Page 131 of Small Town Swoo
“I didn’t. I had no fucking clue.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Ellie got pregnant after we were stranded in a snowstorm at a motel for a couple days.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I said. “Really?”
“She couldn’t stand me,” he said, laughing. “I was the last guy on earth she thought she’d end up with. And I had no interest in being a husband or a father at the time. But the universe is funny like that. Sometimes it just hands you a plate. And you can be like, ‘Excuse me, I didn’t order this,’ and the universe is like, ‘Just eat. You’re gonna love it.’”
I laughed. “And you did?”
“And I did.” He paused. “Are you thinking that way about Ari? I know you said you weren’t dating, but then I saw you at the wedding.”
“Yeah. We were trying to keep things quiet, but it didn’t really work.” I readjusted the cap on my head. “I’m not really thinking that far ahead with Ari—I’ve got things I want to do and so does she—but for the first time in my life, the idea of having a family doesn’t seem so out there.”
He shrugged. “You don’t have to rush it. Although a ring might have been less expensive than a food truck.”
Laughing again, I climbed in. “Ari is that girl who’d rather have a food truck than a diamond. Although maybe someday, she’ll have both from me.”
“I have a feeling,” Gianni said.
I pulled the door shut and rolled down the window. “Thanks for everything.”
“My pleasure. Let me know how it goes.”
I turned the key and headed back to Cherry Tree Harbor, my excitement growing with every mile that brought me closer to home.
Closer to her.
TWENTY-SEVEN
ari
“More coffee, Gus?”
“Sure, Ari.” The old-timer pushed his half-empty cup toward me, and I refilled it. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Larry?”
He nodded, and I poured more for him too, giving both of them a smile I didn’t feel. I could do it—the muscles in my face worked, my mouth would stretch, my lips would curve up—but it might as well have been a mask. I hadn’t smiled for real in days.
After my conversation with Ellie, I had idly hunted around on the internet for another truck, but my heart wasn’t in it. Veronica, who’d come up to Buckley’s Pub with Austin last night, had given me a hug and told me not to worry. “Food trucks aren’t one-of-a-kind,” she pointed out. “Another one will come along.”
“I know,” I said. But it wasn’t the one-of-a-kind truck I was mourning the loss of, and Veronica knew it.
She was sitting at a table now with Owen and Adelaide, since Austin had left early this morning on a business trip.In fact, the twins were approaching the counter now with mischievous grins on their faces.
“Hey, guys.” I tried my best for a real smile. “What’s up?”
“We have something for you,” said Owen.
“It’s a note.”
As if they’d argued over who’d actually get to hand me the note and decided they’d do it together, each of them held a corner of a folded piece of paper as they laid it on the counter.
“What’s this?” I glanced at it as I set my coffee pot down.
“Read it,” Adelaide urged.
