Ava felt her eyes widen, but she took a deep breath and gave him a smile. It was all just sinking in for him. It would be fine. “This is my way of making sure you have everything you want,” she told him.

He took a deep breath. He swallowed. He clenched his jaw. Then he scowled. “When did I ever give you the impression that I wanted a hole in my wall?”

Okay, so that wasn’t exactly the reaction she’d expected, but this was a big surprise. He just needed a little time to get used to it.

“You’re going to be a partner in the pie shop. This way you can be in two places at once,” she said. “It will be so much easier to go back and forth and take care of things on both sides.”

“So basically,” he said, crossing his arms. “You’ve now doubled my work, rearranged my diner, and made it impossible for me to say no because it’s already done.”

She blinked at him. “Well…no.” None of that was what she’d intended.

“The pie shop is now connected to the diner, Ava,” he said, his exasperation clear. “That means people will be expecting pie. The pie that I’ve adamantly refused to serve in the diner. And there is now more space to clean. More supplies to buy. More tables which means more people at once. That all means more work.”

She felt her own frown start. He didn’t have to do all the work by himself. That was also part of her plan. As she and Hank and Roger and Cori and Evan and Brynn and Noah had all proved over the last few weeks, other people could pitch in and help him out.

“You don’t have to do it all.”

“But I want to,” he said. He blew out a breath and dropped his arms. “This is my diner. I run it the way I want to, by myself, the way it’s always been. The way I like it.”

She counted to ten before she responded. “But you were excited about being a partner in the pie shop. How did you think you were going to do that exactly?” she asked.

“By letting Cori take the lead in the kitchen and helping her however I could on the side.”

“But you have ideas for the pie shop too,” Ava insisted. “Why not do both?”

“Because I’m already doing what I want to do!” He looked completely frustrated as he shoved a hand through his hair. “That diner has been the way it is for fifteen years. And I like it that way. I…need it to be that way.”

Her heart was pounding and she was trying like hell to understand. But frankly, people didn’t say no to her when she was trying to give them things. Honestly, more often than not, the meetings she had were with people wanting her to give them things. “Here.” She shoved the papers she held at him. Maybe this would help show him what she’d intended.

“What’s this?”

“The deed to the building. I assumed the loan from the bank and, thanks to Evan, those documents turn the whole thing over to you. You now own every part of the diner, just like we’d discussed, and you own the pie shop too.”

He looked at the cover page but didn’t bother to flip through the pages.

“Cori is completely fine with it,” Ava added, glancing at her sister. Cori gave her a wide-eyed look. Ava just shrugged. “You’ll still be partners in the business itself but you’re the owner of the physical building.”

“You weren’t supposed to use your personal funds for the pie shop,” he said, scowling at the page.

“I didn’t,” she said, shaking her head. “I reinvested the pie shop’s profit into this.”

He turned his scowl on her. “You what?”

She frowned back at him. “I did what any smart business person does. I took our profits and reinvested them in an idea that will make us even more money.”

“You have to have that profit to fulfill the stipulations of the will!” Parker exclaimed. “You just got back to a positive balance.”

“Yes, because everyone heard that you were getting involved,” she said. “And using it now, when we still have six months left, to make this very positive change, was a smart decision.”

He pulled a deep breath in through his nose. “So you really did put a hole in the wall of my diner and turned the building I own into one big restaurant without asking me about it first.”

Ava put a hand on her hip, frustration and disappointment and yes, hurt, welling up. “Actually, I turned the building I own into two restaurants that are now connected,” she said coolly. “And now I’m giving it to you.”

Now he did look up. “Well, I don’t want this.”

“You don’t want it to be even easier to manage both businesses and to make even more food for more people?” she asked.

He handed the papers back to her. “No.” He turned and started for the kitchen.

Ava simply stared, perplexed, watching him go. Then realized what he was about to walk into. “Parker! Hey, we need to talk about this!” She ran after him, but he hit the door to the diner’s kitchen before she could get to him.

