Page 167 of Chasing Infinity

When the family’s food is ready, I drop it by their table and chat a bit more with them. The kids start to open up more, telling me about all the cool things they’ve seen on their trip.

“Did you guys see our big Christmas tree out there?” I ask them, and they nod, their eyes wide. “Well, we turn it on at night, and it lights up the entire town.”

They look at their parents, their little mouths falling open with wonder. “Are we going to get to see it, Daddy?” the little girl asks.

The man looks at his daughter with warm eyes and nods his head. “Yes, we’ll stay the night here and finish the trip tomorrow.” Then he turns back to me. “Is there anything else we should check out while we’re here?”

I think about it and then rattle off a few other places the kids might enjoy checking out. We have a small toy store down the road specializing in custom puzzles and a few other sites I recommend.

As soon as the family finishes their meals, they pay their tab and get up to leave.

“Bye, Addie! Thanks for the chicken strips!” the little girl, Amy, calls to me, waving her hand as they move toward the door. Her little brother follows her lead, waving and yelling goodbye to me too.

I wave back, a massive grin on my face as I watch the cute family walk out of my diner. As soon as they’re gone, the place feels a little quiet. I wrap my arms around my middle and watch as they regroup on the sidewalk. Amy takes off toward the giant Christmas tree, and the rest of them follow after her in her wake.

As I watch them, I can’t help but imagine what my family might look like. Will Noah and I ever get the chance to have that? Does Noah even want kids? I can’t say that it has come up since he’s been home. Before he left, I always imagined that we’d go off to college, get married, and have babies together, but that didn’t work out after all.

Would he be open to having a little family like that one? I decide that that is something I’ll need to talk to him about. I’m not yet thirty, so there’s still time to decide, but it is something that we should be on the same page about.

I spend the rest of the afternoon worrying about that. Noah and I have said many fancy words to each other, confessing our deep love and affection, but we’ve never really talked about what comesnext. It’s not that I’ve never considered getting married—I just figured I’d marry Eli at some point and start a family like we were expected to.

But now that’s passed, I can only imagine myself being with Noah. I don’t know what our future will look like, but the more I think about it, the more at ease I become. I have concluded that I’ll be happy as long as I can be with him. We spent our time apart, and now all that matters to me is that we’re together.

I manage to calm my thoughts long enough to focus on my tasks and get them done efficiently. As soon as possible, I leave and go back upstairs and home to Noah.

“You’ll never guess who wandered through the diner this afternoon,” I tell Noah as soon as I’m through the door. I drop my bag and coat off and then pad over to where he’s lounging on the couch, watching a football game.

“Who?”

“The business partner of the woman I hired to design the diner!”

Noah raises an eyebrow at me but doesn’t say anything. “Come on, Noah, act excited for me.”

“Wow! That’s amazing! Tell me more!” He matches my energy with an amused smirk.

“I know, right? They’re from Tennessee, which is obviously where the architect lives too, since, you know, she works with this guy. But what are the chances that they would come through our little town, and I’d happen to be working at the same time?”

Noah shakes his head, still watching me in amusement. “Probably slim to none. I guess the odds are in your favor today. Maybe you should go out and buy a Powerball ticket.”

I roll my eyes and shove his shoulder. “I don’t gamble.”

“I’m just saying, maybe you should. You could win the lottery, and we could buy one of those big fancy houses on the edge of town.”

I gaze at him and cross my arms, pretending to pout. “Oh, I’m sorry, is my little apartment not enough for you, rich boy?”

Now Noah throws his head back and laughs. When his amusement dies, he looks at me and pretends to wipe away a tear. “But seriously, I don’t care where we live as long as we’re together.” His words echo some of my thoughts from earlier, and I drop my arms. I must be looking at him strangely because he raises an eyebrow at me. “What is it?”

“Noah, do you want kids?”

Surprise crosses his face, and he stares at me for a moment before swallowing thickly and asking, “Do you?”

I shrug my shoulder. “I think so. Maybe? I don’t know. We’ve just never really talked about it.”

Before he gets the chance to respond, his phone starts to ring. I glance down at his device sitting on the table and see Charlie’s name flash across the screen. Surprise courses through my body, but I don’t say anything. I thought they weren’t working with each other anymore since Noah lost his assignment. Even though Noah told me they were working together closely on the investigation, I wouldn’t have guessed they would be friends at this point.

Reaching for his phone, Noah swipes the screen and puts it to his ear. He shoots me a tight smile that doesn’t reach his eyes and holds up one finger before he steps out of the room. He goes out the front door into the hallway, closing the door behind him. It doesn’t close all the way, though, and I can hear his deep voice rumbling as he talks to Charlie.

I reach for my book on the side table and pretend to pick up on the next chapter. I’m doing my best not to eavesdrop, but Noah’s voice keeps getting louder.

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