He chuckled but the humor in his eyes seemed dimmed. “Things become a habit when you never expect it.” He looked over his shoulder. “Tabby,” he called out, “you have any vacancies at your triplex?”
The waitress, delivering a tray of food to a table of three women and six children, paused. “Not right now.” When the delay in service earned her a cacophony of whiny complaints, she quickly turned her attention back to her customers and began doling out the baskets of food to the children. “Check the bulletin board,” she suggested. “People tack up all sorts of notices.”
Squire glanced at Nell again. “By the door. You passed it on your way in.” He dropped his napkin atop his unfinished sandwich. “Most of the people who come in here are locals. You won’t go wrong with anything posted here.” He dropped some cash on the counter and stood. He was taller than Nell expected. “But if you have a question ’bout anything, come back here for lunch again tomorrow. I’ll be here.” He gave her a faint wink and then strode toward the door, offering a few comments to other patrons as he departed.
Nell turned her attention back to her meal and watched as Tina cleared away Squire’s plate. The only thing he’d finished was the coffee. “He’s really here every day?”
“Seven days a week,” Tina confirmed. She filled another insulated carafe and left it for Nell. “You doing all right?”
“Yes, thanks.” Since it didn’t seem as though anyone was in a rush to claim Squire’s vacated seat, she moved her jacket to it and flipped open the top of her briefcase. It was an old-fashioned sort of thing but it was sturdy enough to cart around the mountain of legal files and briefs that she no longer needed to tote around. She pulled out her cell phone and flipped the case closed again and then caught Tina’s attention. “Don’t clear this away. I’ll be right back.”
The busy waitress nodded and Nell went over to the front door and quickly scanned the bulletin board that was no longer blocked by waiting patrons. There were only two for-rent notices, though. She snapped photos of both, then turned back to return to the counter, but the sight of the tall blond man striding along the sidewalk outside the windows stopped her.
She had the silliest desire to duck and hide, but it was almost as if Archer knew it, because his head turned and his eyes met hers. A moment later, he’d reached the door and was pushing through it.
His eyes were devilish. “As I live and breathe. It’s Cornelia Brewster.”
She gave him a look and returned to the counter and her meal. He slid onto the seat that Squire had vacated. There was just as much space between the two seats as there had been before, but now it felt like it had been cut in half.
She angled her shoulder as far away as she could to keep it from brushing against him. “I’ll never believe it’s a coincidence that you’re here.”
“Why not? The world revolves on coincidences.”
“You’ve talked with your grandmother.”
“Nope. I was, however, meeting with a client over at the jailhouse. And anyone who knows anything knows that when you’re in Weaver and you have a chance to eat at Ruby’s, you don’t pass it up.” Looking as if he had frequently not passed it up, he reached right over the counter and retrieved a clean mug from the rack stored below. Then he filled it from the coffeepot that Tina had left for Nell.
She thought about protesting, but concentrated instead on the excellent food. And she couldn’t really complain since he topped off her own cup at the same time.
“Unless you’re checking out other opportunities of employment here,” he said after he tightened the lid on the urn again, “I’ll assume that you have talked with her.”
“Yes.” She almost didn’t want to tell him, because he’d probably just crow about it. But then again, if it weren’t for him, she’d have never met with Vivian in the first place. Which meant he had more of a right to crow than she did to feel churlish. “I start on Monday.”
He didn’t look surprised at all. His arm brushed hers as he lifted his coffee mug in a toast. “Congratulations.”
She managed a smile and shoved two French fries in her mouth because she felt oddly shaky all of a sudden.
“Need help moving?”
More fries went into her mouth as she shook her head emphatically.
“And you wouldn’t admit it if you did.”
She wasn’t going to deny it. She toyed with her coffee cup. “Thank you for putting in a good word for me,” she finally said once her mouth was French fry‒free. “I owe you.”
His shoulder bumped hers, this time quite deliberately. “Almost kills you to say that, doesn’t it.”
She wasn’t going to deny that, either.
He knew it, too, judging by the soft laugh he gave.
He waved at the second half of her cheeseburger. “You going to eat that?”
“Yes.” She covered it protectively with her hand. “So don’t think you’re going to have it.” That’s what he’d always done back in law school, too. Finished whatever food was left alone for a moment. He’d always been ravenous and she’d never quite understood where he put it, since there had never been an ounce of extra weight on his broad-shouldered frame.
“Just making sure you are,” he said blithely. “You’re very thin.”
It wasn’t a compliment.
Tina returned. “Hi, Archer.” She leaned her hip against the counter and smiled in a way that made Nell wonder just how serious the girl and the supposedly jealous boyfriend actually were. “What can I get for you?”
“Just the coffee.”
“You sure?” Tina’s cheeks turned a rosy pink despite her bold tone. “I’ve got a