He stopped so suddenly on the other side, she nearly plowed into him. She took a deep breath and slipped around him, holding her hands up.

“Okay, just, hang on,” she told him before he could speak. “Don’t freak out.”

But he wasn’t saying anything even though his mouth was hanging open.

Shit, shit, shit. “Parker, I—”

“Dammit, Ava!” He finally erupted. He looked down at her, his eyes stormy.

So, in spite of the brand new, shiny silver industrial oven that could bake multiple pies at once, and the additional prep space and the new bigger fridge, he wasn’t thrilled with the hole in the wall between their kitchens either.

Yes, this was a big hole. Bigger than the one in the front. In fact, this one had more or less made the back rooms of the two businesses into one big kitchen. But it was a very nice big kitchen. And if he opened the new fridge, he’d see it was fully stocked with butter and eggs. Because she’d thought that would be kind of funny and sentimental and sweet. She’d taken down her egg-throwing wall to put all of this in, because she didn’t need that egg-throwing wall anymore. She wasn’t frustrated with her lack of ability in the kitchen anymore. And she now had access to a wood pile and chainsaw for when she did need to work off some steam.

But it didn’t look like Parker would find that quite as meaningful as she’d intended it at the moment.

Still, she had to try to make him understand what she’d done. Or rather, why she’d done what she’d done.

“I want to combine our lives, Parker,” she said, keeping her voice calm. “That’s what I’m trying to show you here.”

“There is no way you had enough profit to afford all of this,” he said, his voice dangerously low.

“Okay, I might have gone to the bank for a small loan.”

“Dammit, Ava!” he exploded. “You had just gotten Rudy’s loan paid off and started making money! Now you’re right back where you started!”

“I believe in this, Parker,” she insisted. “I know what I’m doing. And not only is this a good business decision, it’s good for us. Personally. I want to spend most of my time in Bliss and I want to be a part of your world and I want you to be a part of mine. All of it. All the time.”

“You want to be a part of my world when it’s the way you think it should be.”

Whoa. She frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You want to be a part of my world if it’s bigger and better and under your influence. You couldn’t be happy with just my simple diner that’s always the same.” He was scowling at the new oven. “I don’t know why I ever thought you could maybe be satisfied with burgers. It’s always going to have to be chicken salad with you.”

“What? No.” Did she want to encourage him and give him opportunities and support him? Yes. But the way he said “influence” it sounded like he thought she wanted to take over.

“You do realize that I call you Boss sarcastically, right?” he asked, focusing on her directly again.

She felt her mouth fall open and her eyes started to sting. She blinked and drew herself up tall. “Actually, I thought you called me Boss affectionately.” She was glad her voice didn’t wobble. Her throat definitely felt tight.

“Well, you’re not the CEO of this diner,” he said, his scowl deep. “This wasn’t your decision to make.”

Ouch.

Okay, so, she wasn’t used to asking for, or waiting for, permission. She was not usually the one pitching ideas and getting approval. She was the one giving the thumbs-up or down. So no, she hadn’t thought to run this past him. The idea had come to her and she’d made a phone call. Putting things into motion was easy for her, and she never really gave much thought to the fact that wasn’t true for everyone. But she had contacts and connections everywhere for just about everything. If she didn’t know someone directly, she definitely knew someone who knew someone. She’d come up with an idea, something she thought was really creative and meaningful, and then she’d just…done it.

“I’m not trying to be the CEO of the diner,” she told him. “I don’t want to change it. I just want you to be happy. To have everything you want.”

“But you did change the diner! My dad’s diner. I messed up his life in Chicago, Ava. I was the reason he came to Bliss. And I’ve been determined to not mess things up here.”

She sucked in a breath. This was not going even remotely the way she’d intended it to go. She didn’t want him to see this as a mess. “Parker, I know what it’s like to try to follow your dad in his business. But I’ve also realized that what he really gave me was not a business, but an opportunity. A chance to find my own way rather than just following his path. That’s what you have here from your dad too.”

