance, they’d eventually accept her. But once they heard she was vegetarian, they’d look at her like a cow with two heads. And he wouldn’t be here long enough to protect her. All he could do now was warn her that Sunnyside would find her diet unacceptable.
“Harper, listen. The people here grow, cook, serve, and eat meat. All the people.”
“All the people except me,” she said cheerfully. “Why would anyone care what I eat?”
“Trust me on this. They’ll care.”
“Aren’t there any other vegetarians in Sunnyside?”
“None that I know of.”
“Then I’m the first. That makes me interesting. And special.”
“Oh, yeah. That interesting specialness will make you real well received.” He paused before opening the door to the diner. The sign on the door read: Sunnyside Up!—Home of the World Famous Breakfast Bowl—Come On In, Y’all. Beneath the folksy invitation, a faded and peeling decal proclaimed Mabel Johnson, Proprietor. “You sure you want to eat here? Just breathing the air permeated with all those breakfast meats could clog your arteries.”
The way she couldn’t quite refrain from rolling her eyes at him showed how lightly she took his advice. He’d do what he could to smooth things over for her, but he couldn’t make it his life’s work to accompany her to all her meals over the next two years. Hell, he wouldn’t even be here a few months from now.
“It’s a personal preference,” she said, “not a mandate for the world—although it would be beneficial if more people embraced the idea. I’m familiar with the concept of people eating meat, you know. I didn’t realize vegetarianism would be a big deal for you.”
“It’s not a big deal for me.” He’d done his best to warn her. “But it might be for you.”
“I’ll manage.” She reached around him and pulled open the door.
All the usual suspects were gathered in their regular spots. Everyone looked up and waved or called out greetings to him, just as they did every day. Because of the accident last night and his effort to put the boys back together, there were even some cheers and a smattering of applause. But that was just the town’s way of showing appreciation for everything he tried to do for them. Even though he was the one who should feel grateful. He waved the greeting aside, more embarrassed by it than usual because of Harper’s wide-eyed reaction.
As was her custom, Lenore hustled out from behind the counter to seat Zach personally.
“You want a table by the window this morning, hon?” She steered him toward one, like she always did.
But Harper didn’t need to be put on display. And the fewer people who knew he was here, the better. Already there had been more questions about the car wreck than he wanted to field. Lenore, in particular, never respected his professional boundaries.
“No, thanks. We’ll take this booth.” He led the new librarian toward the back.
Harper gazed around and took in the ambiance. Everything about The Sunnyside Up! screamed authentic Fifties diner with its black-and-white-tile floors and vinyl stools at a long counter holding the requisite pastry stand filled with pies. He couldn’t wait to hear her impressions about the place.
Instead of speaking up immediately, she waited until Lenore moved away to grab water for both of them.
“Wow,” Harper said in a whisper, “if she genuflects when she approaches you, I’m calling for an exorcism.”
His lips turned up in a reluctant smile. “I wouldn’t recommend it. She’s a Baptist.”
“Do they think you walk on water?”
“They’re all too aware that I don’t.” He shook his head ruefully. “But they like me anyway.”
“There’s like and then there’s like, buddy. This is more like adoration. Or worship.”
“It’s nothing like that.” The observation made him twitch.
He wasn’t surprised to learn that when a seriously gorgeous woman who looked insubstantial enough to blow away in a high wind chose to snort in derision, she could do it delicately under her sweet breath. Or that’s how he’d describe the sound she made.
Lenore returned, placing Zach’s glass in front of him ever so carefully and sloshing Harper’s across the table. The waitress pulled a pencil from her bun and an order book from her apron. “Heard you had a rough night, Zach.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“You sure have, hon.” She patted his shoulder. “Teenage boys are crazy, all right. When will they learn not to drink and drive? How’re those three rascals doing?”
“Holding steady.”
“You tell Marcia and Vanessa I’ll send some lunch up to the waiting room around noon. Have somebody call to let me know how many people are there.”
“You’ve got a good heart, Lenore.” He loved the way the town pulled together in an emergency. “I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.”
