Page 42 of Monster Diner

“Well, we’re happy to have you.”

“Thanks!” The woman took a sip of her strawberry milkshake. “This is divine!”

“Glad you like it.”

Lizzy moved to the next table, dropping off baskets of fries. She asked a few more of her tables who were chattier and more excited. All their answers were the same. The diner had been recommended by a local woman they’d met while visiting.

Lizzy returned, baffled, to the server station, where Vivianne was punching in an order.

“They all say some local woman recommended this place to them,” Lizzy said.

“Don’t look at me. I would take the credit if it were me,” Vivianne said.

“But if not you, who?”

“Don’t give her the credit,” Gertrude said as she walked up to the server station with a big smirk on her face. “I heard the diner was struggling, so I put in a few good words with my friends.”

“Gertrude. Thanks for the recommendation,” one of the nearby tables said. “The food here is amazing. I’m gonna tell all my followers about it.”

“Me too. My blog will love it,” the person at her table agreed.

“Who are all these people?” Lizzy asked, mind swirling.

“Just a few witch food bloggers and witch influencers.”

“That’s a thing?” Lizzy asked.

“Oh yeah, their huge online,” Vivianne said, nodding as if it were a perfectly normal thing. “Old Witch communities like Pumpkin Hollow are rare now. But there’s lots of young people who love to travel and experience them. Oh my god, is that Sabrina Hex?” Vivianne gasped, pointing to the young woman who Lizzy had just served a milkshake to.

“I don’t know her,” Lizzy said.

“What? How could you not?”

Lizzy shrugged. She wasn’t on social media much. She was always busy working.

“She’s like one of the biggest witch food influencers. She’s taking pictures, oh my god. If she tells people she likes this place, we’ll have lines every weekend.”

Lizzy’s heart swooped at the thought.

“And you won’t have to sell the diner,” Gertrude said with a wink at Lizzy.

Lizzy looked at her. “I wasn’t⁠—”

“You did say that was your plan when you got here,” Vivianne reminded her.

Lizzy couldn’t argue. That had been her plan. But the longer she’d sat with her feelings, the less the money mattered.

When she thought about this place changing in any way, or having new owners, it made her chest clench. And there was Victor. He’d poured his life into this place. She couldn’t make him sell.

“Well, we won’t need to if this Sabrina Hex is as big as you claim,” Lizzy said.

“She’s huge,” Vivianne assured her before rushing off to help clear a table and prepare for the next group.

“You should be the one to deliver the good news to Victor,” Gertrude said, patting Lizzy’s arm before shuffling toward the door, smiling and chatting with a few of the customers on her way out.

Lizzy looked back to the kitchen and heard Victor shouting to Jason. An order for her table came up, and she went to the window. Their eyes met through it, and a shiver ran down her spine. He held her gaze for a minute, but he was the first to look away.

She’d ruined her chance with him. Though she wanted him still. It was an undeniable fact. He was never far from her thoughts, even when she’d tried so hard to avoid him. When she closed her eyes, she saw Victor’s smile, she felt the memory of Victor’s hands against her waist. This diner made him happy. And if she didn’t give it up, he would lose the thing that mattered most to him.