“I like my path. I have exactly the life I’ve always wanted to have,” he said, suddenly sounding tired. “And yes, I wanted you to be a part of that. But I was hoping that what I already had was enough for you.”

“So you’re fine having me in your world, in your greenhouse, in your chicken coop, in your bed, as long as I’m the only thing changing,” she said, tears pricking the backs of her eyes again.

“I thought you were happy about the changes you’ve made.”

“I am. But I thought…we would make changes together,” she said. She blew out a frustrated breath. “You’re so talented and you love food and you love creating new things. You don’t want other people to love it as much as you do?”

“I thought you loved it as much as I do,” he said flatly.

She frowned. “I do.”

“That’s enough for me.”

“Cooking for me is enough for you?” she asked, disbelievingly.

“Cooking for you. Picking strawberries with you. Cleaning up the diner with you. Gathering eggs with you. Making love to you. That’s enough for me. And I thought you were starting to feel the same way. I thought you were starting to feel at home. To feel something for Bliss that you couldn’t get in New York.”

She swallowed hard. “I do feel something for Bliss I can’t get in New York.”

“But it’s not enough.”

Ava felt her breath catch in her chest. It was enough. It was.

Wasn’t it? She thought about the cooking and the strawberries and the kitchen and waking up next to him. Was that enough? Then she looked around. This, this new stuff, the new pie ideas, the possibilities, were all amazing too. “I know this is bigger than you’ve ever imagined. But you still have everything you’ve always had. Nothing’s gone away.”

He took a deep breath. “The one thing you knew, the most important thing, was that I didn’t want the diner to change.” His voice was low, but not sexy low. It was super-pissed low. “And you knew why.”

“But I—”

“The other thing you knew, was that I believed our trip to New York was about us. Personally. Our relationship. The next step.”

“It was, I—”

“But the entire time we were gone, you were thinking about business and orchestrating all of this. Behind my back.”

His voice was rising, and Ava felt her defenses growing.

“As a surprise! Because I wanted to do something appropriately big and wonderful for this next step. Because New York was about us! It was what convinced me that I can be in two places, doing all the things I need, and want, to do. And it was what made me realize you can do the same. This is practical, but it’s also symbolic, dammit!”

He actually rolled his eyes at that, and Ava drew her spine ramrod straight. He was rolling his eyes about her? About her symbolic, sweet, I-want-to-share-everything gesture? “This is the next step, Parker. Sharing our lives. I have never done something like this for someone other than my mom and sisters. I did this because you’re important to me!” She was almost shouting now too.

“You should have fucking asked me.”

“Then it wouldn’t have been a fucking grand gesture!”

He just stared at her. She wasn’t sure where that had come from either. She didn’t make grand gestures. Even with her mom and sisters. She usually just put money into their accounts. That was as grand as it got. But Parker had her thinking about…more. How much she wanted to do something that would make him happy. It had been fun thinking up ways to demonstrate to him how she felt about him. No, she hadn’t literally knocked down the walls herself, but she had put thought and a personal touch on all of this. That’s why there were denim aprons with ruffles and apple pie shots on the center island of Parker’s kitchen. Strangely, it was those little details that were also pretty grand in her book. It had all taken a lot more thought and heart than she really ever gave to anything else.

“I don’t need grand gestures, Ava,” Parker finally said, sounding tired. “I need to come to work, like I’ve always done, and live my life…like I’ve always done.”

Her throat was tight and she had to clear it before she asked, “And where am I in that plan?”

He sighed. “An hour ago? I would have said in bed next to me and in the kitchen next door to me. Now…”

He didn’t know. He didn’t say it out loud, but she knew that’s what he was thinking.

Ava felt a chill sweep over her. “Life changes when you have a relationship, Parker,” she said, her voice softer now. “At least a real one where you want that person involved in the things you care about.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I guess it does.”

Ava felt tears welling up. “Especially when it’s with someone really different from you. Who has different ideas and wants to be a part of things—even the things you’ve always had to yourself.”

He nodded again. “I guess so.”

She waited for him to say more. Then hoped he wouldn’t if it was something like “I can’t do this. You’ve messed up my kitchen, my diner, my life.”