“Least I can do for family. Marcia’s mother was my second or third cousin, you know, and Marcia worked here awhile when she was in high school. Now, what’ll you have, hon? And don’t say ‘just coffee’ ‘cause that won’t get you through the day.”
“The number seven.”
“That’ll stick to your ribs like glue.” Lenore nodded in approval but had been sneaking peeks at Harper out of the corner of her eye the whole time. “And what about your friend?”
Zach studied Harper, trying to imagine what she might find acceptable, hoping she didn’t make a fuss when she realized the limited choices. “Lenore, meet Harper Simmons, our new librarian. Since this is her first time at the diner, she’ll need a menu.”
“A menu?” Lenore repeated the word like he’d asked her to donate a kidney. She turned her head toward the counter. “Toss me one of those menus, will you, Julie? The new librarian doesn’t know what she wants.”
While Harper checked out the mostly-carnivorous choices, her cholesterol level probably zoomed into the stratosphere. Meanwhile, Zach chatted with the waitress. “You’ll probably be seeing a lot of Harper since the library’s just down the block. Harper, this is Lenore Murphy, the owner of the diner.”
Harper looked up and smiled. “Lenore, not Mabel?”
“Nope.” Lenore crossed her arms over the front of her pink uniform.
“Then why does the door say Mabel Johnson’s the proprietor? There’s got to be a story there somewhere.”
“Mabel was my sister, but she ran off twenty years ago with a truck driver from Montana. Died in Nevada a few years after that. I bought the diner from her, but kept the sign on the door and the menu just the same as she left ‘em. People around here don’t like change all that much.”
Harper liked the woman’s quirkiness. “No point in changing a good thing, is there?”
“Exactly.” Lenore pursed her lips, probably at the sour taste left behind from having to agree with the newcomer. “You know what you want yet?”
“An egg-white omelet with tomatoes, mushrooms, and avocado.”
Lenore tipped her chin down and scowled at Harper. “Is that on the menu?”
“No.”
“Then you can’t get that.”
Harper cleared her throat before giving her order another shot. “Then, how about the number five with toast instead of a bis—?”
Lenore held up her hand. “Everybody knows we took the Number Five off the menu two years ago.”
“Do you scramble the eggs on the same griddle where the bacon and sausage are fried?”
“Goes without sayin’.”
Harper closed the menu with a sigh. Lenore’s quirkiness was quickly becoming less likable. “I’ll have granola with skim milk and a fruit cup.”
“All righty, but that’s not a meal.” Lenore stuck her pencil behind her ear. “I’ll have to charge you for two sides and a drink.”
The woman clearly didn’t know anything about winning over new customers, but then, she probably didn’t get that many. The Sunnyside residents were a captive audience and the bulk of her business. “No problem.”
“Coffee? Juice?”
“Is the orange juice fresh-squeezed?”
“No.”
“Then I’ll have apple juice.” She waited until Lenore walked away to raise her eyebrows at Zach.
“She’s not always like that,” Zach said.
Harper pursed her lips and eyed him skeptically. She didn’t want to call him a liar, but she doubted if Lenore would ever be named Merchant-of-the-Month.
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Okay, she is, but she means well. And she grows on you. After a while. A long while.”
“And that’s another not-so-warm welcome for me from a Sunnyside native,” Harper murmured. “If I were keeping track, I’d say I’m up to eight people now who wish they’d never met me.”
“I hope I’m not on that list,” Zach teased, but Harper took his comment seriously.
“Seven negatives and one solidly in the definite-maybe column.”
“Definite-maybe, leaning toward growing-on-me.”
“Ah, there’s hope for me yet. I remain undaunted.”
“Things will get better. I promise.” He squeezed her hand in an encouraging gesture just as Lenore returned and thunked their coffee and juice on the table.
“Does Kate know you’re out with the new librarian?” she asked Zach.
“We saw her at Rachel’s before we came here.”
Lenore sniffed. “I guess she doesn’t mind then.”
“I guess she doesn’t.” He looked Lenore square in the eye and repeated his usual refrain. “You know Kate and I are just friends.”
“That’s what you both say, but that’s not what it looks like to the rest of us.”
