Flipping Love You (Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild #3) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,48

she had literally not even noticed when driving by on her way to her new house because it was so average.

“Do they have cereal here?” Jill eyed the building, already knowing the answer was no.

Zeke shut the truck off. “Define cereal.”

“If I have to define it, the answer is no.”

A bowl of cereal standing at her kitchen counter and she was done in five minutes. It’d taken more than that to drive to this place. Now they were going to have to go inside and order and wait for everything to get prepared and probably have conversations in the meantime. Everyone knew that talking while you ate made eating take longer.

Jill’s inability to just sit and have a meal and conversation that lasted for more than ten minutes drove her mother insane. Her mom, like most of the town of Bliss, loved to sit around and talk. They dressed the events up with food and drink and called them barbecues and picnics and potlucks and block parties to make it seem like it was a meal, but truly it was just an excuse to sit around even longer and tell stories and gossip.

It had always driven Jill crazy.

It wasn’t that she was opposed to eating with other people. But her main focus was the eating and if there was some conversation on the side as well, fine, but no one needed an hour and a half to finish a hot dog and potato chips. In fact, left alone, Jill could eat a hot dog and potato chips and even have dessert done in less than ten minutes. People just needed to focus.

And no, the prepackaged Hot Cakes snack cakes that she counted as dessert weren’t as good as her mother’s homemade fudge brownies, but Jill was generally willing to sacrifice a little bit of homemade goodness for a saved hour in her schedule. And hey, those Hot Cakes people knew what they were doing.

“How long do you think this is going to take?” she asked as she joined Zeke at the front door to the building.

He pulled the door open and looked at her with a grin. “Longer than you’re gonna want it to.”

“It’s that obvious?”

“That you do not want to walk in here and have breakfast with my entire family and half the town? Yes, it’s that obvious. What’s that about anyway? Are you antisocial, shy, or just anti-people in general?”

“I’m anti-wasted time.”

“Eating breakfast is wasting time?”

“Telling my whole life story to a room full of strangers while trying to eat breakfast is a waste of time.”

His grin grew. “You really are from a small town.”

Then he nudged her through the doorway.

8

Everyone in the place looked over and when they realized there was a stranger standing in the room, they all got quiet.

Yep, she was from a small town all right. This was exactly what happened when people walked into Parker’s café or Blissfully Baked—where they sold pie, not weed—in downtown Bliss.

“Morning, everyone,” Zeke greeted the room.

His hand came to rest on Jill’s lower back and he nudged her again, making her step forward. She took a few steps and found that he was steering her between the tables toward the back of the room even as he chatted and greeted people along the way.

None of that surprised her, of course. What was astonishing, however, were the people who greeted her. By name.

She glanced up at Zeke.

And caught him pointing at the top of her head and mouthing, “Penguin girl.”

“Penguin girl?” she repeated.

He didn’t look even slightly sheepish. “Veterinarian is harder to lip read.”

She rolled her eyes. Then turned back to the room and raised her hand in a wave. And her voice. “Hi, everyone. Yes, I’m the penguin girl. My name is Jill. They will be here on Thursday. They’re absolutely as cute as you think they are. But no, you can’t visit them. For a while.”

She added that last part without thinking. She should not have said that.

Everyone took in the information, nodded, and went back to their breakfasts.

Geez. Small towns.

Zeke pinched her side. “Just like home?”

“So much.”

“What are we having this time?” the older woman behind the bar called.

She had long silver hair that was braided and fell nearly all the way down her back. She had tanned skin like that of someone who’d spent years outdoors in this hot Louisiana sun. And she had a bright smile.

“This time?” Jill asked.

“I was in here earlier. Right after I rolled out of bed.” He gave her a