“Funny movie, Fran’s nachos and a full rum-and-Coke,” Jilly Crenshaw, Gavin’s mother, said as she sank onto the couch next to Paige. “I love movie night.”
“Me, too.” Her drink was a lot more Coke than rum, but it wasn’t the booze that appealed to her. Or even the movies. It was the friendship. The sense of belonging and knowing these women of all ages, shapes and sizes. And they knew her, which was more than she could say for most of the people whose lives she’d moved in and out of like a temporary shadow. Some of these women already, in two years, had come to know her better than her own mother did. Because they wanted to.
“Gavin says business seems good.”
Paige nodded. “Better than I anticipated it would be two years ago, actually. Weeknights are still pretty quiet for dinner, but breakfast and lunch do pretty well. And the weekends are busy.”
“Good. I think Waters went out of business because he only gave a damn during snowmobile season,” Jilly said, referring to the diner’s previous owner. “Of course it’s nice to have all the sledders coming through, and you can always charge a little more when they can sled right to your door, but he never adjusted after the snow melted. None of us were willing to pay tourist prices for a cheeseburger and a soda, you know?”
Paige nodded, because she did know. Back when she’d first started asking around about the old, closed-down restaurant, she’d gotten quite an earful about Waters’ business sins, which only strengthened her conviction that the old diner should serve as the social heart of the community and not just a place to eat. She catered to the snowmobiling crowd somewhat, serving up big steaks and sirloin burgers and the like during the winter, but her priority had always been good food for reasonable prices for her neighbors.
“Five-minute warning,” Hailey yelled over the buzz of the multiple conversations taking place.
There was a mad rush to top off drinks, refill paper plates and hit the bathroom before the movie started, and Jilly stood up. “I need to grab some more of Rose’s banana bread before it’s gone.”
Since she already had two slices on her plate plus a great end seat on Hailey’s love seat, Paige didn’t move. A couple minutes later, Rose sat down next to her, juggling a full plate and a coffee mug.
“I went with the hot chocolate,” she told Paige after she’d set the mug on the end table. “I don’t know how she does it—and she won’t tell me—but Hailey makes the best hot chocolate.”
“How are things at the lodge?”
“Not too bad.” Paige thought Rose’s face tensed up a bit before she relaxed it into a smile again. “Ryan’s home, which has been nice. They settled in with beer, chips and the ball game, so I decided to come to movie night.”
“I met Ryan this morning. I’m surprised he’s not around more since he lives so close. Well, not really close, but it’s only a few hours.”
“Getting that boy to come home for a visit’s harder than getting an invitation to the White House. He says he’s always working, but I don’t see the point in having the headache of owning the company if you can’t take a long weekend now and then. Look at Mitch. He’s taking a whole six weeks off. Mostly. He sneaks off to use the computer a lot, and that fancy phone of his is getting a workout.”
Hearing Mitch’s name seemed to jack up the temperature in the room, and Paige hoped her sudden flush wasn’t so pronounced this woman, who was practically a mother to him, would notice. “How often are they all home at the same time?”
“Almost never. I don’t even know how many years it’s been. Maybe even since their dad passed away.” Rose shook her head. “We all got together when Sean got out of the army last year, but we all went to Ryan’s house because it’s close to the airport and, with Sean and Mitch and Liz all flying in, it made more sense. It’s not the same as coming home, though.”
Paige remembered when Rose and Josh had driven down to Massachusetts to welcome the middle Kowalski brother home. “How are Sean and his wife doing?”
“Wonderful.” Rose practically beamed. “No baby news yet, but I pray for one every day. Lord knows Katie doesn’t seem interested in giving me a grandbaby, so it’s up to one of the other kids. At the rate they’re going, Sean and Emma might be my only shot.”
Paige lowered her voice as the movie started. “You never know. One of them might meet the right person, fall in love and have you knitting baby blankets before you know it.”
The way Rose looked at her made Paige feel like the woman was reading more into her words than what she’d meant. “Maybe. It won’t be Mitch, though. Mitch doesn’t settle down.”
Paige forced herself to laugh and shrug. “Maybe it’ll be Ryan, then.”
Rose just smiled and turned her attention to the television, so Paige did the same. The other woman didn’t need to worry that Paige had her sights set on being the one to settle Mitch down. The eyes and the smile and the flirting might weaken her knees, but she wasn’t going to let them weaken her resolve.