I led her into the building and watched as she took in the surroundings. It was interesting seeing how some people reacted to the inside being laid out the way it was. What would normally be a dining-room area was a desk and chair where Lauren worked as our secretary. The living-room area had been converted into a half-waiting room and half-nursery. There was a crib, a corner full of toys and blocks and things, and some padded mats on the floor. Beside that was the full kitchen and, down the hall, two offices.
“You have babies come into the office?” she asked.
“All the time,” I said. “Lauren, our receptionist, is married to Carter, who also runs the business with Deacon and me. They have a little one named Carson who comes in a lot. Deacon, the third owner, is about to have a baby with his girl Rebecca too.”
“Wow, so this is like a family business then? Like a real family business. Not one of those where a distant uncle and nephew sometimes work together because they have the same last name.” She laughed.
“That’s a specific example,” I said.
“It happened,” she said. “Wasn’t fun.”
“I bet, but yes, it’s a family business of sorts,” I said. “If you ever run into a day where you can’t find a babysitter or something, let us know. We usually have people in the office who all have little ones who can watch them. Unless it’s just me. I don’t know jack about kids.”
Wendy laughed. “You’ll get there one day.”
“Hope so,” I said.
“It’ll happen,” she said. “If you want it, that is. Hell, I didn’t even know I wanted it and ended up with a kid anyway. Light of my life but having a kid after a one-night stand wasn’t exactly what I was aiming for with my future.”
“Oh,” I said, a little uncomfortable. Wendy wasn’t just lively; she was also an open book.
“Sorry, I’m blabbing,” she said. “Seriously though, I love being a mom. My baby is everything to me. If I can bring them here for a bit every once in a while, if my family’s tied up, that would be great.”
“Sure,” I said. “I’m sure once you meet Lauren and Carter and Deacon, you’ll see.”
I spent the rest of the day hanging out with Wendy, showing her the ropes and being impressed by how much she seemed to have picked up just researching the job after the hire and up to her first day. She seemed like she was primed and ready to go.
It was a fairly busy day, juggling responsibilities I had along with showing Wendy around, and by the time I finally waved goodbye to her and climbed into my truck at the end of it, most of the crew was gone and only Lauren remained in the office, waiting on Carter to get back. I hopped into the cab and turned on the ignition, trying to decide what was next.
I really didn’t feel like cooking. I was too damn tired, and I just wanted something hot that I didn’t have to make. Specifically, I was in the mood for a burger. And by tradition, there was only one place any member of our company would go when they needed a meal after work.
Dina’s Diner.
Dina’s was the classic spot for a lot of folks in town, and we were no different. Ever since we opened our business, it had been the place we dropped by for breakfast before work or dinner afterward. It wasn’t unusual in our first days to eat there three times a day. Though after Deacon noticed he was putting on a few pounds around the middle, we cut that out. We were all too proud of the lean, muscular bodies we’d developed, primarily because we had all three cheated death once already. We didn’t want him to have any other easy reasons to claim us.
Both Lauren and Rebecca had worked there, and Rebecca had begun to pick up shifts again recently. There had been some changeover at the diner that had turned a lot of people away and Rebecca was helping out more than usual up there, even though she was, in her words, “extraordinarily pregnant.”
Even still, Rebecca was well liked among the regulars, and some of them came just so they could get a table from her and tip her and talk about the baby she was about to pop out.
As I walked in, I noticed it was pretty dead, which was sadly not unusual those days. They had been struggling a lot and yet still seemed to always be understaffed. I sat myself in the booth the crew almost always took when we came in and Rebecca saw me from the counter where she was doling out a piece of key lime pie.
A voice broke through the kitchen, hollering about something I couldn’t quite make out, and Rebecca made a face at me of exasperation. I curled an eyebrow and tilted my head to the side, but she just shook hers. I figured whatever was going on back there wasn’t my business, and if she wanted to tell me about it, she’d get around to it some other time.