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that I haven’t figured out yet. Oh, yes, and our homemade bread. It’s a gourmet take on meat and potatoes. What do you think?”
    Her eyes met his. “It sounds perfect.”
    He smiled. For a long moment, he gazed at her, catching and holding her attention. She couldn’t look away. Then some spark, some indefinable awareness passed between them.
    At last, Mike cleared his throat and looked away, shattering the sensation. He turned the conversation back to the benefit dinner menu, but Allie wasn’t really listening. Something odd had just happened, something personal, unsettling. A pull of attraction had danced between them. She’d never felt anything remotely like that before with Mike, and she didn’t like it. Now wasn’t the time to do anything reckless. She liked him. He was a friend. That was all.
    She realized with a start that Mike had stopped talking. He was looking at her with a puzzled expression on his face.
    “That’s good,” she said quickly.
    “Good that I’m worried about Barney’s health?”
    Allie blinked. Yikes. She hadn’t heard a word he’d said about Barney. “No. I mean, yes. Yes, I think it’s good of you to worry about him if he’s working too hard. Maybe you should talk to him, see if you can get him to take some time off.”
    He looked even more curious. “You okay?”
    Other than the fact that she had no idea what career she was going to pursue and now she was finding herself attracted to one of her oldest friends, everything was just terrific.
    “I’m fine. Just distracted. Too much has happened in the last couple of days.” She stopped talking, no longer certain what to say next.
    He came to her rescue. “That’s understandable.”
    He smiled at her again, and this time, her heart actually seemed to flutter. Good grief! What in the world was wrong with her?
    “Cinnamon rolls, right out of the oven,” Colleen said, appearing beside the table.
    Allie had never been so happy to see another person. “Thank God,” she said, realizing too late she’d said it aloud.
    Mike and Colleen stared at her as if they thought she’d lost her mind. She couldn’t blame them. It definitely was a possibility.
    “Guess you really need these,” Colleen teased her. “I didn’t realize it was a cinnamon-roll emergency.”
    Allie shot a glance at each of them, feeling her faceheat up, then reached out and grabbed a roll, hoping it would restore her sanity.
    There was no doubt about it. She needed to go back to school. Fast.
     
    W HEN A LLIE LEFT , Mike felt the room had dimmed, as if somebody had closed the curtains. Had she wanted to stay longer? He couldn’t tell. At some point in the conversation she’d gone off into her own world, had gotten jumpy and nervous.
    Which had made him feel jumpy and nervous. He missed the old days, when he could relax around her. This new Allie, grown-up and gorgeous, made him uncomfortable.
    He hated it.
    The FedEx delivery person came through the door as Mike was on his way back to his office. The packet had come from Abernathy Foods, Inc.
    He signed for the envelope and opened it. Plane tickets from Burlington to New York. Notification from a car service he’d had no idea was available in Vermont that a driver would pick him up at eight Wednesday morning to take him to the airport, and yet another statement regarding the driver who would pick him up at JFK airport in New York to take him to the St. Regis Hotel.
    Clearly, Abernathy Foods was sparing no expense.
    Also included was an itinerary: who he’d meet with, and when, and why.
    Should he even consider franchising? Could he really let other people get involved in his diner?
    He had no idea what to do. All he knew was that he had too many things to worry about at the same time and it was addling his mind.
     
    A LLIE’S INSIDES were churning with uncertainty and tension as she left the diner. The meeting hadn’t gone well. She only hoped she wouldn’t act the same way when she came to work