Page 7 of Hello Handsome
“He proposed after she graduated. They were just so young...” Deidre pierced her fork through the soft cinnamon roll and dragged a piece away. When she lifted it to her lips, she moaned. “So good. And so bad.”
I chuckled at the comment. We were both bigger women, so I felt comfortable saying, “Those skinny girls don’t know what they’re missing.”
Deidre chuckled and wiped her mouth with a paper napkin. “Amen.”
I took a sip of my coffee.
“What about you?” she asked. “Now that Enzo’s graduated, have you thought about what’s next for you?”
I twisted my lips into a wry smile and gestured at the diner. “This, I guess. Isabella wants me to move to Dallas to be a little closer while she’s in college, but I love it here. Cottonwood Falls, Woody’s Diner–it’s home. I can still remember the kids playing hopscotch on the black and white tiles when I couldn’t find a sitter.”
Deidre smiled in an understanding way only another mother could. “What about dating? Has anyone caught your eye?”
My cheeks instantly felt hot because I’d been thinking of dating more and more these days. Too bad the man I was interested in hadn’t made a move in over a decade. “I’m not sure,” I hedged, taking a sip of my coffee.
“Plenty of handsome men in this town...” She named off a few who didn’t catch my interest at all and then added, “Gray Madigan.”
I nearly choked. I had to take another sip to get the coffee stuck in my throat to go down.
“He is a bit older than you,” Deidre said, a sparkle in her eye. “Although I don’t think that’s a big deal. Plenty of women like the George Clooney thing he has going.”
“He’s a great friend,” I settled on saying while feeling irrationally angry at the nameless, faceless women she mentioned. Then the bell over the door rang.
Saved by the bell.
I glanced up to see an older man with a cane holding the door open for his wife.
“I’ll be right there,” I said, hurrying over to help them inside.
But even as I got them settled into a booth near the door and took their order, I couldn’t get Deidre’s words off my mind.
She and her husband were close friends with Gray. Was there a reason she’d added his name to the list of potential dates? Orwas it just idle, midday chitchat? It was hard to tell, especially with my thoughts all frazzled.
I got the couple a glass of tea along with a spare empty glass since they were “sharing” and went outside to tell the cook and cashier they needed to end their thirty-minute smoke break. Ignoring their grumbles, I came back in to see Deidre finishing up her cinnamon roll.
“Can I get you a refill on coffee?” I asked her, already reaching for the pot.
“One to-go would be great,” she said. “Actually, make it three. I’ll bring one to Maggie at the salon and Fletcher at the doctor’s office while I’m in town.”
“Sweet mama-in-law,” I told her with a smile and reached for some extra to-go cups. I loved how she cared for her children’s partners as much as her own children.
“Gotta stay in their good graces.” She winked, standing up from her chair and hooking her purse over her elbow. “Especially with grandbabies in the picture.”
Max shuffled inside through the back door, reminding me of his dad at that age. Deidre met him at the register, and I busied myself refilling condiment bottles, trying not to think of Gray Madigan.
Something that proved futile when I saw his pickup pull into the parking lot. I watched through the window as he got out, all long, strong legs, chiseled jaw, and perfect gray hair under his cream-colored cowboy hat.
When he caught me staring, he sent me a smile that felt as warm as the coffee I’d had earlier.
Maybe Deidre was on to something.
Was there any chance that Gray agreed?
4
GRAY
It had beenover thirty years since I’d asked a woman on a date. Even so, I remembered it like yesterday.