She could pay to have everything put back the way it had been. Maybe she even should. But other than that, she didn’t know what to do here. And she knew, somehow, that wouldn’t actually fix this.

Because he wasn’t really mad about the hole in his wall. Okay, he definitely was. But it was more because she was insinuating herself into his life, and he was losing a bit of his control of the life that he’d so carefully constructed and protected. He was fine with having her at the farm when she was picking up chickens and having sex with him in his greenhouse. But he had really liked when her phone had been out in his truck and not in her hand. He hadn’t even wanted her to pick his spinach and strawberries for salads. And now she’d opened up the wall between the pie shop and the diner when he’d been very comfortable with that wall being there. That wall between his domain and the place she and her sisters were changing and expanding.

Feeling her frustration building and her reasonableness decreasing, she took a deep breath. She didn’t yell in business meetings. She didn’t get her feelings hurt. She was always in control. And she was absolutely going to treat this like a business meeting.

Because she had no idea how to handle a relationship with emotions like this.

This was one more situation where she was way out of her comfort zone.

“I think we both need some time to think about everything,” she said, lifting her chin and putting her CEO face on.

Parker nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“I’ll…” She looked around. He’d brought her here. She didn’t have a car. And he still needed to prep for tomorrow.

“I’ve got it,” he said, as if he’d read her mind.

“I can stay and help.”

“No.” He said it firmly. “I’ve got it.”

Right. He probably wanted to be alone. She knew she did. But it was also because of her that he’d been gone for the past three days. “Cori and Brynn will stay.” She knew they’d do it for her.

“Ava.” Parker pushed a hand through his hair again and sighed. “I’ve been prepping this diner alone for thirteen years.”

Right. And he obviously preferred it that way.

She turned and headed for the front of the diner. But as she passed the island, she not only grabbed the aprons, she took the tray of shots with her as well.

And she was not sharing.

---

Dude.”

“I know.”

“It was bad.”

“I know.”

Evan and Noah had been leaning against the back of the building when Parker had pulled into the diner’s back parking lot this morning at five. And they’d been sitting at his counter ever since. Parker had been expecting them. He was just grateful they hadn’t come to his house and demanded he talk to them about it all last night. He’d scrubbed and diced and shredded for almost an hour. Then he’d headed straight home to his pile of wood to chop. And as he’d destroyed the logs with the chainsaw, he’d thought of her the entire time.

Parker threw the towel he was holding into the bin of dirty dishes and wished it was something that would make a louder, more satisfying, noise. Or break something when he threw it. Ava really had a point there. Breaking things on purpose—instead of inadvertently as he had last night—was pretty cathartic. Until he stopped and thought about how there were things in life, a lot of things, that couldn’t be put back together once they were in pieces.

And as he picked up the tub, he realized that he was screwed if dirty plates and cups made him think of Ava. She had become a part of everything about the diner, even before there was a gaping hole in the wall, and there was no way for him to avoid thoughts of her. He was surrounded by dirty dishes almost constantly.

“So we’re not going to talk about this today either?” Evan asked.

Parker turned toward the kitchen with Evan and Noah’s breakfast dishes.

They’d been quiet while he’d cooked and they’d eaten. But he’d known it was too much to hope that pancakes and sausage would keep them from lecturing him about everything. They’d just been careful to get breakfast first.

He glanced at the hole in the wall…okay it was a doorway…between the diner and the pie shop. The girls weren’t in yet, but he could already imagine how it would look and sound and smell once they were there.

Good. Bright. Cheery.

Those were three of the words that came to mind. He sighed. He could pretend that the increased noise level or the traffic back and forth between the two shops would be annoying. But the truth was, the opening into the pie shop would do nothing but make the diner brighter and smell like pie.

“No, we’re not going to talk about it,” he finally answered Evan.

“You overreacted,” Evan told him.

Parker swung back. “Really? I overreacted? She knocked two holes in the wall of my diner.”

