Flamingo Diner by Sherryl Woods

sixty-two and worked with several chiefs by being easily intimidated. He deliberately plucked up one of the doughnuts and took a bite, his expression thoughtful.
    “A smart man would be there this morning,” he told Matt. “It’s bound to be a tough day.”
    “Don’t you have paperwork you ought to be doing?” Matt asked, struggling to resist the advice because it would be too damn easy to follow it.
    “Nope,” Cramer said easily. “I’m all caught up. It was a quiet night. I’ve got nothing better to do than sit around here and be your conscience.” He wiped his mouth on a napkin and reached for the second doughnut, his gaze on Matt direct and unrelenting.
    The weight of all that expectation finally got to him. Matt sighed and stood up. “It’s no wonder no woman ever stayed married to you. You are such a nag.”
    Cramer grinned. “Who needs marriage when I’ve got Gwendolyn to go home to at night, and I don’t hear no complaints from her.”
    Matt laughed. “Gwendolyn’s a basset hound, in case you haven’t noticed, and she looks mighty sad to me.”
    “That’s not my doing,” Cramer retorted. “That’s genetics. Now get on over there and do the right thing. I caught a glimpse of the Killian girl at her dad’s funeral yesterday. She’s turned into a real looker. A smart man wouldn’t let her get away a second time.”
    “What makes you think you know the right thing to do, when it’s clear that the rest of the world botches it up all the time?” Matt asked.
    “I had a mama who taught me right from wrong,” Cramer said. His expression suddenly sobered as he met Matt’s gaze. “And you had Don and Rosa Killian to teach you the same thing. I imagine those lessons stuck well enough, even in your hard head.”
    “Low blow,” Matt murmured, but he dutifully headed for the door. “If anyone calls, tell ’em—”
    “I’ll tell ’em what I always tell ’em this time of day, that you’re in your other office scoping outwhat’s going on around town.” He winked at Matt. “While you’re over there, give Emma a kiss for me.”
    “Any kissing that goes on, I’ll take the credit for it, thanks all the same.”
    Cramer laughed. “Whatever works.”
    “By the way, have you filed that report on Don’s car?”
    “Of course I have.”
    “I imagine you read it, too, correct?”
    “Does a hound dog hunt?”
    “Was there a glass breaker in there?”
    “Right in the console. One of them kind that shatters glass and has a blade on the other end for cutting through seat belts,” Cramer said, then turned pale. “Holy Mother of God, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
    Matt didn’t respond. But he left for the diner with his heart a whole lot heavier than it had been earlier.
     
    Emma must have fried ten pounds of bacon. For a woman who hadn’t cooked anything beyond the bare essentials since the day she’d walked out of Flamingo Diner to go to college, finding herself in front of the once familiar gas stove trying to meet the demands of a breakfast crowd should have been frightening. Instead, she found herself relieved to not have to think. Keeping her eye on the steady stream of orders required all her concentration. She didn’t have time to acknowledge Jeff’s sullen attitude or Andy’s fumbling attempts to keep the orders straight as he delivered them to the packed tables. At least he was acknowledging her presence this morning.
    The attorney’s words the night before had left the entire family shaken. Rosa hadn’t left her room since.Andy still looked as if he wanted to cry. Jeff was back from wherever he’d disappeared to the night before, but he hadn’t exchanged two words with Emma. And Emma had had to face the fact that she couldn’t go back to Washington while things were in such a state of uncertainty.
    At the front door the night before Jack Lawrence had looked her in the eye. “You’re going to have to open the diner again soon,” he said. “Or it will be