Read Broken Road Café 1 - The Broken Road Café for Free Online

quickly…he hadn’t thought of them—really thought of them—in years. All the memories rushed over him as he stood there, in the parking lot. He had the feeling he was on the right track, doing something they would have approved of. Something he missed and would love.
“You must be Dan. Hey, hon, I’m Patsy Verline. Yes, darlin’, I know, if you say it three times really fast it almost sounds like Patsy Cline, but I can’t carry a tune in a bucket, so it’s just as well. Now come on in, and we’ll grab some lunch, and you can talk with me about the property. When the lunch hour’s over, Bill and Adele can come out and answer any questions you might have and give you a tour of the back of the house. ‘kay?” A striking redhead, about sixty if he had to guess, with wonderfully poofed-up hair grabbed his hand with both of hers and shook it warmly. She flashed him a wide smile, looked him up and down and, quietly and efficiently, took control of him.
Dan found himself herded through the door and into a booth in front where he could see the whole operation before he could do much more than confirm that yes, he was Dan and yes, the asshat chief was going to join them. There were booths like the one he and Patsy occupied across the front and down both sides, with a round one on each corner capable of seating six. The counter seated another ten or twelve, and in keeping with the name, the décor was, of course, blue, with stars and moons painted across the ceiling. It somehow fit the place without feeling overly kitschy.
A clean-cut young man, maybe twenty, with the bluest eyes Dan had ever seen, came over to take their order. Before either the poor guy or Dan could say a word, Patsy jumped in and took over. Dan had a feeling, from the fond way the boy looked at her and rolled his eyes, she was a frequent flier here, and her…energy was well-known and, if nothing else, anticipated.
“Well, hey, Jake love, how are you? And how’s your mamma doing? Listen, we’ll both have sweet tea and what’s the special? Oh, wait, baby, it’s Thursday so it’s the chicken pot pie. That’s really good, so let’s have three orders, please. Chief Nick is gonna be joining us, so keep an eye out and bring him his tea and pot pie when he shows up. And save us a couple of slices of that lemon ice box pie, too, and maybe a serving of the berry cobbler and ice cream. We can all share. I’m sure we’ll all be friends here before long, right? Now along with you, darlin’. Mr. O’Leary here’s come all the way up from Atlanta, and I imagine he’s famished.” Dan would swear she never took a breath.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be right back with some bread. Real butter, Miss Patsy, as always. Anything else I can get for you folks?” He turned an inquisitive eye to Dan. Dan couldn’t help but notice that the glance took him in from head to toe, or as much as he could see while Dan sat, and evidently the lad liked what he saw. His smile grew wide and inviting. “Maybe some of the fried green tomatoes, Mister…O’Leary, was it?”
Oh, to be twenty and full of piss and vinegar again. He could so easily be just “Dan”, and then they would flirt back and forth and he’d be invited back to see the boy’s etchings, or birdhouse collection, or whatever they did up here in Blue Ridge, and then they’d spend a pleasant couple of hours in the bed. Dan knew the boy wouldn’t expect anything else but a quick roll in the hay, but he made it a habit not to sleep with anyone who might be young enough to be his son, or old enough to be his father. And given how close they were to Tennessee, that was saying something. Plus, the boy might be working for him soon.
Oh, and he didn’t cheat. So, no, he’d stay Mr. O’Leary.
“Thank you, Jake. I think I’ll just wait for the pot pie. It sounds filling. And when you’re closer to forty than thirty, it matters.” Dan gave the young man a wink to soften the words and made sure their hands