“You want the usual?” Megan asked.
“Please. To go.”
“Coming right up.” She went in the back to give Butch, the cook, Landon’s order.
“How’s it going, son?” Elmer asked.
“Good, I think. Were your ears ringing this morning?”
“No more than usual. Why? Should they have been?”
“I was quoting you to Amanda.”
“Which one of his masterpieces did you use?” Hunter asked as he rolled silverware.
“Things work out the way they’re meant to.”
“Ah, yes,” Elmer said, smiling. “That’s one of my favorites.”
“What’s the context?” Hunter asked as Megan rejoined them.
“Amanda is dealing with some stuff, some big stuff, and it’s going to change her life rather significantly.”
“Is that right?” Hunter said. “How so?”
“I’m not sure if I should say anything.”
“You can tell us.” Hunter glanced at Landon. “It won’t go any further.”
“Promise,” Elmer added.
“I promise, too,” Megan said.
Because he desperately needed to tell someone, he decided to take them at their word. “She gave up a child for adoption twelve years ago when she was too young to care for a baby. Yesterday, she heard from her daughter.” As he said the words and connected the dots, he felt removed from the situation, as if it were happening to someone else and not him. He told them about Stella’s mother’s illness and the situation they were in. “Needless to say, I need you to keep those promises. Amanda wouldn’t want this all over town before she’s had a chance to figure out what’s what.”
“Wow,” Hunter said. “That is a big deal. How does she feel about it?”
“I think she’s excited to have her daughter in her life, while being mindful of the circumstances with the mother’s devastating diagnosis. The letter she got from her daughter was adorable and sweet. She sounds like an amazing kid.”
“What an awful, wonderful, exciting and terrifying thing to have happen,” Elmer said.
Landon nodded as he poured himself a coffee to go and stirred in half-and-half. “It’s all that for sure.”
Elmer eyed him with the shrewd gaze that never missed a trick. “How do you feel about it?”
“I’m happy for her to have this opportunity. She’s ached for that girl for twelve long years, and it seems like maybe she’ll have the chance to finish raising her and be part of her life.”
“I can see that you’re happy for her, but how do you feel?”
Landon walked around the counter and took a seat next to Hunter. “I’m not really sure, to be honest. Amanda and I have been trying to figure out what’s going on between us, and now it’s like a bomb has gone off in the middle of our brand-new relationship. It’s a lot to take in.”
“If you’re not interested in being a stepfather, you probably ought to put the brakes on with her,” Hunter said.
“I wouldn’t mind being a stepfather if it meant I got to keep Amanda in my life.”
Elmer smiled warmly at him. “That’s the way. Filter out all the crap and take it down to what’s important to you.”
“She’s important to me.”
“And she knows that?”
“She does.”
Elmer nodded. “That’ll matter to her as she figures this out.”
“After the fire, she made a list of things she wants to do. I’m worried she won’t get to do them now, and she might regret that later.”
“A twelve-year-old isn’t the same as a baby,” Hunter said. “She can work through her list with her daughter.”
“I guess,” Landon said, still feeling out of sorts.
“This leaves you feeling like you’re on the outside looking in, right?” Megan asked.
“Something like that.”
“Nothing saying you couldn’t be part of it from the start,” Hunter said. “If you want Amanda, you get her daughter, too. They’ll be a package deal.”
“I know, and I’m fine with that. It’s just that things between us are still kind of new, and it’s a lot to toss into a new relationship.”
“Not to mention the first real relationship you’ve had,” Elmer added.
“Not to mention… I’m still figuring out how to make things work with her, and now there’s a child, too.”
“You should talk to Luc about that,” Hunter said. “He went through a similar thing when he met Dani and Savannah.”
“I think it’s a little different in this case,” Elmer said. “Savannah was part of the equation from the beginning for Luc. Landon and Amanda have been circling the wagons, as they say, for weeks now, and this definitely throws a wrench in the wheel.”
“How is it that you manage to cut through the crap to sum things up so perfectly?” Landon asked his grandfather.
“My special gift.” Elmer’s eyes glittered with amusement. “This is a tough one, pal. No way around that. You and your lady have had a somewhat rocky road, and things were finally smoothing out for you when your applecart was upset once again. The best thing I can tell you is to make her aware that you want to be part of this new phase of her life. Your support will mean everything to her.”
“I agree,” Megan said. “Absolutely.”
“Thanks, guys. It helps to air it out with you.”
“That’s what we’re here for,” Elmer said. “We’re not just about the eggs and coffee at this diner. We deal in free advice, too.”
“On many a day, we serve far more free advice than coffee,” Megan said.
Elmer laughed. “Ain’t that the truth?” To Landon, he said, “You working at the farm today?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Is tonight still good for Amanda to come for dinner?” Megan asked.
“That’s the plan. I’ll bring her if you don’t mind one more.”
“Not at all. I thought you were working.”
“I am, but as long as I have a radio, I can do it.”
“See you around six thirty?”
“We’ll be there.”
“Have a good day, son,” Elmer said.
Landon squeezed his grandfather’s shoulder. “You, too, Gramps. Thanks again.”
“Any time.”
Landon took his breakfast with him and ate in the truck on the way to the farm, where his first order of business was feeding and watering the horses and cleaning out their stalls. He put them outside to get some exercise while he worked. Next, he gassed up the zero-turn mower with the sixty-inch cut that he used to mow the corridors between the rows of trees. He had a smaller one he used for between the trees.
Landon cut a lot of grass this time of year, which gave him far too much time to think. As he mowed the first five acres, he let the story play out in his mind, from the day he met Amanda all the way through to this morning. For a time, he’d thought it wasn’t going to happen between them and had blamed himself for that. He’d had no idea how to play the game when a woman got to him the way she did, so of course he’d played it all wrong.