“I called the office,” she said. “I figured you’d either be up there in the lobby hanging out or back home. It’s Monday.”
“You learned,” I said proudly.
“I did,” she said. “Plus, Olly wanted to come see you, or at least come see your toys.”
“He is welcome to do that. You know this.”
“Do you want to say hi to Hope?” she asked.
“I would love to,” I said, holding out my arms.
Gently, Wendy passed her baby over, and I took her tight to my chest. The baby gurgled at me, and I began to speak gibberish to her. Some of it was English, some was French, but mostly it was just made-up words. It seemed to delight her though, and she giggled from deep in her tiny chest, emboldening me to make more of a fool of myself as I walked her around the living room.
Vaguely, I heard Wendy talking, saying something about her best friend, Deana. I had yet to meet her. Though Wendy spoke very highly of her. Apparently, she was going through some family drama, and Wendy was helping her with it. She mentioned that Deana’s sister had come to live with her after a terrible accident in college, losing a leg.
The conversation moved to how Finn was doing and how Wendy was still studying at home. She had decided to go through a speed-course to get her bachelor’s degree, so she could become a licensed surveyor faster. And I was helping her through it as best I could. It was pretty common for her to text me with a question that I ended up I clarifying for her, or she emailed me about something that was confusing her.
We went over some things that had been bothering her recently, and she seemed to have a bit of a breakthrough when I pulled out a pad and pen and started showing her the math behind it. I was good at that. Give me a pad and a pen and I could math my way out of anything.
After a while of hanging out with my friends and reluctantly handing Hope back to her mother, Wendy announced they were heading out for an early dinner and to see some other people. I thanked them for visiting, and when they left, I stood in my living room wondering what next.
Having them over was a wonderful distraction and perked my mood up quite a bit. No longer did I feel like sitting around and doing nothing all day. Much to the disappointment of the Captain, I decided that the best thing to do was to get out and do something different.
I picked up my phone and dialed the number for Dina’s Diner. I knew Finn was off, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy one of my favorite dishes. I placed an order for pickup and then dropped a treat down for the cat, grabbing my keys and wallet as I strode out of the house.
It was still warm out, and while I usually liked to have the windows down as much as possible, I kept them up and blasted the AC as I headed into town. My cabin was only a few miles up the mountain, but it was enough that it was certainly a drive to get anywhere. I began to cool down just in time to turn onto the road where the diner was and pulled up to park.
Heading for the door, I walked past the line of cars that seemed to always be there in the parking lot. They stayed pretty busy, a testament to how good their food and service was. Finn was a big part of that, and I was proud that my friend was so well respected for his job. I rounded the corner to step up onto the porch in front of the door and stopped.
A voice was cursing, and I heard a sudden thump on the side of the door. The porch wasn’t lined with railing, and Finn said it was only because they had done the addition of the porch themselves. He was actually planning on adding the railing on his own soon but hadn’t gotten around to it yet. I always worried that with some of the older clientele they had that one of them would fall off the porch soon.
Thinking that I was going to have to help some poor Granny out, I peered over the edge, and my jaw dropped.
It wasn’t anyone’s Granny. It was the gorgeous girl with the crutches. My eyes scanned down, and I caught a quick glimpse of her shorts, where a bandaged stump stuck out of the right side. It all clicked in my mind immediately. She was the girl Wendy had been talking about, and she was also the girl I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off when I saw her at Sergio’s.