Page 123 of The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

‘There you are!’ Bennett made his way through the crowd to Kira’s side. ‘Big turnout for a diner reopening,’ he said, planting a kiss on Kira’s upturned face.

‘These people love their pancakes,’ Iris said with a laugh. She spotted Archer through the crowd. Easy to do, since Olive was perched up on his shoulders. Gladys stood beside him in front of the new diner.

‘Hello, everyone!’ Gladys called above the din of the crowd. ‘Hello!’

A sharp whistle cut through the noise.

Gladys cleared her throat. ‘Thank you, Mindy.’ She nodded to the deputy mayor. ‘And thank you all for coming to the reopening of our beloved diner. As you know, we’ve had a new chef with us over the past few months, and thanks to his hard work and to so much helpful community feedback, we’ve revamped the place and we hope you love it.’ She gestured to Olive to pull the rope that released the tarp over the new sign.

THE STRAWBERRY PATCH PANCAKE HOUSE

Pancake house? Iris nearly burst out laughing. Archer caught her eye with a grin on his face. This man, this world-renowned chef was now the proud cook at a pancake house.

‘I picked the name!’ Olive said from her perch, and the crowd cheered.

‘Excellent name, Olive!’ Tammy called from her spot next to Kaori and the rest of the book club.

‘Thank you,’ Olive said, with a huge smile on her little face.

‘We hope you like the new menu,’ Archer added. ‘It’s filled with many of your pancake suggestions, as well as some of the menu items we added this spring that you all liked the best. And I suggest trying the “Original Pancake”. I think you all will find it very familiar.’

‘Can we come in and eat now?’ Jacob asked with Darius on his arm.

‘Absolutely. Come on in.’

Iris followed the crowd until she met Archer and Olive at the door.

‘Pancake house, huh?’ she asked with a grin.

Archer shrugged. ‘It just made sense.’ He leaned down and brushed a kiss to her cheek and Olive patted the top of her head, making Iris laugh again.

‘My dad’s here somewhere,’ Archer said, glancing around the crowd.

‘There he is!’ yelled Olive from her perch.

Archer’s dad, Jim, and stepmom, Cathi, fought their way through the crowd to get to them.

‘Grandpa!’ Olive called, shimmying down from Archer’s shoulders. ‘You’re here in real life,’ she said, delighted to see him beyond a computer screen.

‘I sure am.’ He squatted down and pulled Olive into a big hug.

‘Hey Cathi,’ Archer said, hugging his stepmom before introducing her to Iris.

‘Iris!’ Cathi pulled her into a tight hug. ‘We’re so glad to finally meet you and we’re just so over the moon about the news,’ she whispered loud enough that Iris was sure half the diner heard her.

‘Thanks. It’s so nice to finally meet you guys.’

Cathi pulled away with tears shimmering in her eyes, while Jim stood up, giving Iris the same dimpled smile Archer had.

‘We are so happy for you two.’

‘Thanks, Dad,’ Archer said.

‘And you’re a proud pancake chef now, too!’ His father beamed and Iris knew this was exactly why Archer was such a good dad. He had a good example. A dad that loved him whether he was a Michelin-starred chef or he was flipping pancakes at a diner.

Iris immediately loved him.

‘Yep, proud pancake chef. Should we go in?’ Archer gestured for everyone to enter ahead of him.