“Gee, thanks.”

“Hey, you know it. I’m not stating new facts here. But keep your options open because I think he could be a real champ, if you know what I mean.”

Our eyes lock, and together we laugh.

“We’ll see,” I say, hoping my concession will end the conversation.

But instead of accepting my remark at face value and moving on, she snorts. “You just mom’d me,” she says.

“What?”

“When a mom says, ‘We’ll see,’ that means it’s never happening.” She looks over her shoulder. “Hang on. I need to help Jacinda for a second.”

I exhale. The release relaxes my shoulders, and I lean against the counter.

I watch Val laugh with Jacinda near the coffeepots, nearly spilling a gallon of tea onto the floor. The two of them are so free and happy, and I wish, for just a moment, that I had a little bit of that in me.

They know what styles of jeans look good on them. Neither of them worries that she’s too old to go back to college, despite being nearly my age, and Jacinda has a kid. Heck, they both can probably tell you their favorite colors.

Me? I know nothing about myself. Not really.

I want to be able to pick a red lipstick out with confidence. What’s my 5K time? I don’t know. I also want to be able to pick out a man with long-term-material vibes.

Unfortunately for me, that’s not the sweet-talking visitor from California.

Ugh.

“Are you okay?” Val plants her hands on the counter. “You have a weird look on your face.”

Her voice snaps me out of my head. “Yeah. I’m fine.” I glance at the clock on the wall. “I need to get going, though.”

“Are you headed home already?”

“Ha.” I reach into my pocket. “I have about four hours of paperwork left at the office and then a million loads of laundry at home.”

“Is Ethan home this weekend? Or does Jared have him?”

I whip out some of the cash that Cole gave me and hand it to Val. “Jared is picking him up from school and keeping him until Sunday evening. Or so he says.”

“Want to go out? Do something fun?”

“Depends on how you’re using the word ‘fun.’”

She grins. “I’ll keep it tame for you. Maybe we could drive over to Forest Falls and do some shopping?”

“I’m sorry—did you just use ‘shopping’ and ‘fun’ in the same sentence?”

“My apologies.” Val laughs and walks to the end of the counter. She inserts my cash for the tab amount into the register and then brings me a receipt. “How about if I bring some pizza to your house, and we watch Fried Green Tomatoes tomorrow night?”

I down the rest of my tea. “Deal.”

Val hands me a small slip of paper and my change. I plunk a nice tip on the counter and shove the remaining money in my pocket.

The door chimes as a new customer walks into the restaurant. Val welcomes them and tells them to have a seat. Then she turns to me.