Page 22 of Surprised By Love

I swear my cheeks flush and my cheeks never flush. What the hell! I look up at Bea, and she winks at me before walking away. She actually winks at me.

I do my best to calm myself before Sam returns with my coffee. I feel my heart rate slow and my breaths are more even when I look up and see Sam walking towards me with a cup in one hand and the coffee pot in the other.

She places the cup down and tips the pot, filling it to the brim.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She beams, her straight white teeth making an appearance. She has a beautiful smile and the more I see it, the more I want to see it.

I look around the diner. There’s not many people here yet. “Pretty slow start to the morning?” I pick up my coffee and take a sip, savouring the delicious dark roast flavour.

“Yeah, it’s been slow, but I’m sure it will pick up soon.”

“Seems like you’re getting a hang of the diner pretty quick,” I say, wanting to continue the conversation.

She looks around and then takes a seat on the other side; her legs bent over the outside of the bench. “Vicki was right. It’s like riding a bike. Didn’t take me long to get back in the swing of it. Honestly, though, I’d rather be in the kitchen baking, but I got it all done early this morning.” She pauses for a second, then gets back up. “Speaking of, let me grab you your muffin. Be right back.”

Sam is back a minute later with my muffin. She puts the plate down in front of me and places a pad of butter beside it.

“Thank you,” I say, taking the knife out of the napkin pouch.

The bell on the door goes off and a couple takes a seat on this side of the diner. “Oh, looks like I have customers. Enjoy your muffin. I hope you like it.” She smiles as she pulls her notepad out of her apron pouch and walks over to the new customers.

I watch her for a few minutes, admiring how friendly she is to every customer. Her laughter rings through the diner and it’s a welcoming sound. She is genuinely a nice person and that is such a breath of fresh air compared to some women I’ve met lately.

My mind wanders back to the past couple of days. The conversations I have with Sam every morning are getting easier and easier. I don’t know if she’s getting used to the small town again or if it’s me, but I’m not complaining. I enjoy these few moments with her. Just because I can’t date her doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. Right?

Chapter Nine

Sam

Theweekhasflownby and I’m getting settled in. I work early mornings at the diner so I can bake there, instead of carting the goods from home. Vicki stays here and gets Amelia ready for school. Once she drops her off, she heads to the diner in time for the morning rush.

There is someone I can’t seem to escape, though. Josh. He is at the diner every morning at eight for his coffee and muffin or cupcake. My cranberry muffins and carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese icing seem to be his favourites. He’s not as grumpy as he was the first few days he showed up. I had heard his gramma scolded him outside the diner the day he stormed out.

I can’t get him out of my head though and believe me, I’ve tried. Although I’m not ready to date, my sisters are determined it’s time.

They set up a date for me, for next week. If I have to admit, I’m a little excited and a little terrified. I haven’t been on a date since I was sixteen. Well, I went on dates with Derek, but no one since him.

I close my eyes quickly when I hear my door opening. The bed dips beside me, as little hands cover my stomach, pulling herself up. Amelia bounces up and down on the bed, shaking me.

“Mommy, mommy. Get up. Get up,” she shouts.

I groan and try to turn over.

“No! Mommy, get up. I have no school today. It’s a snowy day. There’s no school!” she squeals.

I turn quickly and grab her by the waist, tossing her across me. “Is that so? So I guess we can stay in bed and sleep then?”

“What?” Her eyes go wide. “No mommy, we have a lot to do.”

“We do? Like what?”

She sits up and crosses her legs criss-cross applesauce as they taught her in class. “First.” she says, holding up one finger. “Auntie Vicki and I made pancakes for breakfast. So we need to eat those. Second.” She holds up another finger. “It snowed a lot last night and we can’t even see the driveway. We need to shovel it, and third.” Again, holding up another finger. “We have to build a snowman.”

“Oh we do, do we?”

“Mm-hmm.” She nods her head. “So come on, no time to waste.” She jumps off the bed and grabs my hand, pulling me up. I rush to get my slippers on as she runs out of the room, hollering for me to hurry.

---