Official signatures.
Real.
Every bit of it real.
I started laughing and crying simultaneously, which was humiliating, but I was too overwhelmed to stop it.
Joe looked at me carefully.
The tough expression he usually wore softened slightly.
“She was proud of you,” he said quietly.
I covered my eyes with one hand before I completely fell apart in the middle of the diner.
After a minute, Joe cleared his throat loudly.
“All right,” he grumbled. “Enough crying on my floor.”
I laughed weakly.
“We open at five tomorrow morning.”
He pointed toward the kitchen.
“Hope you’re ready to learn how to run a diner, partner.”
And for the first time in my entire life, something inside me changed.
Not dramatically.
