Chapter 7: A Life-Changing Surprise

- SEVEN WEEKS LATER -

Remember everything I said about there being worse things than making a mistake?

I may have been wrong about that.

"Somethin' wrong?" Cynthia asks me, wiping her hands on her apron.

I look up from the menus I've been wiping down. "No, no, I'm fine." There's only one table of customers at the moment, which means we've spent most of the last hour cleaning up and readying the diner for the morning shift.

"Mm-hmm," Cynthia says, pursing her lips at me in that way she does when she doesn't believe a word I'm saying. "Something's going on with you. I can tell."

"It's nothing, really," I insist, taking my soapy rag to a patch of crusty ketchup on one of the menus. Nothing I can talk about, anyway.

"Mm-hmm."

I frown down at the stubborn dried ketchup, trying to think about anything else. It doesn't work.

Cynthia comes over to stand beside me, nudging me with her hip. "I know you, Edie. As much as anyone in this town knows you. You've been distracted all shift." W