“You’re new here, aren’t you?” Getty smiled and fished around under the counter.
“Yes, I am.” She self-consciously patted down her now-dry hair.
“Well, welcome to town. We don’t have many things going on in the fall and winter months but if there is an occasional event or outing, you can find it right here in our local paper.” She slid the newspaper across to her.
“Thank you.”
“What’s your name, hon?”
“Carolina Johnson.”
“Nice to meet you Carolina. Since you’re new, I’m going to give you a complimentary piece of our famous apple pie as a welcome.” She lifted the lid off the pie and served her up a slice on the plate. “I always believe in eating dessert first. No point in missing out on the best things in life.” She eased over to another customer and refilled his cup as she chatted him up.
Missing out on life.
Had she done that?
She’d been a housewife so long that she wasn’t sure what else in life there was for her to do.
Sadness washed over her as she dug her fork into the pie.
She rarely ate dessert.
Chris had told her she was gaining weight and she’d tried everything she could to take it off.
Now over the course of weeks, she hadn’t given much thought to food. Nor had she been hungry.
Even now, despite what her stomach was telling her, she wasn’t hungry.
She lifted the bite of apple pie to her mouth and unfolded the paper.
By the time she was finished with her pie Getty was putting her plate in front of her.
“I see you finished your dessert. What did you think?”
“It was really good. Thank you.” She blinked back tears. The waitress had done the first kind thing for her since she’d found out about Chris’s affair.
“You okay, honey?” The waitress leaned forward on her elbows.
“I’m fine. Just going through some life changes.” She dabbed the corners of her eyes with the paper napkin.
“Well, eat up. You can’t solve your problems on an empty stomach.” Getty patted her hand before turning back to the kitchen to retrieve more orders.
Carolina had a different life now, whether she liked it or not. She couldn’t keep crying at the drop of a hat and feeling sorry for herself.
All she had to do was get through the day. Then she could focus on tomorrow.
She flipped through the paper as she ate her breakfast.
When she was done she waved Getty over.
“Oh, honey. You didn’t eat everything.”
‘I know. It was just too much. Probably should have had dessert last.”
“What’s the fun in that?” Getty grinned and took the twenty Carolina had dug out of her purse and went to the register. When she returned she slid the change across the counter to her.
Carolina laid down a generous tip and put the rest in her wallet. “Thank you for the pie.” She stood and hooked her purse on her shoulder.
