Page 13 of Charlie Beck Says I'm His

I took another bite, and my taste buds did a happy dance. “Maybe I never really tried them before,” I shrugged. Or was it the little baby growing in my stomach liking raisins suddenly?

“Right,” Monica mumbled.

“Uh, I can wash the trays for you and then bring the scones out,” I offered.

“As long as you don’t eat them all,” she laughed.

“I think one will hold me over.” Never, I mean never, had I scarfed down any of the food from the café as I did that scone. Half an hour ago, I had been praying to the porcelain god, and now I was devouring a scone I normally wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.

Pregnancy was a trip. Especially when you were trying to hide it, and I was out here eating a scone I normally didn’t like.

I scrubbed up the trays and loaded them up with fresh scones.

Bandit was lying next to the register when I walked out front with the trays, and he sniffed the air.

“You can’t have any of these,” I called to him. “Not unless you feel like having your stomach pumped because of the raisins.” I set the trays on the shelf and slid the door shut.

Bob came back in right before we opened, and I spent the rest of my day making coffee, lattes, and Frappuccinos while Bandit greeted everyone with a wiggle of his butt.

For the next nine hours, I pretended like everything was normal and my life wasn’t at the cusp of self-imploding.

Ah, the peace of ignorance.

Chapter Six

Charlie

Why did I stop?

Why couldn’t I have just kept driving?

It would have been so much easier if I had just kept driving home.

It was like my truck had driven here on its own, and I was just along for the ride.

A ride that stopped right in front of Adams Café.

Today had started early, getting the restaurant ready for food deliveries, then things got crazy when we opened.

Surprisingly crazy.

I had thought for sure that with how busy we were yesterday that today would have been dead.

Wrong.

Utterly and completely wrong.

Sure, it wasn’t like yesterday with a line out the door, but at least three-quarters of the booths were always full of people getting their Chicken Biscuit fill for the second day in a row.

And now I was needing a cup of coffee, and Missy just so happened to work at the only café in town that served the best coffee.

Sure, the diner had good coffee, but I would have had to grab a booth and drink it there. Adams Café had amazing coffee, and I could get it to go.

But first, I had to see Missy to get that coffee.

The door to the café opened, and Missy strolled out with Bandit at her side.

Missy was crazy, zany, and sometimes a complete goofball, but she was one of the best pet owners I had ever known. Bandit went everywhere with her, and when he couldn’t go where she was, she made sure he was completely comfortable and did not leave him for too long.

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