Luna closed her eyes, wanting to rest them just enough to take away the sandpaper graininess, but she was surprised when it seemed like no longer than a fraction of a second later that Gen nudged her hand with a cup full of hot coffee.
Luna opened her eyes. “Whoa! That was quick! I think you’d be better at this whole waitress gig than I am.”
Gen patted her hand again, which made Luna start to wonder, way back in the back of her mind, just how rough she actually looked. Gen wasn’t a natural nurturer, so for her to have given Luna such a caretaking gesture in the space of just a couple of minutes...
Yeah. Probably pretty rough.
“Sorry. I hated waking you up.” Gen’s voice was full of sympathy.
“Waking me...what?” Luna asked.
“But you were snoring. I figured it’s not exactly the impression of the ‘new management’ you’d want to put out there.”
Luna let her face fall into her hands. “Oh, lord. First of all, stop with the ‘new management’ stuff. I’m just filling in.”
“Noted.”
“But, secondly...you’re right. Not the best impression. So, thanks for saving me from myself.”
Gen let out a short bark of a laugh. “Oh my God, Luna. If only I could save you from yourself in a way that’s slightly more meaningful than cutting your booth nap short.”
Luna knew exactly what she was referring to. The same thing that it seemed like everyone was always referring to. Connor. But she didn’t want to get into it.
Mostly because she was coming around to the conclusion that they were all right and she’d been so, sssoooo wrong, and for so many years. So to accept that would’ve meant letting herself feel the full weight of all the time she’d lost, and she wasn’t about to do that here.
So, she did the next best thing. Changed the subject.
“So, Gen, I wanted to talk to you about this Christmas benefit I hear you’re planning.”
Gen’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow. You’re not only a waitressing wiz, you’re a mind reader, too. That’s what I came in here to talk to you about.”
“Awesome. Well, my grandma talked to me about potentially having the diner donate some catering. I assume she’d already talked to you about it.”
“She floated the idea, and I loved it. But with everything going on, I knew you’d be taking on the brunt of the workload. I didn’t want to count on it until I talked to you.”
“Well, me and Connor. We’d both be pitching in.”
Gen’s lip twitched. “Ah. Makes sense.”
Luna narrowed her eyes. “What?”
Gen shrugged. “Why you’re feeling so charitable.”
Luna threw a napkin at her friend and they both laughed.
“Listen, seriously, though,” Gen continued once the laughter had died down. “I was thinking that we’d go with something Christmas-y, but also really simple.”
“Like some kind of Christmas dinner casserole or something?”
Gen groaned. “And now we know why you work in marketing and not food service. No. Not Christmas Leftover Surprise or whatever thing you just mentioned.”
“Christmas dinner casserole,” Luna mumbled.
“Yeah, you’re not making it better,” Gen shot back, and Luna had to laugh. God, she’d missed this kind of rapid-fire banter. She didn’t have it with anyone else but Gen.
“Fine, then, Scrooge. What’s your idea?”
Gen just rolled her eyes. “Come to the planning meeting next week. Bring Connor. I know the diner’s doing shortened hours until things are back to normal. You can swing it. We’ll brainstorm the menu then.”
Luna sighed as she got back to her aching feet. “Fine. I’ll do it. You’re just lucky I love you so much.”
Gen grinned as she stood up and dropped a five dollar bill on the table for the coffee. “Yeah. I would be lucky, if that’s why you were doing it. And don’t get me wrong—it’s not that I’m complaining. Anything that gets me donations and volunteers, I’m good with. But I have a sneaking suspicion you’re not doing it because you love me so much. It’s more like, you’re doing it to spend more time with the person you actually love.”
Chapter 16
Luna
Luna shut the kitchen door as quietly as possible as she came into her grandparents’ house after a long day at the diner. It wasn’t super late at night, but with her grandfather still recovering, it didn’t matter what time of the day or night it was, he might be sleeping. And, since he needed every minute of sleep to make him stronger, she wasn’t about to be the one who woke him up.
She leaned back against the door that she’d just closed so gently and let out a relieved sigh, closing her eyes and enjoying the silence. God, it felt so good to finally be home! Her legs were aching, and so was her back…actually, she was hard pressed to think of a part of her body that wasn’t in pain. Every inch of her throbbed in time with the slow beating of her heart.
“Long day?”
Luna’s eyes flew open and she let out a small yelp of surprise as her hand flew to her chest.
Her grandmother, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in front of her, chuckled and Luna shook her head as she sat in the chair across from her. “Grandma, it’s not nice to laugh when you’ve just scared the stuffing out of someone. In fact, it’s a little cruel.”
“Sorry, honey,” she apologized, but Luna noticed that the twinkling smile was still firmly on her face.
“Grandma, what are you doing in here with the lights out, anyway? Even with the glow from the stove clock and overflow from the hallway, it’s pretty dreary.”
“Oh, I know. But I’m not reading or anything, and your grandpa’s taking a nap in the living room. I didn’t want it to keep him up.”
Luna nodded, glad she’d been speaking quietly. “How is he doing today?”
“Oh, just fine. He’s up and walking more, which the doctor said is really important. He’s eating what he’s supposed to.” She paused to give a rueful grin. “We’ll see how long that lasts.”
“Good. I’ve been worried.”
Grandma Grace patted her hand. “I know, my girl. I know. But how was your day?”
Luna hesitated, but then decided to go ahead. What Genevieve had said had been niggling at the back of her brain all day and she thought that, if she didn’t talk it out with someone, she was never going to get to sleep tonight. She’d just lay in bed all night and toss and turn, going around and around in circles in her mind, and in the morning the only thing she would’ve figured out was how many minutes long a night was because she would’ve been up for every single one of them!
She took a deep breath. “So, Gen said something today that I can’t seem to shake.”
“Really, honey? What?”
Luna looked down at her fingers, which were tightly intertwined on top of the kitchen table, then looked up and met her grandmother’s eyes. “She said that she thinks I love Connor.”
Grandma Grace’s brows raised slightly. “Oh?”