Page 25 of The Fix-Up

“I heard he’ll be around for the next six months. Gonna have to introduce myself to him.”

“We are not selling,” I said firmly, ignoring the sick feeling in my stomach. “You can stop asking. It’s not happening.”

Peter smiled. It was not a nice smile. “We’ll see.”

Whistling, he grabbed his muffin and sailed past Iris to the door.

She shivered. “Did anyone else feel that chill? It was like a sheet of ice passed right in front of me. Mama says that’s what it feels like when a demon passes by.”

“Shut up, Iris,” he growled.

“Oh, Peter. I didn’t see you there.” She smiled sweetly.

He muttered something about evil waitresses before the door shut behind him.

The morning melted away quickly. The café filled up, a few people passing through from Houston. The group of old men from town who practically made their home at the Sit-n-Eat huddled around two tables where they’d nurse a cup of coffee for two hours. Sometimes they brought out a chess board to keep them busy. They took up space for other paying customers, but they also liked to give Iris a hard time and that was worth it.

It was eleven o’clock before the anxiety started to kick in. Anytime now, Gilbert Dalton would be here. In Two Harts. For the next six months.

“Miss Ellie, Miss Ellie,” a voice called about three seconds before a pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist. “I missed you.”

“Girl, I missed you, too.” I smiled down at Annie Littlefoot. Annie was in her thirties. Short and stout with bright-red hair and the biggest smile around, she’d never met a stranger. She also had Down syndrome.

Her face split into a wide, devilish grin. “I have a boyfriend now.”

“Annie, he’s not your boyfriend,” her father, Malcolm, said, coming up behind her. Once upon a time, Malcolm had been a writing professor before retiring to Two Harts where he’d grown up. Before that, Annie had lived at home but when her mother passed away, she’d moved to a group home.

It had been a hard transition from what I could tell. Annie had changed homes three times over the last two years but seemed to have settled into the one she was at now. Still, she was over two hours away. Although he had turned eighty last year, Malcolm made that trek every week so Annie could come home for the weekend.

“Hi, Ellie,” Malcom said.

Annie crossed her arms and glared at her father. “Yes, he is. He took me on a date. We went bowling.”

“Honey, he works there. It’s his job to take you bowling.”

“Whatever, Dad.” Annie plopped into the booth at their regular table.

“I’m too old for this,” Malcolm said quietly so only I could hear. “She needs her mother for this.”

I patted his shoulder. “You’re doing great.”

“Sure wish she were closer,” he said. “That drive through Houston is enough to give me a heart attack.”

I took their order, got a smile out of Annie, and did a round with the coffee pot. Just as their order was ready, my phone vibrated with a message. I pulled it from my back pocket and stared down at the notification from a number I didn’t recognize.

“You okay?” Malcolm asked when I set his chorizo and cheese breakfast burritos in front of him.

“Totally okay. The okay-iest of okays.”

Malcolm hummed. “If you say so.”

“I do. Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

My phone vibrated again. I marched back to the kitchen and opened my messages.

UNKNOWN NUMBER:Hello.

ME:Who is this?

---