The Family Gathering (Sullivan's Crossing #3)(23)

He was just about finished mopping the floor when Sid handed him a cup of coffee. “Thanks,” he said. “Is this my coffee date? Because I was really hoping for a little pie to go with this. Like from a coffee shop or diner or maybe we could go batshit crazy and hit a Denny’s.”

She laughed. “We could do that. Let’s head back toward Timberlake and go to the Denny’s on the highway.”

He followed her all the way to the restaurant, a little afraid she might ditch him on the long drive, but she waited by the door while he parked. They had no trouble getting a table, late as it was. They sat across from each other in a booth, ordered coffee, and Dakota asked for a moment to look at the menu. But he didn’t. Instead, he looked at Sid and asked, “Soup kitchen?”

“I guess you don’t meet too many of your potential girlfriends at a soup kitchen?”

He lifted his eyebrows. “You’ve upgraded your status,” he said. “I thought I was going to have to work much harder for that.”

“I feel sorry for you,” she said with a smile.

“Whatever ticks your clock. Just explain the soup kitchen. Is it some kind of a test? To see if I’m charitable?”

“It actually has nothing to do with you. After my divorce I needed counseling. I struggled with depression. I think that’s not unusual or unexpected. After some months of talking about myself and my feelings, the counselor gently suggested I might want to take the focus off myself and see what I could do for the less fortunate. She gave me an intimidating list of places that needed help. I just couldn’t bring myself to cuddle terminally ill toddlers, and if I’d worked at an animal shelter, I would have brought them all home. I went to the soup kitchen and Sister Mary Jacob tried to feed me. She couldn’t wrap her head around me as a server, that’s how bad I must have looked.”

“Must have been worse than just a bad divorce,” he said.

She paused for a moment as if considering how much personal information she’d give him on this, their first date. It made him smile for two reasons. One, it wasn’t much of a date, and two, she was very protective of her privacy. When she continued, he decided she must have at least branded him as a good guy.

“Actually, I’ve heard about worse. It was very sudden and I never saw it coming. It turned out I didn’t have good coping skills. My brother and I have suffered some losses, significant losses. Our parents. First my mom when I was just little, then our dad later. Rob was married by the time we lost our dad and I was in school and pretty much on my own. I was focused on school. Then Rob’s wife passed away. She was twenty-nine. They had two little kids. Sudden onset heart disease. An infection. She was on a transplant list but...” She shrugged helplessly. “It all sounds so horribly pathetic, doesn’t it?”

“Sounds horrible, yeah,” he said.

“I don’t know what Rob has told people but I don’t like to go through that whole sad story so I’ve only told a few people... Mary Jacob is relentless. She wormed it out of me. I have a couple of friends from the bar. But if you wouldn’t mind...”

“I don’t have that many people to talk to,” he said.

“Just on the off chance you decide to talk to Alyssa or Neely...”

“I don’t think so, Sid,” he said.

“Can we talk about you now?” she asked.

“As soon as we order cake.”

“I thought you wanted pie.”

He flipped open the dessert menu and showed her a picture of a three-layer slice of chocolate cake served with ice cream and whipped cream.

“That looks evil,” she said. “And perfect.”

When the waitress came back to refill their coffee, he asked for the cake—two pieces.

“Are you afraid to let me dip my fork into your cake?” she asked.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “I’m just afraid you’ll dip it too much.” Then he grinned.

“You had your teeth whitened, didn’t you?” she asked.

“No. I brush and floss.”

“Okay, what’s your story?”

“I’m not that interesting.”

“I’ll be the judge,” she said.

It was his turn to pause, trying to decide how honest he wanted to be. The whole story might be overwhelming but he could give it a start. She’d trusted him. He could return the favor.

“As you know, I grew up with Cal. I grew up with California, Sedona and Sierra—our parents considered themselves hippies. But we grew up humbly on a small farm in Iowa and there wasn’t much to spare so each one of us had a plan to break out of that poor existence. My plan was the military and I enlisted the second I was out of high school. I liked the military. I liked the standardized routine. It worked for me and I gave it my full attention. But eventually I burned out, just like I should have known I would. So I discharged, but without a plan. I went to Australia to visit friends and see the country, then came here because I am now an uncle. Because Sierra and Cal are both here. God knows I didn’t want to settle in a small Iowa town and my plan was just to visit and get my head together, but this place? This is a real good-looking place.”

“And your parents?”

“Getting old and still back on the farm. They don’t farm it, however. They lease the land.”