Page 73 of Of Literature and Lattes
“That seems a little simple.” Seth raised a brow.
Father Luke laughed. It was loud and it felt good. “Almost everything is. We just complicate it.”
Chapter 32
Ryan had been back for two days and Jeremy was still smiling.
Not only that, within a single morning, the pillows had created a buzz. Jeremy felt it. He heard it. And in the few hours yesterday before he’d gone to Margery Williams’s service, he’d witnessed it. New and different customers came in, probably called by friends. They walked in Andante’s front door, looked around in surprise, and then stepped to the counter and ordered. They ordered drinks. They ordered Jill’s pastries. They came back for refills. They lingered at tables. Even the two old espresso machines must have sensed something different and good was happening, because they only soured one shot in seven rather than their usual one in three.
“Can we talk?”
That’s all Ryan had said in the alley two afternoons ago.
Jeremy had swallowed hard and bent to his daughter. “Bug, why don’t you drag these bags into the shop and spread the pillows all around while Ryan and I talk. Anywhere you want.”
Becca, without question, strong-armed the bags one by one toward the shop front.
“The middle school’s home economics teacher gave me all her orphaned pillows.” Jeremy flipped the light switch and gestured to Becca’s retreating form. “It’s a start.”
Ryan’s face revealed nothing.
“I’m sorry, man.” Jeremy dropped his keys on his desk and turned back to face Ryan. Some things needed to be said face-to-face.
“You said that, about thirty times.”
“It bears repeating. I’ll keep saying it, and showing you too, if you’ll come back to work here... Not for the work, that too, but because we started this together.” Jeremy twisted back to the desk. “Wait... Can I read you something?” He picked up a copy ofOfMice and Men. He’d bought his own copy the day after Ryan left. “I marked something in here. It reminded me... of us.”
He flipped through the pages until he found the dog-eared one, and read aloud. “‘Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no fambly. They don’t belong no place... With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to.’ I didn’t get it, back in Seattle or even here after we moved, but I do now. You’re as much ‘fambly’ as Becca is to me.”
“One book and you see me in a whole new light?”
“No. But it was never about you. You could say, one huge mistake, after a ton of little ones,plusone book, and I seemyselfin a new light.” He tapped the book against his palm. “And it didn’t teach me anything new. Steinbeck simply gets it, like you said. He wrote what I felt but couldn’t articulate, couldn’t recognize... I’ve been alone a long time, Ryan. You know that. You said yourself my daughter couldn’t pick me out of a lineup before we moved here, and even since then, you’re easier with her, with everyone, than I am.”
Jeremy set the book down and leaned against the desk again, bringing them eye to eye. “You saw the people where I only saw the place. Because for me, that was safest.” When Ryan said nothing, he continued. “And I pushed you, I pushed here, and... it’s going under. But I’m trying, man. For Becca, for you, if you’ll come back, and for me. I figure it’s worth fighting for as long as I can, but I can’t do it alone. Besides, alone it doesn’t have a whole lot of meaning to me anymore.”
Ryan looked around as if taking in the room anew. He shifted his focus back to Jeremy. “I’ll help.”
“You will?” Jeremy popped up. “I mean, that’s great. Thanks. Thanks for believing in me.”
“I didn’t say that.” Ryan pulled his head back. “But you had no reason to believe in me a couple years ago either. You gave me a chance.”
“Fair enough.” Jeremy stretched out his hand. “We start there.”
Ryan reached out quickly and his handshake was firm. Jeremy figured it wasn’t such a bad start after all.
Now, two days later, they threw open Andante’s door on a bright, clear Saturday Fourth of July morning and worked to caffeinate what felt like all of Winsome as the town gathered for its annual parade. Jeremy positioned himself behind the counter, and when he wasn’t pulling shots at a record pace, he sought out Ryan working among the tables. Jeremy felt a compulsion to make sure he was still there. Something about Ryan’s presence, Ryan’s belief in his ability to change, felt as needed and as fundamental as Becca’s trust.
Sure enough, Ryan was there every time he looked up—and working tirelessly situating customers, clearing tables, and even engaging in conversation when he had a chance.
Jeremy smiled. Both men were trying something new.
Chapter 33
Alyssa had waited seven months for the call, and when it finally came the Monday after the Fourth of July, it gave her less than three hours’ warning.
“Ten o’clock? This morning ten o’clock?”
“2111 Roosevelt Road, Chicago. Agent Barnes will meet you at the front desk.”
