Page 35 of Hot Under the Collar

“Shh shh shh,” Lynne hissed, trying not to spit out her coffee. “Don’t you know you’re not allowed to have fun at breakfast?”

Minka suddenly appeared beside their booth. “Care to share with the rest of the class?”

“Sorry, Minka,” Leo said, even though he wasn’t. He could use a breakfast like this every day. “We’ll keep it down.”

“Oh, please. Do whatever you want.” She lowered, yet somehow brightened, her voice. “As long as you tip extra. More coffee?”

She topped off both their mugs. But Leo noticed Lynne grew quiet and kept staring at something behind him.

“What’s up?”

“She’s on her phone.” Lynne sighed. “Minka. I bet she’s ratting on us to someone.”

He cleared his throat, thinking of Lynne’s boyfriend, thinking of what it must look like—the two of them showing up at the café just after 7 a.m. together and giggling in a booth. But by now everyone knew she and Andrew were together.

“That going to be a problem?” he asked.

“No, it’s just … annoying,” she confessed. “But whatever. That’s Autumn Ridge. Right? Up in everyone’s business.”

He chewed and swallowed then hesitantly asked, “So how is Andrew?”

Lynne shifted in her seat. “Busy. Always busy.” She forced a little shrug and rolled her mug between her palms. “We’re good. He’s fine.”

He heard the hitch under the words and, for once, he didn’t push. He took another bite of biscuit instead, searching for safer ground. But she chimed in before he had the chance.

“So tell me about your shifts. Like, how does that work?”

“Well, there are three crews—A, B, and C—and we rotate. Twenty-four hours on, then forty-eight hours off. I’m on B shift.” He took another sip of coffee. “I mean, we get PTO and stuff, but that’s the basic schedule.”

“So every three days you stumble out of the station looking like this?”

He huffed. “Tired, hungry, in need of coffee, but still looking fabulous? Yep.” She giggled. He hated how much he loved that sound. How he wanted to make her do it over and over again.

“If you could have anything for your birthday, what would it be?”

You, Lynne. A thousand times over.

“Just this.”

“You’re kidding.” She leaned back against the booth seat and crossed her arms. “Too simple.”

“It’s the perfect Autumn Ridge morning,” he said. “Delicious food. Good company.”

He watched her blue eyes dart to the window, where a gust of wind pushed red and orange leaves down the sidewalk. He wanted to extend his legs out under the table, touch her feet with his, see if she pulled back. But that kind of thinking wouldn’t get him anywhere. Not with Lynne.

“Want to do this again?” he asked softly.

“Breakfast?”

“Yeah. I mean, if someone happened to be sitting here with coffee at the end of my next shift, I’d definitely join them.”

“Oh? Someone?” She arched a brow.

“Well, a certain someone. Hypothetically.” He cleared his throat. “I really enjoyed this.”

“Okay. Breakfast sounds … really nice.” She paused. “Maybe not every third morning, though. Once a week? That I can do.” He smiled across the booth at her. “You choose the day. Just give me a heads-up so I can pretend I’m a morning person.”

Over the next few months, breakfast at Minka’s settled into a rhythm neither of them ever named. They traded stories—his calls, her bar drama, town gossip. He was the first to invite her to the book club the new librarian, Cali, was starting. They’d meet in the alley and walk there together, already bickering over the book club pick. He started swinging by the bar often, in the daylight, when he knew Andrew would be teaching. He no longer waited for his birthday as an excuse to chat her up. And once every week Minka made sure the corner booth was cleared for them.