He huffed a short sigh. “I know what you think it looks like.”
“We’ll just wait and see what happens.”
“You’ve been waiting a long time,” he reminded her.
“Not that long. Remember that girl you were engaged to from Chicago when you were in medical school up there? She wasn’t right for you. We all knew that. It wasn’t until you broke up with her that you and Kate got serious.”
“We’re not serious.” Awhile back he and Kate had started letting everyone believe they were dating to keep townspeople from constantly trying to fix them up with everyone else. But now the fiction had gone on too long. No matter how often he denied the relationship between them, the locals expected them to get married.
“Right,” Lenore said before marching off.
Harper had watched the exchange in awe.
“I tried to warn you about the town getting into everybody’s business.”
“You weren’t kidding.” She put her straw in her glass. “But what was that about? The people of this town think you and Kate are a couple?”
“And you don’t?”
“Not be my place to say so, but no.”
He cocked his head with curiosity, waiting to hear her logic. “They know us better than you do.”
She gave him a long look from under her lashes. “I would say you most definitely are not her type.”
“Based on what? Wishful thinking?”
“Dream on,” Harper scoffed. “But, why do they think you’re, what? Seeing one another? Dating? Sleeping together?”
“We’ve been friends a long time, we’re about the same age, and we go to a lot of events together. Most people think that means we’re dating.”
“But you’re not.”
Stirring cream into his coffee, he ignored her disbelief. “It’s complicated.”
Harper shrugged. “Everything in this townies complicated.”
“More than you know.” Zach reached for his phone as it buzzed in his pocket. “I’ll be right back to make our plans for this morning.”
By the time Zach had gotten updated on his patients and returned to the booth, Lenore was depositing their food on the table. He stopped her before she marched off. “Have you heard about anything unusual going on over at the library?”
The woman tucked the tray under her arm and mulled over the question. She flicked her gaze Harper’s way. “Going on how? When?”
“It’d have to be at night, I guess. It looks like there have been some night visitors and some vandalism. Maybe just random kids, maybe something more... organized.”
“Local kids?” Lenore puffed up like a blowfish. “I don’t believe it.”
“I thought if there were any rumors, you might’ve heard. You know how everybody comes in here sooner or later, and some people think the booths are soundproof. If you think of anything that might have seemed
out of the ordinary, let Jimbo know, okay?”
The diner owner nodded and moved away wearing a thoughtful expression. Harper forked up a bite of melon from her fruit plate and nearly groaned when the flavor exploded in her mouth, fresh and sweet. Along with the homemade granola, things were starting to look up.
And even though she found the meat products on Zach’s plate disgusting, the sausage, scrambled eggs, and home fries were piled high with golden biscuits covered in gravy. Not what she would like, but she could see why it suited Zach.
His fork made inroads in the mountain of food as he explained he’d briefed Jimbo on the library situation the night before. If he hadn’t already been by to take a look at the damage, he’d be along shortly. Zach had put out a call for volunteers, so they should have plenty of hands on deck by the time they finished their meal.
Harper reported that Andrew Berkman had been notified and authorized her to get the cleanup underway. As soon as she received estimates from reputable sources, he’d authorize the funds for renovations.
Anxious to get to the library and see the damage in the light of day, they didn’t linger. When they prepared to leave, Lenore scooted right over to drop off the check. Zach reached for it, but Harper got to it first.
Shrugging, he let her have it, saying to Lenore, “If you know of anybody who needs work, tell them we’ll be doing some cleanup and maintenance at the library for the next few days and they should come by. It’ll be volunteer, at first, but it might turn into more.”
“If you put out a call like that, half the town will show up.”
“We’ll put anybody to work who isn’t drunk or high. Spread the word.”
When Harper turned her attention to the check, she was puzzled. Her food was itemized, but that was all. Zach threw a couple of bucks on the table before stepping outside to take another phone call while she moved over to the counter to pay.
“What? You eat free?” She joined him outside, and they started down the sidewalk.
“Not always. Not exactly.” He looked adorable when embarrassed. “It’s just that Lenore considers feeding me part of my salary.”