Page 35 of Meant for Me
Cade
Yeah, we need the real story, not the Magnolia Bay telephone game version
Noah
See you ALL at 7 p.m.
Yeah, maybe. If he could get away. He paused. Would Amelia want to go with him? Not that they were exactly to the point of father-daughter fishing dates yet. He had to admit, the idea didn’t sound awful. He had a lot of time to make up for.
Assuming she’d let him.
“Elisa is going to kill me.” Zoey dropped onto the bench seat beside Linc, her wrist brushing his arm.
He grabbed for a napkin from the holder by the window. “Why are you sticky?” His first full day as a parent, and he couldn’t avoid the stickiness—and it wasn’t even from his kid.
His kid. So weird.
Zoey leaned past him for more napkins. Her long hair grazed his arm, and that balmy, fresh soap scent wafted up. “Syrup.”
He took a deep breath of her, then caught himself. Frowned instead. “You already ate?”
“Just a pity waffle.” Zoey craned her neck to look around the diner. “Oh no. Here she comes.”
He tried to follow her gaze. “Who?”
Elisa appeared at the booth, wearing an apron, her fingers pressed against her lips. “I can’t believe you did that.”
“Are you mad?” Zoey winced. “I panicked. I was just trying to get the attention off”—she glanced at Linc, then back to Elisa—“you know. Everyone else.”
Amelia started walking back from the bathroom, her head down, arms crossed. Linc held his breath, waiting. Would people start to—nope, they were all still locked in discussions, the wordsmayorandcampaignfloating around the room. He breathed a little easier.
“Mad?” Elisa snorted. “I’m ecstatic. I’ve been trying to convince Noah to run for weeks—now he has to.” She grinned. “Granted,hemight be mad.”
Zoey waved one hand in the air. “I can handle that. Not afraid of his flannel.”
Amelia slid into the booth opposite them, braced her chin in her hands.
“What can I get you, sugar?” Elisa slipped into waitress mode and pulled a pad of paper from her apron pocket.
“Fries.” Amelia scowled, dark brows furrowing. Linc blinked. Was like looking in a mirror.
“What about hash browns instead?” Elisa tilted her head. “We don’t serve fries until eleven.”
Amelia sighed long and loud, as if she’d been asked to clean the diner’s floor on her hands and knees. With a toothbrush. “Whatever.”
Linc opened his mouth to intervene with the attitude, but Elisa interrupted as she swung her gaze to him. “Let me guess—you want bacon?”
“You’ve seenParks and Rec, right?” Zoey piped up before he could answer. Apparently he didn’t even need to speak at this breakfast. All the women were doing it for him. “Bring enough for Ron Swanson.”
Well, that was helpful, at least.
“Got it.” Elisa flashed them a smile. “Be right back with coffees.”
Now it was his turn. “Hey.” Linc tapped the table in front of Amelia, who had started doodling on a napkin as Elisa bustled away. “You don’t have to be rude.”
Beside him, Zoey shot him a double-take, and okay, yeah. He could take his own advice sometimes. But this was parenting.
This was different.
