Read The New Hope Cafe for Free Online Page B

into the doorjamb, bumping
shoulders, but they caught the bread while it was still dark brown.
    CJ plated it with powdered sugar, strawberries and whipped
cream, added it to the egg dishes and danced out to the workers.
    When she returned, she fixed a slice and held out a forkful for
him.
    “I don’t have time to—”
    “Try one bite.” Her sky-blue eyes were lit with pride.
    “If it gets you back on the floor.” He dragged the morsel off
the fork. Flavors exploded on his tongue. Tender bread, sweet with a zip of
spice, tangy with strawberries and the whole effect made dreamy by the
cream.
    “Not bad, if you like dessert for breakfast.”
    “Come on. I can see your pupils pulsating.”
    “You can see my…what?”
    “That’s a sign of pleasure.”
    “It’s a sign we need brighter lightbulbs.”
    “Don’t be such a poop. Admit it’s good.”
    “Did you just call me a poop?”
    “Would you prefer grouch?”
    “Yeah. More dignified.”
    “Deal. Not that you asked, but it’s the flour that makes the
batter richer. And the honey gives it that bite.”
    “Big hassle for a side dish. Would you get the sugar off the
pantry floor before we get ants?”
    “You’re such a p—”
    “Eh, eh, eh. Grouch, remember?”
    Jonah turned back to his grill, grinning despite himself.
    CJ pitched the new dish to every soul who wandered in and Jonah
spent half the morning frying battered bread. The men, especially, went for it.
But then what man could say no to CJ? He sure as hell couldn’t.
    He’d let her disrupt his kitchen, use up dozens of eggs and
loaf after loaf of bread and pop the clutch on his
sex drive.
    She was far too pretty and way too bouncy, a temptation he
didn’t need. Casual sex was all he could offer anyone and CJ wasn’t the
type.
    He’d been wrong to let Suzanne coax him into marriage and a
family. He’d held it together okay until they lost the babies. Then he’d cracked
like paper-thin veneer. I’m lonelier with you than by
myself, she’d said. He hadn’t blamed her for seeking solace
elsewhere. What hurt was that she’d found it with Jared.
    When his wife and his best friend and business partner had
slept together, that had pretty much taken down all the load-bearing walls in
his soul.
    So, yeah, he’d be better off without a delectable pixie dancing
around his kitchen making him want what he didn’t dare have.

CHAPTER FOUR
    B ETH A NN STARED at the fried-egg
sandwich her mother had ordered for her. It looked toasty, at least. Eat one bite. Then one more. Then another.
    If she ate half, her mom said she could ask to pet Jonah’s
cat.
    She lifted the sandwich to her mouth, but the icky egg smell
made her gag, so she put it back down again. Eating had been hard since The
Terrible Thing. The Terrible Thing happened because of how much Beth Ann loved
ice cream on Family Night.
    She glanced up and caught her mom watching her, looking all
worried. She’d gotten worse since they’d left Grandma Price’s. She wanted Beth
Ann to be all right, to be better, to be happy and regular.
    It made Beth Ann tired trying to pretend she was. Tired and
mad.
    Try again. She held her breath and
brought the sandwich up, but her stomach heaved. She set it down.
    “Psst, Bunny.” Jonah called to her from the silver kitchen.
    Bunny sounded so fake, so babyish.
Whenever someone called her that, Beth Ann felt lonelier. She should have picked
a better name.
    Too late now.
    Too late for everything she wanted.
    “What?” she called back.
    “Try the cure.”
    Oh, yeah. She squirted the bottle,
smashed down the bread and took a bite. Her stomach jumped, but the ketchup hid
the egg smell and the sweet taste made it easier to swallow.
    Whew. When she looked up, Jonah
wasn’t there. Good. He didn’t watch her like her mother did. She sighed and ate
another bite. Four more and she could ask about the cat.
    Serena had an orange cat named Chulita—Cutie in Spanish. When Serena watched TV, the cat sat on her
lap,