Page 71 of Moonlight Hearts

“Probably tea with milk.”I showed him one of our menus.“The chai tea, if you ask me.Has lots of spices.”

He nodded.“That and…apple pie, please.”

It took care of him, but that little interaction was the most I’d spoken with any customer.We were down to two tables now, and even counting Ben, we only had five patrons.

“Should we play a game?”Rae asked.

“We’re at work.”

Ben chuckled behind me.Rae frowned at me.

“And here I thought you being late once meant you were, I don’t know,fun.”

I pointed at myself.“I’m fun.”

Rae put their hand on their hip.“Can you prove that, Amory?Are there any witnesses to support your statement?”

“Well…”

They held up their hand.“No, it’s fine.I will make up a game you can get behind.Let’s post some pretty and mouthwatering food porn to the Moonlight’s accounts, okay?”

“F-food porn?”I glanced at the glass case with the pies and pastries.We still had more than enough cherry pie to feed Soyer a slice, but Rae’s eagerness made me worried.

“Yes.Ben, say it’s a good idea.”

“It’s a good idea.”

The reader perked up again.“Fun crowd you have here.Just like my small-town romance.”

He pointed at his book cover, which was about as snowy and cozy as the weather outside.

“Uh, well, it’s just really slow today.”

He pointed again.“They have a snowplow in this.And a sexy plowman with a beard.Can recommend.Five stars.”

“We don’t have any beards here,” Rae said.“Nor anyone with a beard.Come on, Amory, let’s do some marketing.I bet Kasey’s bored out of his head.”

“I really am,” he hollered from the kitchen.

It dawned on me that after the conspiratorial chat, there was now open mutiny at the Moonlight, and there was little I could do, not when they were this reasonable about it.

Table seventeen and the reader left about an hour later.He’d been engrossed in his book, and I hoped it wasn’t the kind that would suck him into the pages if he fell asleep without finishing it.Or maybe that would be a good thing?

By the time the reader and his book left, Rae and Kasey were well into posting things.I had no idea where they were leaving these posts.All over, most likely.

“I think Ben needs pancakes,” Rae said to me from the kitchen side of the passthrough where they were “helping” Kasey.

Ben had already had our leek soup and some sweet potato fries and had valiantly posed with them while eating.He sighed.“I suppose I could do pancakes.”

I rubbed my face.“Fine, but then stop force-feeding Ben dessert.”

The bells above the door twinkled, and I turned.“Welcome to the Moonlight Diner.”

The newcomer was sharply dressed, like a lawyer or a businessperson.He brushed snow from his neatly coiffed hair.

“Good evening.”He had a British accent, very posh, and looked around, then smiled at me before taking a seat at table three.

That made me ever so slightly nervous.If Soyer was early and wanted his table… Then again, he was a co-owner now, and if the patron was just a regular human, Soyer really had no reason to scare him away from his table.So I hoped.