Page 10 of Spiritwarrior

“Was everything all right with your meal?” she asked him stiltedly, giving him the check.

“Yes.” Lying, he took out his wallet. Pulling out the necessary cash, he handed the bills to her. “Keep the change.”

“Thank you. Come again.”

After the words left her mouth, her face turned bright red before she practically ran through the door to the kitchen to disappear.

He didn’t have to wonder what had embarrassed the woman. It had been plain she had heard Baylin’s remark.

Gritting his teeth, he jerked the door open. He couldn’t have made a worse first impression if he’d tried. Thank goodness the waitress wasn’t meant for him. Baylin had made him look like a dirtbag.

Well, Jody thought fatalistically, at least he had a year for the gossip to die down. The diner had been the hotbed of gossip before the last owner had taken it over. At least the current owner seemed more hospitable than Marty had been. Whoever they were, at least they allowed the customers to eat inside.

Pulling out onto the main road in Treepoint, he braked at the red stop light. Jody drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He saw only one slight problem—his reaction to Rowyn.Looking back, he was sure his reaction hadn’t been as intense as he remembered it.

Shifting on the bench seat, he put the truck in gear when the light turned green. Who was he kidding? He was lusting after a woman when he shouldn’t have after the night he had spent with Baylin. That in itself was a warning he needed to stay away from the waitress. The only one he wanted that reaction from was his soul mate.

Was that what Silas had been attempting to warn him about? If so, Silas should have given him a stronger warning other than to be careful that he was treading on thin ice.

It might be too late, but he was going to give the town a wide berth until his soul mate came to town.

As he drove up the mountain road toward his family’s land, the sun was beginning to come up. When he passed The Last Riders’ clubhouse, he saw there were already lights on and the members crossing the parking lot to head to the factory.

Three miles ahead, he put on his blinker, even though no one was on the road. The curvy road could be dangerous if someone wasn’t paying attention to their speed. Making the turn into his family’s driveway, he looked to the side of the yard and saw Silas and Fynn watching the sky where the last of the stars were making way for the sun’s arrival.

A cold chill ran down his spine. His younger brother was in his pajamas instead of being inside, getting ready for school.

Jody could think of only one reason that Silas wouldn’t have Fynn inside, getting ready, and that was if they needed to read the stars. Something had happened.

And with a clench of dread, Jody was afraid to find out what it was.

Chapter Four

“You need something?”

Sophie looked at the new cook she had hired blankly. She had never been so mortified in her whole life, and she’d experienced some standout embarrassing moments.

“No, I was going …” Since she was standing next to the refrigerator, she opened the door. “I wanted to get more creamer,” she invented the excuse quickly.

“I told you business would pick up once everyone saw the diner was open again,” George wheezed out.

“Yes, you did.”

Three customers weren’t going to keep the lights on, but hopefully, as more people in town heard the diner was reopened, business would improve.

She took the box of creamers from the refrigerator and went back through the swinging door. After placing the creamers in the small refrigerator under the coffee station, she picked up the coffee pot to refill her customers’ cups.

“Ready to order?”

The elderly man ordered a breakfast sampler.

Sophie inwardly groaned. She really needed to redo the menus she had found from the previous restaurant. The different foods offered on the breakfast sampler were just more chances for the cook to fail. She had meant to create a new menu last night, but she had been so tired by the time she made it back to her apartment that she decided washing her clothes was more of a priority.

At least the second day of opening the restaurant was going smoother than yesterday.

The opening had been a disaster from beginning to end. George, who she had hired after placing an ad in the town’s newspaper for a cook, was just getting used to going back to work, she told herself. It wasn’t like she had much choice in hiring him, since George had been the only person who applied. When he told her that he used to work at the diner before Marty bought it, she had hired him immediately. That was her first mistake. She should have tested his cooking skills.

The mistake had become apparent when she’d started getting complaints about the food from the few customers she served yesterday. Undercooked bacon, burnt biscuits, and what George had done to the meatloaf to make it taste so bad was a mystery she never wanted to solve.

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