Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
She pulled out of the memory.
Less than three years later, the cancer came back, and this time, it was worse than before and had taken her husband. They had no kids, but they had this shop together, lots of memories, and she had the wedding band to remind her she had loved. She had loved Adam so deeply, but it had been hard.
“Do you want to go and grab lunch?” Hawk asked.
It was on the tip of her tongue to decline, but something warmed her. She didn’t know what it was, but it was a feeling she hadn’t experienced in a long time.
“Yeah, I’d love to.” She glanced back at the shop.
“We can go to the diner, or if you want, we can eat here,” he said.
“It’s fine. I can close for lunch. I usually do. I’ll just grab my bag.”
She stepped behind the counter, opened the locked cupboard, and grabbed her bag. She didn’t have a staff room, as between her and Adam there hadn’t been a need. She’d been able to manage on her own.
She walked out of the shop and locked the door, flipping the sign indicating she had gone for her lunch break. She walked side by side with Hawk, a little shocked that she was walking with him at all.
Several people stopped them, shook hands with Hawk, and offered her a smile. They were not used to seeing Hawk, and she got that. His mother had warned them all that he did have a heart attack.
They arrived at the diner, and it was pretty busy. A mixture of locals and tourists, but they were able to find a small table in the back. Hawk allowed her to slide into her side, and then he took the seat opposite her. They didn’t even have chance to grab their menus before Valerie, one of the waitresses, was there to take their orders. Katie visited the diner quite often, so she asked for the house special. Hawk did the same.
“Some things never change,” Hawk said.
Katie smiled. “Are you hating being back here?”
“Nah, I don’t hate it. It’s actually good.”
“Good?”
“Yeah, I guess it’s nice to know that some things don’t change. It’s comforting.”
“A lot has changed in Hope, you just have to have been here the whole time to know.”
“Like what?” he asked.
She told him all about the football team. How they nearly went all State, at least she thought that was what they would do. She was not a big football fan, so wasn’t entirely sure on the lingo.
There was the chili competition that had been introduced. Not to mention the pie-tasting festival.
“It sounds exciting.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. At first, she thought Hawk was mocking her, but looking into his eyes, she saw he genuinely meant it.
Chapter Three
One Month Later
“So, what is this, date sixteen? Seventeen?”
“I am not keeping count,” Hawk said, packaging up the pasta salad he’d made, along with the pieces of fried chicken that were cold from the previous night’s meal.
Sarah was hanging out at their parents’ again. He had a sneaking suspicion that between her and their parents, Sarah had an agreement to constantly check on him. She seemed to stop by way too many times for comfort.
“They are not dates.”
“No, you just go and hang out at Palmer Gifts for fun?” Sarah asked. “Come on, everyone is talking. If you’re not at the shop, you’re at the diner. People are talking.”
“People can fuck off,” Hawk said.
“Don’t get that temper up.”
“I’m not angry. Look, I like hanging out with Katie, and you know, the shop is pretty cool.”
“I even heard you sold some kind of owl lamp the other day.”
“That I did. There was a guy who wanted to take a memento home with him, and he talked nonstop about how an owl kept him up the first couple of nights. So, an owl lamp would be a perfect reminder that he quit real life and took an experience in nature.”
“Wow,” Sarah said. “You know, I was thinking this might have something to do with the fact that growing up around Katie, you became tongue-tied. Isn’t that why you often slapped her books down on the ground? Isn’t that why you bumped into her as well? You didn’t know how exactly to talk to her, so bumping into her kind of broke the ice, even if she only looked at you with a glare and said, ‘Hey!’”
“Don’t you have a life?” Hawk asked.
“Yes, it’s meddling in my big brother’s, and you know what, this is a lot of fun.” His sister had that taunting grin.
“Go away,” he said.
“That didn’t work growing up, and it’s not going to work now. So come on, am I close, or were you just a dick in high school?”
“I was a dick.” And he was not about to admit to his sister that when it came to Katie, he didn’t have the first fucking clue what to say to her. He had been tongue-tied.