The next day, I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to visit my mom until after nine o’clock. I made my usual stop at the only place I’d eaten besides my house for most of my adult life. A diner named Tina’s Plentiful. Tina had been in school with me and now ran the place that virtually everyone in town stopped at several times a month. It was also my unofficial private investigator’s office.

I usually took the booth in the back and no one minded if I talked to clients over breakfast.

My cousin, Terry Mitchum, worked in the kitchen. He’d lived in the city for a couple of years but decided he was more of a small-town guy. Like me. That was the only thing we had in common.

The real reason I was here this morning had nothing to do with my office or my dorky cousin. The real reason flashed me a beautiful smile as she bumped backward out of the swinging kitchen doors, holding two plates of pancakes and eggs. Alicia Sosa was as graceful as a ballerina. If that ballerina was carrying food to hungry customers. Her brown hair tied in a ponytail made her look younger than twenty-seven.

Once she delivered the food, she came by my booth. She did a quick glance around the restaurant then leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. She said, “The other night was fun. We should do it again soon.”

A grin spread over my face. I said, “I agree. One of the best nights I’ve had in a while.”

“We did a lot that night, but there’s a whole lot more to go.”

I said, “How many more seasons of Game of Thrones are there?”

“It took us four days to binge the first season. There’s like seven more to go. At least.”

I didn’t have to order. I liked when Alicia surprised me with breakfast. She was more health conscious than me and shied away from pancakes and waffles.

I said, “Do you have class today?”

“Nope. I went by and said hello to your mom after class yesterday. Considering what happened, she looks pretty good.”

I thanked her and watched as she put in an order for an egg-white omelet and whole-wheat toast. That would not have been my first choice. Or my second. But I’d eat them and probably feel better for it later on.

Alicia was an impressive woman. She moved back to Marlboro to help care for her father, who has been recovering from a stroke. She also continued her nursing education by enrolling in Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh. She already had her BS in biology from SUNY Binghamton. Alicia had said she looked up to the most famous Binghamton grad: Tony Kornheiser from ESPN. I knew him from my mom’s obsession with New York sports.