Evan and Noah just looked back at him with expressions that said, you’re a dumbass.

“She did,” he said. “Without asking me. Without even hinting at the idea. Without even thinking for a second about how I would feel about it.”

“Seriously?” Noah asked. “She didn’t hint at it? You didn’t hint at it?”

“At knocking walls down?” Parker asked.

“At combining the things that matter to you both.”

Parker stared at his friend. In part because Noah never raised his voice. And in part because Parker suddenly couldn’t take a deep breath. Nor did he have any idea what to say to that.

“How about in all the times she was over here and you were talking about the future of the pie shop and you were acting like you liked having her here? How about in all of the times you were over there, involved, helping, giving her the thing you complain the most about not having enough of—your time? You really think none of those were hints that you might be on board with combining your lives?”

Parker swallowed hard. “That pie shop is not her life.”

“You sure about that?” Noah asked.

He wasn’t sure about anything.

“Maybe she can’t make pie, but that pie shop has everything she cares about in it,” Noah said. “Her sisters’ happiness.” He held up a finger. “A happier idea of her dad.” He added a second finger. Then a third. “A challenge that she’s had to actually put her hands in to figure it out.” He put up a fourth finger. “And a guy who doesn’t want her money or her power, but who got involved with her life because of her.”

Parker felt his throat tighten. Noah was a pretty insightful guy. He was more of an observer than a participant in most situations. But Parker had to assume a lot of this had also come from Brynn.

“I never once said that I wanted to combine the two businesses into one building,” Parker said. But his protest didn’t ring true even to his own ears. No, he’d never said that. But he’d also never said that he wanted to make her chicken salad for the rest of their lives…and he did.

“How about when you took her to your house and showed her the greenhouse and introduced her to your chickens?” Evan asked, a hint of you’re-a-dumbass even sneaking into his tone of voice.

Parker narrowed his eyes. “What about that?”

“You don’t take women home like that,” Evan said, lifting his orange juice glass that Parker now regretted refilling for him.

“Like that?” Parker repeated. “What’s that mean?”

“You take them home, fuck them, and send them on their way,” Noah said bluntly. “You don’t show them around, you don’t cook for them—hell, you make a point of taking them home late enough and waking them up early enough that there are no meals expected—and you definitely don’t take them into that greenhouse. I only got to go in there because I helped you build the damned thing.”

“You think it means something that I took her to the greenhouse?” Parker asked, trying very hard to make it sound like that was a completely stupid assumption.

But it wasn’t. It did mean something. It meant even more that she’d been impressed by it and had let him get her dirty—in every way—in there. After seeing her dressed up and totally at ease in her private jet and limo in New York City, it was even more obvious that Ava’s time out on the farm with him had meant something to her too.

“I do. And even more, Ava does,” Noah said.

Parker frowned at him. “How do you know that?”

“She told Brynn.”

“And Cori,” Evan added.

Parker sighed and set the bin of dishes to the side. “Good God, being involved with sisters is a pain in the ass.”

Evan and Noah didn’t disagree.

The door to the diner suddenly banged open and a loud, deep voice declared, “Holy shit! That looks amazing!”

It was Hank, leading Walter, Ben, and Roger into the diner for breakfast. They were always first in and didn’t leave until the pie shop opened.

Parker sighed. The entryway—which was exactly what it was—to the pie shop did look nice. And for the four most regular customers of both businesses, it was probably a dream come true.

The men settled into their usual booth and Parker approached with coffee cups. The pie shop had far better coffee and everyone knew it, but these guys insisted on drinking his crappy stuff with their eggs and bacon anyway.

It wasn’t until Parker reached for the first coffee cup that he noticed the pie sitting in the middle of the table. It had one piece missing.

“You brought a pie in here?” Parker asked, his chest so tight he was having trouble pulling air in.

“I brought the pie in here,” Hank said, looking over the menu despite the fact that he could very recite it word for word and that he had had the same thing every Monday morning. He pretended to consider something new every week, but it never happened. Parker appreciated that about him. He already had the bacon ready to go.

