The goodbye cafe, p.3
The Goodbye Café, page 3
Hudson House was impressive, all right, though Allie was pretty sure she wouldn’t want to live there alone for any length of time. But being a Hudson in Hidden Falls came with a legacy, one Allie was just beginning to appreciate. She was proud of what her ancestors had accomplished and of their philanthropy.
Her father’s infidelity aside, she was proud of him, but she was most proud of Barney, who’d fought to be the first woman president of the family’s bank, who’d seen the town through troubled financial times, and had approved the loans with which residents had purchased homes and kept their businesses afloat in times of trouble and sent their kids to college. Would it be overreaching to say that Barney was the backbone of Hidden Falls? Maybe, but not by much.
In Hidden Falls, it was good to be a Hudson.
Unless you were alone in the sprawling house on a hot afternoon when everyone else was out doing their thing.
Did it seem everyone had found a partner of one degree or another? Cara had found Joe when the sisters hired him as the general contractor on the theater project. Des had met Seth when she rescued several stray dogs from the boarded-up theater and he’d volunteered to foster one, and later helped her dream of a rescue shelter there in Hidden Falls come true. Nikki had Mark to hang out with, and even Barney had found a would-be partner in Tom Brookes, who’d been a neighbor and best buddy of Gil Wheeler, her late fiancé.
So, everyone but Allie. Not that she was looking for an “other,” but suddenly she felt like the ultimate fifth wheel.
Unexpected loneliness swept over her, a harbinger, she thought, of the years ahead of her. She knew she’d only have a few more years with Nikki before her daughter went off to college. Then—blink!—Nikki would be starting her career, whatever that might be. Then—poof!—marriage to some guy Allie might not even know, and the one person in this world Allie would willingly die for would be gone. Intellectually, she knew that the bottom line was to cherish the moments she had.
And I have those moments now, this summer, she reminded herself.
But when the summer came to an end, Nikki would be back with her father, who lived only a few blocks from Nikki’s school. Well, her father and the woman he’s seeing. Who just happens to be the mother of Nikki’s best friend, Courtney. Allie hadn’t brought up that dating situation to Nikki since she was unsure if her daughter was aware. What if Clint hadn’t shared that with Nikki? As much as it wouldn’t bother Allie to see Clint uncomfortable, she would never do anything that would damage his relationship with their daughter. Whatever else Allie could say about Clint—and there was plenty—she had to respect the fact that he was a terrific father, one who loved his child very much.
I am going to take every bit of this kid I can get this summer, she told herself as she searched her bag for her phone. I’m not going to feel sad about what’s going to happen after the summer is over. Seize the moment and all that.
She hit the icon for Nikki’s phone.
“Hi, Mom.” A giggling Nikki answered on the third ring.
“Hey. You sound happy. What’s happening out there, silly?”
“Oh, Mom, it’s been so much fun. Aunt Des and I painted so many of those frames for Seth’s grapevines. And it’s so stinking hot. So we went down to the pond and jumped in. And now we’re doing—” Nikki screamed, turning Allie’s blood to ice before she started laughing.
“Nik?” Allie held her breath.
“Seth has water balloons. He exploded them on the ground in front of us and we’re soaked!” Nikki dissolved into a fit of laughter as apparently another balloon had hit close by.
“Well, when you come home to change into dry clothes, why don’t you and I get dressed up a little and drive into High Bridge and have dinner, just the two of us. Then maybe we could go see a movie in that new theater out on the highway, just like we used to do back home.”
“I would except Aunt Des and Seth are going to barbecue and they invited us—me and Mark and Hayley and Wendy—to stay and eat with them since we worked so hard today. I didn’t think you’d mind, but I was going to call and ask.”
“Oh. Well. Okay.” Allie felt more than a little deflated. She tried to keep the disappointment from her voice, but she was pretty sure she’d failed. It hadn’t occurred to her that Nikki would have made plans on her own without letting Allie know.
“Can we do it another night?”
“Of course. Sure. Well . . . I guess I’ll see you when you get home.” Allie’s philosophy had always been, when you don’t know what else to say, hang up.
“Mom, wait. Aunt Des said you’re welcome to join us.”
“Oh, no, that’s okay. Sounds like she’s got a full house. I’ll stay here and grab something with Barney.”
“I guess with us here and Aunt Cara doing that picnic with Joe, Aunt Barney wouldn’t have anyone to eat with, so that’s nice of you.” Nikki shrieked again as apparently another water balloon burst.
In the background, Allie could hear laughter.
“Look, it sounds like you have a lot going on there, so I’m going to hang up. Tell Aunt Des I said thanks for the invitation, but I’ll pass.”
“Okay, bye, Mom.” Nikki was laughing as the call ended.
Allie sighed, and tried to ignore the wave of sadness that began to creep around her. Except for the weekends, when she had Nikki to herself, Allie’d lived alone for almost a year in L.A., but she’d never felt as lonely as she did after disconnecting that call. She tried to decide what to do with herself when she noticed the ice had melted in the glass of lemonade she’d left on the table. She thought about the half-empty bottle of vodka in the small linen closet in her bathroom.
