“How long were you in?”

“Six years.” The smile slid from his face.

“Enjoyed it that much?”

“My father is, or was, a colonel in the Marines. He’s retired now, but growing up I ate, slept, and breathed the motto.” Charlie’s eyebrows tugged together for a moment. “There was never a question in my father’s eyes that I was going to be anything but a Marine.”

Oh, man, she could relate. “But you wanted something else.”

“My life was good, but my dad was never really there for me. Not in the way I wanted. Being a Marine took priority and that left me trying to figure out life pretty much on my own. I taught myself how to play baseball. My friend’s father taught me how to drive. It practically took an act of Congress to bring my dad home for my high school graduation.”

“And yet you became a Marine?”

Charlie let out a chuckle void of humor. “Ironic, right? Became the very thing I swore I wouldn’t. I just hoped . . . maybe that would be enough.”

It was like he was reading into her soul. Not being enough had felt like her life’s motto until she’d met Mathias. A breeze picked up a faint trace of Charlie’s cologne and Lane swallowed hard. An emotion she wasn’t ready for was warring for her attention.

“Momma, I need to go potty.”

“Okay.” She’d never been more thankful for Noah’s small bladder. “We should probably go.”

“No, sure. When you have to go, you have to go.” Charlie rose. “It was nice running into you again—even without the tray of ice-cold drinks.”

“Very funny.” Noah was doing the familiar dance that told her there was no time to waste flirting—was that what they were doing?

“Tomorrow night, then?” Charlie winked and offered Lane a smile complete with deep dimples that kept drawing her in.

“Tomorrow night.” Butterflies took flight in her stomach and didn’t settle during the half-block walk back to her house. He was easy to talk to and charming and kind. Add his rugged good looks and her doubts seemed silly.

“I hope we see Charlie again,” Noah said when she lifted him out of the car.

“You do?”

“Yeah, he makes you smile.”

Lane reached up and touched her face. It’d been a long time since her emotions on the outside matched what she felt on the inside. The smile graced her face only a second before it fell. As she crossed the street, she saw somebody peeking into one of the side windows of her café. Her closed café.

“Hey, can I help you?”

The shadows of dusk made it impossible to see the person’s face. Guessing by their build and height, she assumed the person was a man. Lane stopped in the middle of the street and tightened her grip on Noah’s hand. Was it him?