“The pie?” Parker repeated. “What’s that mean?”

Hank lowered the menu and met his eyes. “That pie is the pie Ava made for you last night. It is officially her favorite pie. A pie she figured out all on her own. And one of the best damned pies I’ve ever eaten.”

Parker suddenly wanted a bite of that pie more than he wanted all of these people to get the hell out of his diner. And he wanted that very fucking much.

“Why’s it in here?” he asked, trying to sound pissed off. He thought he sounded more in pain than anything.

“Because I intend to eat it with my breakfast,” Hank said.

Parker narrowed his eyes. “I see.”

“The same breakfast I’ve had every single Monday morning for the past thirteen years,” Hank added.

Parker couldn’t look away from the older man. “The breakfast that has, apparently, been missing an apple pie chaser?”

Hank shook his head. “This breakfast hasn’t been missing anything. It’s great as is. And even with a piece of pie after it, it will still be great. And taste exactly the way it always has.”

Parker swallowed hard. “What’s your point, Hank?”

“That adding pie is only going to make this breakfast bigger and sweeter. It’s not going to change that omelet and toast. Everything I love about that omelet will be the same.” Hank gave him a look. “You get what I’m saying?”

Parker gave a bark of laughter. “You’re not subtle, Hank.”

“So, you understand that adding that girl to your life doesn’t change all the stuff you love about it? It just makes it bigger and sweeter?” Hank asked.

Parker felt the vise around his chest ease a little with Hank’s words, but he said, “And louder and busier and messier.”

Hank chuckled and lifted his coffee cup.

“It’s funny?” Parker asked.

“Hell yeah, it’s funny,” Hank said, looking around the table. “That woman’s not only bossing you around in your own diner and tying you up in knots, but now she’s literally knocking down the walls around you.”

Parker felt the air whoosh out of his lungs. Damn. Talk about symbolic stuff. He glanced over at Evan and Noah, who had swiveled on their stools to face Hank and the guys.

“I don’t—” Parker cleared his throat. “I don’t actually care that she knocked a hole in the wall,” he admitted. If he couldn’t say it to these guys, who could he say it to? Because he wasn’t even being honest with himself.

“So what’s the problem?” Walter asked.

“Is it how she’s doing it?” Roger asked. “Just barging in and doing it without tiptoeing around your feelings?”

Parker gave him a look. “Clearly the tiptoeing around feelings isn’t a widespread problem here.”

Roger laughed. “Those of us who like ketchup on our steak tiptoe.”

“Those of you who like ketchup on your steak are screwed up,” Parker said. “And that isn’t about my feelings.”

“What’s it about then?” Roger wanted to know.

“It’s about continuing to be served in here,” Parker told him flatly. “You follow the rules, or you don’t get my steak.”

Hank nodded. “Ava doesn’t really follow rules either though, does she?”

No, she freaking didn’t. Like the rule of no one else in his kitchen. And no one else doing anything in the diner. And of eating only off the menu. And of following recipes…

Which was where his rules about rules got him into trouble. He knew better than anyone that recipes were best when regarded as nothing more than a starting point. Ava had seen recipes as rules and she’d really tried. It wasn’t until she’d tossed those out that good things had happened between her and the pies.

“What’s your point?” Parker finally asked Hank.

“That she didn’t just knock one of your walls down,” Hank said, meeting his eyes. “She knocked one of hers down too.”

Parker felt like Hank had turned on a light in a dim room for him. What had been almost clear, was now suddenly bright and obvious.

Ava’s grand gesture, as she’d called it, had been symbolic of combining their lives. But it was about more than her wanting to be a part of his life, even with changes. She was letting him into her life too. He wasn’t the only one that had walls up carefully protecting his territory and controlling his environment.

“Rudy would get such a kick out of Ava finally getting pie inside this diner,” Walter said with a soft laugh.

“But I don’t think he’d be surprised that she accomplished something he couldn’t,” Evan said from behind Parker. “She’s something and I’m sure Rudy knew that.”

