Page 38 of Gideon's Gratitude

“Great.” I rose and waited for Gideon to do the same. We made our way to the cash register. I yanked out my wallet.

Gideon attempted to do the same.

I glared.

He relented. “I have to go to the washroom. I’ll meet you out front.”

“Very well.”

A tall, rangy teenager rang in my order. “Card or cash?”

“Card.”

I was handed the terminal. I entered the tip amount manually—making it equal to the food price, then tapped my card.

“You want a receipt?”

“Of course.” I always took receipts. Most dinners could be billed as work expenses. Had this one been? We’d discussed divorces so, yes, probably I could get away with it. I’d consult my accountant. The woman had scruples.

The young man handed over the receipt, but not before glancing at it. His eyebrows shot up. “Uh, yeah, Sarabeth’ll thank you for that.”

“She was superb. I should tell the owner, but I’m in a hurry.”

The kid waved him off. “I’ll tell the boss. She isn’t here today anyway.”

“Well, I hope to return. The food was exceptional.”

Another eyebrow raise.

I waved the young man off and exited the diner.

The pink-halogen lamps cast an eerie glow on the parking lot.

I would’ve preferred to be doing this during the day, when I could properly inspect the vehicle, but allowances had to be made. I was getting a duplicate of the SUV I’d taken months to select. A perfect replica.

A man and a woman stood off to the side. The woman held a clipboard while the man held a flashlight.

“We’ll take you through an inspection,” the man began.

I waved him off. “I expect everything is in order.”

The woman nodded. “We’ve uploaded all the data from your old vehicle. This should be just like getting into that one.”

I certainly hoped so. I’d customized the display and various other things to suit me. Repeating that process would be both laborious and irritating.

The woman passed me the clipboard and, as the man held the flashlight, I signed all the paperwork.

She handed me a copy. “Your insurance has been transferred over. Everything is done. Is there anything else we can do for you?”

“Truly, I appreciate all you’ve done. You heading back to the island tonight?”

“No,” the man replied. “We’ve secured another car we’re picking up tomorrow morning. That way we don’t have to deadhead.”

“Well, glad that worked out.” I pointed over my shoulder. “Some of the best food I’ve had in a long time.”

The two employees exchanged glances, and the woman nodded. “Thank you. We’ll check it out.”

I extracted my wallet.

---