“That’s just the start of my idea.”
“Really? Go on.”
I leaned forward and took a deep breath. If she liked what I’d pitched so far, the rest of my idea was going to blow her away.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Natalie
My phone rang while I was cooking eggs in the café.
Yes, that’s right.
I was cooking. In the café.
I hadn’t been able to hire another chef, but I needed some kind of income while I was job hunting. So I’d decided to reopen the café anyway and try my hand behind the stove.
How badly could I mess it up?
“Hello?” I tucked the phone under my chin and carefully broke another egg into the fry pan. So far, so good. Only a few fragments of shell fell in.
“Hello Natalie,” said my old boss from the Chicago Tribune. “Do you still want a job?”
I dropped the egg flipper and turned away from the sputtering fry pan. “What? Really?”
“We have something available that might suit you, but you’d need to start in two weeks. No later.” He sounded stern.
“That’s… wow. Thank you!” I bounced on my toes. “Yes! Please! I’ll be there!”
After hanging up, I danced a little jig. But the news was bittersweet, and my jubilation only lasted as long as it took for reality to settle in. I’d have to tell Dad I was closing the café and moving away. I’d have to talk to the bank and try to pay off the loan out of my salary. Also, I’d be living even further away from Kade.
Would I ever see Kade again? Could I really get over him? What if I missed him like this forever?
Janice was working on the front counter today, taking orders from the few customers who’d come in. She stuck her head into the kitchen.
“What’s that burning smell?” she asked.
I spun to face my forgotten fry pan, waved away a cloud of smoke, and dumped the eggs onto the plate I had waiting. They were charred around the edges, but maybe adding a little greenery for garnish would help. I arranged a large clump of parsley over the worst of the black parts, then picked up the plate and carried it to the front of the café.
Janice had moved back to the counter, and was leaning against it, staring at her phone. We had a single customer, a young woman typing on her laptop by the windows. I carried the plate to her table.
“Do you like your eggs well done?” I asked.
“You mean burned?” The woman eyed the plate with her nose wrinkled. “No thanks.”
It had been a long shot. “Okay, I’ll make you some fresh ones.”
She shook her head, closing her laptop. “Don’t bother. I need to leave anyway. I have a class to get to.”
Watching her go, I heaved a sigh. The excitement of getting the job had been submerged by all the things I had to do now.
“Do you want me to make more coffee?” asked Janice.
I put the blackened eggs on the nearest table and untied my apron.
“Actually, could you please shut and lock the doors? I’m closing down the café for good.”
Her face fell. “So I can’t work here anymore?”
“I’m really sorry, Janice. I wish I had better news for you, but I’m moving to Chicago. Mack’s Place is finally finished.” I nodded toward the doors, my heart suddenly heavy. “I can’t bear to do it. Will you please close the doors for the last time? We may as well finish up.”
She went to the doors and twisted the latch. I heard the lock click into place. Though it was a sound I’d heard every night for the last couple of years, it sounded different now.
I swallowed hard as my throat started to ache. All this time I’d resented having to work in the café for Dad, and now I felt far sadder than I’d expected. Tomorrow morning, I wouldn’t work the coffee machine, wouldn’t fill the cabinet with food, wouldn’t chat with customers. It was hard to believe.
“Those doors may never open again,” I said out loud, trying to comprehend how momentous this moment was. After forty-two years of being the center of San Dante, Mack’s Place could disappear. Somehow, it hadn’t fully sunk in.
Janice’s brow furrowed. “How will we get out of here? Go out the window?”
“I meant the doors won’t open for business again. Emmy will keep trying to sell the café, but it’ll probably be even harder for her now.”
“Oh. So we can leave?” She wrinkled her nose. “Can I finish my shift and get paid for it?”
“I’ll pay you, but you should go. I’ll clean up.” It would be the last time I’d do that, and I wanted to be alone to wallow in my melancholy.
Once Janice was gone, I grabbed a piece of card and wrote a sign to hang inside the window.
Thanks for forty-two years of Mack’s Place. Sorry we’re now permanently closed.
I was inside the café, positioning the sign in the window, when a figure approached from the other side. The sun was reflecting off the window so he was little more than a dark silhouette, and I blinked at his shape, not sure whether I could trust my eyes not to be playing tricks.
The man looked like Kade.
No, he couldn’t be.
Could he?
Then he waved and my heart leapt.
“Kade!” I dropped the sign and tried to tear open the door, only I’d locked it behind Janice, and it took me a while to turn the latch the right way and get it open.
“Kade!” I held the door wide. “What are you doing here?”
He wore a white T-shirt and faded jeans, and was carrying a satchel. He was clean shaven, and he gave me a smile that made my heart jump with hope, as though there
