The Doctor's Forever Family by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

At approximately six-thirty in the evening, the diner was doing a brisk amount of business, but there were still a couple of empty booths to be had. Because this was her territory, Dan let the woman who had bailed him out today pick out a table.

As he followed behind Tina, he found his path littered with cheerful greetings sent his way. At first, he thought the hails were all directed at Tina, but when a senior citizen on a counter stool specifically used his name when he extending his greeting, Dan realized that the people in the diner were saying hello to him, as well.

The entire scenario made him think of a scene directly out of a popular classic sitcom where everyone was purported to “know your name,” uttering a greeting the moment someone walked through the establishment’s door. Behavior like that was foreign to him. One day here and everyone acted as if he’d been born and bred in the town.

The New Yorker in him found it suspect. But another, small part, the part that had been the man to whom Warren had looked up to, had to admit that he was somewhat warmed by the genial atmosphere.

The moment they sat down at the table, Miss Joan made a beeline for the booth to take their orders herself. Or rather, to take his order.

“I already know what you’ll be having,” she told Tina, making a quick note on the small, old-fashioned pad she kept in the pocket of her apron. “She has the same thing every night when she eats here,” Miss Joan whispered to him in the spirit of sharing a confidence.

Dan looked at Tina, raising a curious eyebrow. Waiting to be enlightened.

“It’s chicken salad on rye,” Tina confessed. She lifted her slim shoulders in a half shrug, then let them fall again. “What can I say? I’m dull.”

Dull, he thought, was not a word he’d use to describe her. If anything, she struck him as the exact opposite. There was something very stirring about her that he hadn’t quite been able to put into words. Maybe it was better that way.

“Stable and dependable,” Miss Joan was saying, erasing the word Tina had used to label herself. “Nothing wrong with that. Besides, I make a pretty mean chicken salad sandwich,” she told Dan with pride.

“All right, then make that two,” Dan said. Closing the menu, he surrendered it back to Miss Joan.

Tina glanced at her watch and frowned. “Maybe you’d better wrap mine up to go, Miss Joan.” The latter looked at her in question. “I really should be getting back to look in on Bobby and take him home.”

“Don’t you worry about him. Bobby’s doing just fine,” Miss Joan assured her. “I just called your sister not fifteen minutes ago to check on him. He’s back to his old self. Got so much energy he’s wearing her out, Livy told me. So sit. Eat,” the woman instructed in a no-nonsense voice that wasn’t to be questioned or challenged.

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