stare down with Elias Lowe. He’s totally hot. Like need-a-fan hot,” she clarified.
I felt a fresh blush creep up my neck and into my face. I simply rolled my eyes. “Maybe so.”
Susie flicked her eyes quickly across the room and blessedly, Elias, Flynn, and Diego were sitting down at a table and not looking our way. Glancing back toward me, Susie added, “That’s it. You and Elias would be perfect together.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t you dare start matchmaking for me.”
Tess gave me a sympathetic look. “Susie loves to play matchmaker, and there’s no one left.”
Hannah caught my eye. “Ignore Susie.”
“That’s my plan. Now, can we talk about something other than my lack of love life?” By some miracle, I managed to keep my tone light.
Although Susie wrinkled her nose and cast me a slightly disgruntled look, she dropped it. It was good to spend time with my friends. We usually tried to get together as a group once a month, but since they’d all started having kids, it had been harder for our schedules to coordinate. It was hit or miss, and often it wasn’t all of us. It just went to show how insanely busy we all were, myself included, even if I didn’t have a husband and kids yet.
Dinner was delicious, and I was glad we managed to find time together. There was always plenty of gossip other than love lives to catch up on. The latest town scoop was that Misty Mountain Café was up for sale.
“You should buy it,” Emma said firmly, her eyes on me.
“Me?” I squeaked.
“Yes. It’s perfect. Your coffee is better than theirs. Don’t get me wrong, when I need a place to sit down, I love going there, and they have great pastries. But owning that café would give you a year-round option. You make it work, but every winter you worry a little about money and kind of piece things together. This fits in well with your coffee truck, and you already have a great reputation in town,” she explained.
Anticipation and anxiety spun through me. The idea grabbed onto me, but it was a major thing to consider. “I don’t know. I like the idea, but my little coffee truck is a much smaller operation. This would be a big step, and I don’t want to give up my coffee truck.”
Tess brushed her honey gold curls away from her shoulders and gave me a steady look. “You can do this. I will help you come up with a business plan for the bank.”
“And, I’ll help you with the accounting.” Susie already did the accounting for Red Truck Coffee, but that was small beans compared to Misty Mountain Café.
Glancing between my friends, the swirl of anticipation inside spun faster. “Okay, I’ll think about it. I didn’t even know they were selling. Do you know why?” I asked the table at large.
Hannah replied, “Yeah, Carol’s mother is sick. Her family isn’t from here, so they’re going to move to be closer to her.”
“Oh, wow. That’s too bad.” I leaned back in the booth.
“Change always happens. That’s about the only thing that’s guaranteed in life, trite though it may be,” Emma offered.
After we finished dinner, and I hugged all of my friends goodbye, I took a restroom break before I headed out into the parking lot. My attention had occasionally been distracted by Elias across the restaurant, but the space was crowded enough that I didn’t have a good line of sight during dinner. My eyes landed on him once more as I left, and I lifted my hand in a wave that I hoped looked casual. He returned the wave, his eyes lingering just long enough that my skin prickled.
As I walked toward the front, I noticed it was still partly light out with the sun leaving a splashy show of pinks and reds in the sky as it set. The days were getting longer. Since I’d grown up in Alaska, I didn’t know what spring felt like in other places, but here, there was a sense of quickening. Time sped up as the days rapidly lengthened, and the tourists began to pour into town. The snow hadn’t even melted yet everywhere, but everything felt as if it was moving faster.
There was a line in the waiting area at the restaurant, and I moved through quickly. Out of the corner of my eye, I sensed a motion and looked reflexively in that direction. My stomach plummeted to my feet the moment my