Since Nikki arrived, Allie’d kept her drinking to a minimum: Even she’d had to secretly admit her nightly “cocktails” were becoming a problem, though she never drank when Nikki was around.
“Well, she isn’t here now, so why not?” she murmured.
She went downstairs for ice and was about to refill the glass when she heard the front door open, then close.
“Hello, anyone,” Barney called.
“In the kitchen,” Allie called back.
“Oh my, but it’s a scorcher, isn’t it?” Barney came into the kitchen, her face glistening with perspiration. “I can’t remember being this hot. Ever. I am calling Joe and telling him I want that central air-conditioning put in ASAP. I don’t care if he has to put one unit upstairs for the second floor and one unit in the basement for the first. I just want it done and I want it done now and I don’t care what it costs.”
“Yay for that. We’re all dying.”
Barney dropped her bag on a kitchen chair, then poured herself a glass of water from the tap and took a long drink. “I’m too old to sweat this much.”
“I felt that way when I got back from the theater. A shower works wonders.”
“I’m on my way upstairs right now.” Barney swept the sweat from her brow. “Where is everyone?”
“Des and Nikki are at the farm with Seth and some of Nikki’s friends, and Cara is still with Joe.”
“Will anyone be here for dinner?”
“Looks like you and me.”
“Well, then, let’s just take ourselves over to the Goodbye. Judy had a sign out earlier that they have Pocono Mountain trout tonight, and I’d love to dig into one of those.”
Allie debated between the bottle upstairs and the trout in the café on Main Street.
“Come on, Allie. Just you and me. We never have any time together, just the two of us.”
“All right. Sure. Thanks, Barney.”
“I’m going to run upstairs and take that shower and you go on and change into something pretty.”
Barney’s smile as she left the room assured Allie she’d made the right choice. Even as the desire for a drink had started to play on her nerves, she took a deep breath, tried to push that need away, and followed Barney upstairs, grateful she’d been able to beat back the dragon at least for a little while.
CHAPTER TWO
Allie sat in one of the rocking chairs on the front porch, waiting for Barney. Changing into a soft navy T-shirt dress hadn’t taken her long, and since she kept her makeup to a minimum these days, mascara and a swipe of dark pink on her lips would do. She wore hot pink sandals on her feet, big gold hoops in her ears, and two inches’ worth of gold bangles on her left wrist. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail in an attempt to keep it off her neck, but it still hung past her shoulder blades. She was thinking it might be time for a trim when she heard the door open.
“I always said we Hudsons clean up real good.” Barney grinned as she stepped out onto the porch, her white cardigan folded over her arm. She wore a pretty black-and-white sundress, gold earrings, and black strappy sandals. Her still-blond hair was blunt-cut and came to her chin to frame her face. Even in her seventies, Barney looked darn good. “Shall we go?”
“We shall.” Allie followed Barney down the steps and onto the sidewalk. “What’s your buddy Tom doing for dinner tonight?”
“He’s driving into Scranton to see a cousin. He invited me to tag along, but I didn’t feel like going.”
“Sounds like things are moving pretty quickly between you two.”
Barney made a face. “Maybe that’s why I didn’t want to go. Though it’s been nice, having someone my age to spend time with.”
“You have a lot of friends your age in town and you spend lots of time with them,” Allie reminded her.
“Yes, but Tom is different. He left Hidden Falls a long time ago. I don’t remember him coming back very often. I’m not sure we have a whole lot in common anymore.”
“He must have come back to visit his parents, and his mother after his dad passed away.”
“If he did, I didn’t notice.”
“How could you not have noticed? You live right across the street,” Allie pointed out.
“Maybe I was just too caught up in my own life. For so many years I was so wrapped up in the responsibility of being president of the bank. I knew what just about everyone in town was doing financially. I knew who hadn’t saved enough for their retirement, who had a child in college and two more kids right behind, who’d lost his job, who had another child on the way and couldn’t afford it. I can see it now, but I couldn’t see it then. I felt like I had the weight of the entire town on my shoulders.”
“Because you wanted to solve everyone’s problems.”
“Like my dad before me, and his dad before him, and his . . . well, you know.”
“That’s a heavy weight to carry, Barney.”
“Don’t I know it. I lost twenty-two pounds after I retired.”
“Because you were getting more exercise? Not sitting all day?”
“Sitting all day?” Barney rolled her eyes. “I’ve never sat all day. But after I retired, I realized I was a stress eater. Once I eliminated the stress, I didn’t feel like snacking all the time. Plus retiring cut out all those birthday, retirement, wedding, and new baby parties in the break room. I bet I ate the equivalent of twenty whole cakes over the course of my working years.”
“Do you ever miss it?”
“I miss the structure my days used to have. I miss the interaction with the other employees. I miss seeing all the folks who came into the bank, the new babies, the retirees, the little kids clutching their savings books in one hand and a fistful of birthday money in the other. I don’t suppose there’s much of that anymore, what with online banking and such.” She paused as if reflecting. “But I don’t miss the responsibility. Or the stress.”
