Page 58 of Indescribable

“Damn. Don’t let that one get away from you.”

She leans toward the table and lifts her finger in a come closer motion. “I’m going to retire these old bones soon and the plan is for her to take over. It wasn’t always the plan, see, but she needed a change in location and turns out she loves it here in Red Oak.”

“That’s great news, Dorothy. Will you still be around?” Naomi wonders.

“Of course!” she says like that’s the silliest idea ever. “Red Oak is my home. I’ll travel a little but I’m mostly doing it because I have the right person to pass the diner on to. She has ideas to make it a bit more up to date but plans to keep most things the way they are.”

“Phew. Make sure the mushroom swiss burger stays on the menu.”

Dorothy reaches across the table and pats Naomi on the hand. “Will do, dear. Now, don’t stay too late. It’s dark out and I don’t want you two getting into any trouble.”

I chuckle. “No worries. I have to be in bed on time to get to work tomorrow.”

“Oh!” she exclaims. “That reminds me! I need one of you boys to stop over in the next couple weeks to look at a few things in the kitchen.”

“Need me to look now?”

She waves me off. “Oh, no. It’s nothing urgent. Before we switch hands, I want to make sure all is good. I’m sure it is, we haven’t had any troubles. Maybe after the festival? Would that work?”

I nod. “Sure thing. I’ll put a note in the calendar.”

“Great!” She beams then pats me on the cheek. “Such a good boy. You’ll make some woman a great husband someday. Hopefully soon, now, you hear? I want to still be alive to see you finally tie the knot.” She pointedly looks across the table at Naomi who presses her lips together tightly to stop from laughing.

“I’ll do my best. Need to find the right woman first.”

“Something tells me you won’t have a hard time with that.”

Dorothy pushes to her feet and gives us a little wave before going back to the kitchen.

“Dorothy retiring. It’s like the end of an era.”

“Do you know her great-niece?”

I shake my head. “I don’t.” Thinking for a moment, I add, “Come to think of it, aside from her late husband, I don’t think I’ve heard her talk of family much.”

“Me either. I knew they couldn’t have children because she talked to me about it once when she heard I was going through the fertility treatments. She said they tried but it wasn’t in the cards for them but she found happiness feeding the town through the diner.”

“You haven’t really talked much about the treatments with me.”

Naomi pushes away the empty cherry pie plate and folds her hands on the table. “They weren’t fun, to put it simply. It was stressful and scary. Every month was heartbreaking.”

“I’m sure.”

“Did Corbin tell you…?”

“That Wyatt is infertile?”

Her face is sad when she nods. “Yeah. That was hard, too.”

With our pie, ice cream, and coffee gone, I stand up and throw some bills on the table to cover our tab plus a tip and extend a hand to Naomi. “Let’s head back.”

Our hands still clasped together, I push through the door after thanking our waitress and letting her know our money was on the table. I’ve been here enough times to know how much everything costs so I know I gave her more than enough.

We haven’t even walked a block before she speaks up again. “He used it as an excuse for his cheating. Said it messed with his head.”

I tense, thinking there’s never an excuse to cheat, but instead say, “I’m sure it did.”

“Me, too. Not a good reason, though. I get that he felt bad about himself but he didn’t even come to me about it. I cried to him over and over but he didn’t even consider that. Pigheaded, that’s what he is.”

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