I followed her through the lively diner to the bar. She was right—almost nobody had food in front of them, except for a few little kids still making their way through pancakes.
I slid onto the stool at the corner of the bar and set my purse at my feet, accepting the menu Charity slid my way.
“Coffee, darlin’?”
“Yes, please.”
She turned to make it, and as it spluttered to life, she said over her shoulder, “So. What did Theo do now?”
I blinked at her. “Why would what he does bother me?”
“Well, you’re rentin’ his house, his daughter loves you, and he can be a bit of a prickly little shit if you ask me.”
I didn’t ask, but I did appreciate it all the same. It was nice to know it wasn’t just me.
I shrugged one shoulder, trying to brush it off. “It’s nothing, really. I’m having a rough time and I guess it just got to me a little more.”
“Right. On account of the issues you’re dealin’ with.”
“You know?”
She pulled the coffee mug from beneath the machine and put it down in front of me. Slowly, she raised one thickly drawn brown eyebrow at me. “Of course I know. You think I don’t have grandkids?”
“Actually, I thought you were in your forties.”
“Well ain’t you sweet.” She patted my arm. “My granddaughter is about the same age as Arielle and loves your videos. When she came to stay here two months ago, she wanted me to curl her hair exactly like you did in some tutorial. Her mama couldn’t get it right, bless her soul, but neither could I. Hooooey, let me tell you, those preteen tantrums are no joke.”
My lips twitched. “I’ll teach you.”
“And I sure appreciate that.” She winked. “So yes, darlin’, I know who you are and why you’re hidin’ here. Not that I think you need to hide. If you released it, good on you. If you didn’t, tell me where the jerk who did lives and I’ll sort him out for you.”
I smiled, looking down. “You acted like you didn’t yesterday.”
“I figured Arielle was enough. Besides, I reckon I’m the first person you saw when you got into town and if you are runnin’, it wouldn’t do you no good to know I knew.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“Of course you do. I’m a lovely person. Now, tell me what Theo did to you. Does he need an ass whoopin’? I might not be his mama, but I’ll give him one.”
“No ass whoopings necessary,” I replied. “Honestly, it’s nothing. He’s just protecting Arielle, and I understand. I’m just salty and hungry.”
“Let me guess; he judged you without knowing you and told you to stay away from her.”
“Are you sure you should be working in a diner? A purple glitzy tent, a headscarf, and a crystal ball might be more fitting.”
She chuckled. “If you find a market for that here, you tell me, and we’ll split the profits. What do you want to eat?”
“Oh, uh—”
“Let me get you the breakfast special.” She turned away before I could respond, which was fine, because it didn’t sound much like an offer anyway. More of a demand.
It wasn’t like I was a stranger to the overbearing ways of the well-meaning Southern grandma. My mom’s side were born and raised in Louisiana until my dad had enough of the roads and moved us all up north.
At least he blamed the roads.
I figured it was probably more of my mee-maw than anything else.
Charity returned with crockery and a napkin for me. “I’m sure Theo didn’t mean no harm, honey. He’s just prickly. He protects his daughter, but he does have a judgey streak in him. Not the best listener. I bet he just assumed about your situation, hmm?”
“I didn’t do it,” I said, repeating what I’d said to Theo this morning. “I had no idea it even existed. My ex released it without my knowledge and now I don’t know what to do.”
She blew out a long breath, leaning forward on the bar. “Do you know it was definitely him?”
“It’s him in the tape. We broke up not long ago. He’s been trying to get back at me ever since, and when I didn’t bite, I guess he went to extreme measures to get my attention.”
“Did it work?”
“Not the way he wanted it to. He’s not worth the time in jail I’d have to serve.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “But you ran. Doesn’t that mean he won?”
I shook my head right back. “No. I live in New York. Too many people know where I live. I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere without being harassed. I’m lucky my publicist was given a heads up so I could get the hell out of the city before it went live.”
“You couldn’t stop it?”
“No. We found out from a smaller media outlet I’ve worked with before. The journalist told us she’d heard it was coming, but nobody knew where from.”
There was the dinging of a bell, and Charity stood upright. “That’ll be your breakfast. Give me two seconds.”
She really was only a few seconds, because before I could take a mouthful of my coffee, she’d laid a huge plate of pancakes, sausage, bacon, scrambled egg, potatoes, and toast in front of me.
She was not kidding when she said it was the special.
It was more food on one plate than I’d eaten in days, and I was not going to wait another second to shovel this all in my mouth like a hungry T-Rex.
I dove in. I’d never eaten pancakes this fluffy, nor bacon this crispy, and by the time I’d scooped a forkful of egg into my mouth, I knew I’d never be able to scramble my own eggs by myself.
Less than ten minutes later, I set my fork down on the plate and covered my mouth when a little bubble of gas slipped up and popped. You know—those burps that aren’t really a burp but more like a bubble popping in the top of your throat?
Yeah, one of those.
Charity grinned, her eyes sparkling. “Good, huh?”
“So good,” I groaned, leaning back and resting my hand on my stomach. “If I weren’t a vlogging exile right now, I’d be blasting you to the internet.”
“Ah, but if you weren’t in your exile, you never would have found us.” She winked, whisking away my clean plate and serving me another cup of coffee at the same time.
If you weren’t in your exile, you never would have found us.
I sighed, looking around the diner. She wasn’t wrong. There was no way I ever would have ended up in Creek Keys if it weren’t for my exile, and even though I still wasn’t sure I was entirely comfortable with it, my stomach was glad to be here.
If my stomach was happy, I was happy.
I was a bit like a man in that respect.
The way to my heart was through my stomach. Or a straw, if you were serving me a cocktail.
“So how long do you reckon you’ll be stayin’ here with us?” Charity wiped down the counter.
“I paid Theo for a week. I promised I’d find somewhere else by then, so…”
“Mm,” she hummed, wiping up a wet spot. “We’ll see.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you’re lookin’ for a miracle. If you find a place to stay long-term around here in the next week, I’ll eat my socks.”