Everyone nodded at that as Parker’s gut knotted into a ball of need and regret and affection all at once.

She’d done so much in a short time. She’d helped remodel the pie shop. She’d created the perfect apple pie recipe. She’d faced so many things outside of her comfort zone—from learning to whisk to handling a rooster. She’d changed her whole attitude toward her position at Carmichael. Hell, she’d moved to a place and taken on a job that was as foreign to her as she could probably get.

What had Parker done that was new or challenging or different?

He’d closed the diner a couple of days and made chicken salad.

Parker ran a hand through his hair, suddenly feeling like a jackass. Okay, he’d felt like a jackass last night too, but he’d ignored it. He wasn’t ignoring it now.

He couldn’t help but think of the way Rudy had come to town in a flashy Cadillac, how he’d thrown himself into life in Bliss, and had opened a pie shop next door to the diner, in part to show Parker that he wasn’t completely in control.

His daughter had come into Parker’s life a lot like Rudy had. She’d arrived in a limo rather than a Cadillac, but she’d become a regular part of his life when he wasn’t looking. And she’d definitely showed him that he wasn’t completely in control. And now he couldn’t imagine a day in the diner without her. Or a day anywhere without her.

“Yeah, the smell of pie coming in from next door can’t make anything worse,” Ben said.

Parker cleared his throat. “You’re absolutely right. I love the smell of apple pie too.” It was something he could no longer smell without getting turned on, as a matter of fact. Which could be a problem if he was going to be smelling it all day long.

Or he could just pull Ava into the storeroom once or twice a day…

He drew himself up straight and took a deep breath. “I need to go.”

“Go?” Walter asked. “But you haven’t made breakfast yet.”

Parker shrugged. “I need to make some changes.”

Noah grinned at the older men. “Evan and I were smart enough to eat before we enlightened him.”

Parker returned the coffeepot to the burner and untied his apron, tossing it on the counter as his thoughts spun.

“You’re leaving?” Evan asked.

Parker nodded, distracted with the plan he was formulating. It was his turn for a grand gesture. And he knew just the one.

“What about the breakfast crowd?” Evan glanced around. “They’ll be here any minute.”

Parker shrugged.

“Do you want us to close up for you?” Noah asked.

“You can’t close up again,” Walter said. “You’ve been closed for the past three days.”

“I’ve had cereal at home three mornings in a row,” Ben added.

“Help yourself to the kitchen,” Parker said. “Everything’s in there.” He wondered if he could convince Larry Miller to open the hardware store for him this early. He wasn’t sure he had all the supplies he would need to pull off what he was envisioning.

“You’re letting us into this kitchen?” Walter said.

Parker barely heard him. He shrugged. “Sure.”

“And what do we do once we’re in there?” Ben asked.

“Make breakfast,” Parker said. “There’s a stove, pans, what else do you need?”

“You,” Ben said, as if it was obvious.

“Yeah, well, you’re on your own today,” Parker said.

“Uh, Parker?” Noah asked.

He looked concerned when Parker focused on him. “Yeah?”

“You’re inviting people in to cook their own breakfasts in your kitchen?”

“Yeah.”

“They’re going to mess it up,” Noah pointed out.

“And probably put things back in the wrong places,” Evan said. “Maybe break dishes,” he added quickly as if it had just occurred to him.

“Yeah, well…” Parker shrugged. “I’ve got something more important to do.”

“More important than this diner?” Noah asked, but he was already smiling.

Parker grinned back at him. “Yep. Something more important than this diner.”

“Well, holy shit,” Noah muttered.

“But we don’t know your recipes,” Walter said.

Parker looked around, but he found himself meeting Hank’s eyes. Hank gave him a little nod. Parker smiled. “Well, Walter, sometimes the best things happen when you don’t follow a recipe.” Parker felt the adrenaline, determination, and rightness of what he was going to do flood through him.

But just as he was stepping through the swinging door, Roger called, “Does this mean we can start putting ketchup on our steak?”

“Fuck no,” Parker told him firmly, not even looking back. “Don’t even think about it.”