Affronted all over again she gave a sniff and pulled away. “The person who counts doesn’t think I’m a great mother, but thanks. I appreciate the vote of confidence.” She pulled off a corner of warm, flaky croissant and ate it. “You might not be perfect, but your baking is and so is your coffee.” She glanced around. “Where’s Shannon? Why are you on your own here?”

“Shannon left on Friday. Took a job in Monterey. Fancy place with linen napkins and silverware. She thinks the tips will be better.” Nate took her empty cup. “I did tell you.”

“Did you?” Mel remembered the conversation vaguely. “You’re in charge of hiring and firing and you have astonishing gifts of persuasion, so I guess I thought you’d talk her out of it.”

“Well, I didn’t. And no, so far I haven’t found a replacement. If you know anyone looking to work here over the summer, let me know.”

“You still have Don and Nicky. And I can help out front if I have to.”

Nate raised an eyebrow. “You’d do that for me?”

“Only because you hugged me when I needed it most. Don’t read too much into it. It would be a temporary thing.”

“Too right it would be temporary. The business would never survive your plain speaking.”

“I believe in calling a burger a burger.”

“You believe the customer is always wrong.”

“Only when they don’t know what they want, or change their mind about what they ordered and then complain about it.” Mel ate another mouthful of croissant and shrugged. “But for a short time I’m prepared to smile and suck it up.”

Nate looked unconvinced. “You can do that?”

“I guess we’ll find out.” She put the plate down. “You won’t be able to manage without me, will you?”

“It will be fine.” As usual he was laid-back and relaxed. She would have given anything to be half as relaxed as he was.

“What if it isn’t fine?”

“Then we’ll deal with it.” He frowned. “Is there something else bothering you? You seem agitated.”

“I don’t know, it’s just—” She wanted to ask if he’d seen the news reports about Cliff Whitman, but she knew he had. It had been splashed everywhere. He couldn’t have missed it, and yet he hadn’t mentioned it. She didn’t want to raise something that might open old wounds.

Did he think about it? Did he think about Joanna and wonder what she was doing? Damn it, this was her brother and she should be able to talk about anything she wanted to talk about with him. “You’ve seen the news?”

“The news?”

Was he being intentionally annoying? “Cliff Whitman. Joanna.”

He sighed. “I wondered how long it would take you to ask.”