They crossed Hudson Street at its intersection with Main, passing the corner drugstore, a vacant storefront that had housed the town’s only bookstore, a sporting goods store where one could purchase everything from guns and ammo to pink Wellingtons and flowery Laura Ashley garden gloves, the beauty salon, and the Hudson Diner, in that order. Traffic was light after four thirty in the afternoon on any given day, so there were few cars on the street.
“I heard the bookstore is reopening in a few months,” Barney said as they passed the empty store. The sign on the large glass window in front read HUDSON BOOKATERIA. “I hope they change the name. The last two owners have carried over the original and it hasn’t seemed to bring either of them any more luck than the first owner had.”
“What would you change it to?” Through the window, Allie could see a long row of shelves along one wall that went all the way to the back of the store.
“If I owned it, it would be Barney’s Books.”
“Catchy.” Allie nodded slowly. “Not to mention original.”
“You asked.”
Moments later they arrived at the Green Brier Café, known to the locals as the Goodbye due to its reputation as the place in town to take that special person who was no longer all that special. It’d been rumored that many a breakup had taken place there, though no one could name anyone who’d admitted to having been dumped at one of their tables.
Allie grabbed the door and stepped back for Barney to enter. The hostess station was vacant, so they stood and waited for a minute or two before a waitress approached.
“Hey, Miss Hudson.” The young woman smiled. “I’ll have a table for you in just a minute.”
“Thanks, Degan.” Barney looked around. “Where’s Judy? Don’t tell me the owner actually took a night off?”
“She’s in her office. I’ll let her know you’re here.” Degan gathered two menus and led Barney and Allie to a table.
“Not too crowded yet,” Barney noted as they sat.
“That’s because it’s barely five thirty. Who eats dinner this early besides really old people?”
“Watch it, girlie.” Barney’s eyes were fixed on the menu. “And I shouldn’t have to remind you that you’re eating dinner ‘this early.’ ”
“Only because I’m with a”—Allie covered her mouth to cough—“senior citizen.”
“You may say senior. You may not say old, elder, or advanced age. And never geriatric if you know what’s good for you.” Barney put the menu down. “I’m going with the trout.”
“Is it boney?” Allie asked.
“It’s a fish, Allie. Fish have bones. You watch for them, you pick them out. Should one get into your mouth, you remove it.”
“No, thanks. I’ll go with the coconut shrimp.” Allie held the menu in both hands. “And for the record, I never think of you as being old. Or senior, even.”
“Well, thank you. In that case dinner’s on me.” Barney looked to be about to say something else when Degan returned to the table.
“Miss Hudson, Judy asked me to ask you if you’d come back to the office,” the waitress said.
“Of course.” Barney handed her the menu. “I’m having the trout and a large iced tea.” She looked at Allie. “I’ll be back in a few.”
“Iced tea for me as well,” Allie told Degan. “And the coconut shrimp.”
“I’ll put that in for you.” Degan took Allie’s menu. “I’ll be right back with your teas.”
She was true to her word, and Allie was just about to take a sip when the café door opened behind her. She turned, more from reflex than from curiosity, in time to see Ben Haldeman come in with a pretty dark-haired young woman who was chattering away. It appeared to Allie he was hanging on every word. She turned away from the door and focused way too hard on her iced tea. Degan led Ben and his date to a table in the back. When Allie looked up again, she realized he was seated directly in her sight line.
She inwardly groaned. Was she really going to have to be looking at him all through dinner?
The only good thing was that he hadn’t seemed to notice her at all.
Allie sensed the exact moment when he did. She could feel his eyes boring into her and made herself busy checking her email and her Instagram account on her phone lest she make eye contact with him. She put the phone down when she realized she’d read the same email four times.
What, she wondered impatiently, was keeping Barney?
Degan brought salads for her and Barney, and Allie kept her eyes on her plate, pushing around the lettuce and tomatoes and cucumbers until she finally began to eat. A few minutes later, Barney came bustling out from the office, in such a hurry she failed even to see Ben, who’d been about to greet her. She pulled out her chair and sat, her face white, her expression grim.
“Barney, what’s wrong?” Allie asked.
“The worst. The absolute worst.” Barney’s breath came in quick bursts.
“What? Are you all right? You look like you’re about to start hyperventilating.”
“It’s Judy. She’s leaving for New Mexico and—”
“Whoa. Slow down. Start over.” Allie reached a hand across the table to rest on Barney’s. “Take a deep breath.”
After Barney was able to collect herself, she took a big breath. “Judy’s parents are in New Mexico. Her father’s had a stroke. Her mother is in the early stages of dementia. She has to leave Hidden Falls. She’s going to go out there to stay and care for them herself rather than put them in a senior care center.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. I’m sure she’s terribly upset, but I don’t see—”
“She’s going to close the Goodbye, Allie. Do you know what this place means to this town? It’s the place to go for breakfast or lunch with your friends or where you meet them for coffee. It’s where you and your family pop in for dinner on those nights when you don’t want to cook. It’s Hidden Falls, Allegra Jane Hudson Monroe. Closing the Goodbye is going to change everything.” Barney looked like she was about to cry.
“Well, I understand that you love the place, but there is the diner right across the parking lot.”
