Page 49 of The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

‘That’s where the book club sits.’

‘So?’

Iris looked at him with an exasperated sigh. ‘We can’t just steal their seats.’

‘But they’re not even here.’

‘Oh, they’ll be here, and I’m not about to be the one to take their seats.’

‘Are they assigned or something?’

Another sigh and an added eyeroll. ‘No. It’s just … it’s just how it is. That’s where they sit.’

Of course. That was just the way it was. Same seats. Same pancakes. Archer was suddenly feeling less positive about this plan. He had a feeling the residents of Dream Harbor were about to eat him alive.

‘Hey!’ A dark-haired woman who Archer recognized from the farmers’ market rushed up to Iris and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. They hadn’t really had time to meet that day; Iris had suddenly been in a rush to get home. ‘I didn’t know you were coming,’ she said to Iris.

‘We decided at the last minute.’

‘Oh.’ The woman turned her shrewd gaze to Archer’s face. ‘Hello, there.’

‘Kira, this is Archer. Archer, this is my friend, Kira.’

‘I remember. You’re the reason my kid wants a dog now.’

A slow smile spread across Kira’s face. ‘Sorry about that, but it’s nice toofficiallymeet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.’

‘No, she hasn’t,’ Iris hastily cut in. ‘What are you doing here, anyway? Is Bennett here, too?’

‘He’s over there saving our seats. Come on.’

Iris followed Kira through the crowd, and Archer followed behind. He’d never imagined a small-town biweekly meeting would have a turn out like this, but maybe he should have known. If they cared that much about their diner offerings, they must care about everything else, too. Again, he questioned the sanity of throwing himself at the mercy of this crowd.

It was his kitchen, his menu, his reputation on the line. And if his old dreams were dead, he wasn’t about to fail at this new one. He’d never once crowd-sourced a recipe before. But ever since Iris had called him out for being a cocky bastard, he’d been trying to adjust. He thought Cyrus was going to tip over when he asked for his opinion on the new egg dishes he was working on. Thanks to Maribel’s recommendation, they’d hired a culinary student to help prep in the mornings, and their breakfast service had gone much smoother because of it.

The women stopped in front of a row of folding chairs on the side of the meeting space. A dark-haired man with a striking resemblance to Superman stood up to greet them.

‘Hey, Iris.’

‘Hi, Bennett. This is Archer.’ She gestured to where he loomed behind her.

‘Hey, man, nice to meet you.’ Bennett stuck out his hand and Archer shook it. ‘Welcome to the town meeting.’

‘Yeah, thanks. I didn’t realize it would be this … well-attended,’ Archer said, glancing around as people started taking their seats.

Bennett chuckled. ‘Oh, it’s a whole thing.’

‘So why are you here?’ Kira asked as they slid down the row into their seats.

‘Archer is going to ask for pancake suggestions,’ said Iris.

Kira’s brows rose until they were hidden under her bangs. ‘Yikes.’

‘Yikes?’ Archer queried, and she smiled at him in a rather ominous way.

‘Just, I’m sure they’ll have a lot of suggestions for you.’

Iris shot her a glare. ‘Exactly. That’s the point. It’ll be good.’ She patted his knee in a way he guessed was supposed to be comforting, but all that registered in his brain was that Iris was touching his leg. ‘You’ll get lots of new ideas to try and I’m sure one of them will be the right one.’