Free Everybody Knows (Sunnyside #1) by Jacie Floyd Page B

topic isn’t on the table after a
hard night and a long day ahead.”
    “Ah, yes. Okay.” She touched her fingers to his
hand in a silent show of support. “So, rough night, huh?”
    Damn. Like that was a better topic. “Comes with
the territory. I’ll be fine once I get some breakfast and the boys get out of
ICU.”
    They’d made it to the town square, and Harper
stopped in front of the antique store for a little window shopping. The same
breakfront had been in the window for over a year, but Harper wouldn’t know
that. “We’re on our way to the diner if that’s all right with you.”
    “Anyplace is fine.” The reply was immediate and
agreeable, and he noticed again how easy she was to get along with. “I’m
looking forward to some real down-home cooking.”
    “I wasn’t sure you’d be a fan of the local fare.
Do you want ham and eggs, biscuits and gravy, pancakes and sausages, bacon and
hash browns? I thought you might want something more...elegant, less...greasy.”
    “Elegance isn’t a requirement, but I don’t eat
ham, sausage, or bacon.” She crinkled her nose. “And gravy is off the table,
too, but I’m game to try any of the other stuff.”
    He looked at her sideways while he pulled her past
the hardware store. He waved at Hank, the owner, opening the front door for the
start of the day. Hank was Jason Schultz’s great-uncle, and he didn’t want to
have to fake optimism with a street-corner diagnosis.
    “Wait up, Zach.” Hank stepped toward him and, just
like that, it was too late to avoid the man’s questions. “How’s Jason doing?
When I talked to Marcia earlier, she said he was hanging in there.”
    Zach skimmed over the details he could discuss
about Jason’s condition, while Harper continued further along the block to inspect
the genuine barber pole outside Vic’s shop and then peer into the window of
Favorites, the local gift store.
    While they talked, Maggie Stemple pulled up and
parked on the street. Breaking off his conversation with Hank, Zach got the
stroller out of her trunk while she unstrapped John, Jr., from his car seat. Of
course, she had to ask about Joey, Tommy, and Jason, too. Before her marriage,
she’d lived down the road from Joey and Tommy and used to babysit for them when
Vanessa had her Bunko night with the girls.
    “Those tea sets are adorable.” Harper linked her
arm with his as he finally rejoined her.
    There she stood in her up-to-the-minute workout
gear, high-tech exercise shoes, tote bag with some kind of designer logo on it,
not to mention her expensive haircut, the epitome of a modern woman-on-the-go
article in Cosmo, and she was looking at children’s tea sets? What was she
doing? “Do you need a tea set?”
    She actually appeared to think it over. “I can’t
imagine why I would, but now I know where to get one.”
    “Right, Granny Smith, that knowledge will come in
handy. But about breakfast… were you saying you don’t eat pork?”
    “No pork.” She shook her head. “No beef. No meat
of any kind.”
    “My God, you’re a vegetarian?” He missed a step
and almost tripped on the curb. “This town’s going to love you. You do know
this is farm country, right? And you came here to live? On purpose ?”
    “Of course.” She waved the observation away. “I’m
looking forward to the farmer’s markets, all the fresh, homegrown vegetables,
corn, tomatoes, and whatever else they grow here.”
    “Saying you came to farm country to eat farm-fresh
vegetables is like someone saying they’re visiting Iceland because they like
ice.”
    “You don’t have fresh vegetables here?”
    “Sure, but there’s more to it than that.” He
rubbed the back of his neck where tension pulled like a vise. “The farmers
around Sunnyside grow the best corn, tomatoes, and green beans you’ll ever eat,
but they also raise pigs, cows. and chickens. It’s kind of a symbiotic
relationship, hard to separate the two.”
    “You said you sometimes get paid in