They were here. In Superstition Springs. The long journey was over, and yet it was only beginning. What if he’d made another mistake?
Caleb could see shadows moving around behind the tinted glass, which meant either ghosts were inside or live people. At this point, he was prepared for either, and standing around on the street wasn’t getting them any closer to the goal. He opened the door, which had one of those old-fashioned ringers that trilled to announce their presence. Five former SEALs spilled over the threshold.
It would have been fitting somehow if all the conversation in the place ceased as curious faces turned to see the strangers invading their peaceful existence. Maybe there would be some whispers among the patrons about who these larger-than-life men were, speculation as to whether they were lost. One pretty waitress would come forward with a smile to welcome them, her uniform crisp and neat but doing little to hide the spectacular, farm-raised body beneath it.
That’s not what happened.
Three
An attractive woman who could be forty or a well-preserved fifty-five stood behind the long, worn counter dotted with upside-down coffee cups, who eyed them all like she’d been rooting around in her freezer for hamburger meat and stumbled over prime rib. She was the only soul in the entire diner.
“You boys missed the exit for Austin,” she called in a surprisingly honeyed voice that could have easily segued her into a career doing commercials or radio instead of landing her in a Podunk town in Nowhere, Texas. “By about sixty miles. My coffee eats Starbucks for breakfast, but I doubt you’d think so. Want some anyway? I don’t have to-go cups, so you’ll have to sit like civilized humans or do without.”
“Ah, we… will have coffee,” Caleb agreed with a glance at the others for confirmation. “And we’re here on purpose. Are you Ruby? From the sign?”
“I’m Ruby,” she established as she fetched a carafe from the warmer behind her and dumped it all out in the sink while they watched as if they’d never seen coffee made before. “From Austin and glad to see it in my rearview mirror. I came first. The sign came second. I’ll make you a fresh pot while you tell me why on God’s green earth you’d come here on purpose.”
Isaiah slid into a seat at the end of the counter and flipped his worn mug over in anticipation of the coffee to come. You could always count on him to be first in line, especially if he sensed the others needed the path greased. “We’re friends of Serenity’s. Do you know Serenity Force?”
Ruby paused in the midst of measuring coffee grounds, her plucked brows raised as she pointed at him with her spoon. “Everyone knows everyone here. No place to hide. The real mystery is how you know her. If she’s left town once in the past ten years, I’ll dance on this counter for you.”
Tristan grinned at her with a once-over that would have been smarmy coming from someone who didn’t have his charm. “I’d pay for that privilege. That would be something to see.”
“No doubt,” she advised him with a wink as she flicked on the coffee maker. “It’s been a while since I’ve practiced my moves, so I’m a bit rusty, but you get your dollars ready just in case.”
Without missing a beat, Tristan’s smile grew warmer. “You look all practiced up to me.”
“Aren’t you sweet?” she said, and her laugh had that pleased tinge to it as if she hadn’t been flirted with nearly enough lately. “But seriously. I know everyone Serenity knows. And I would have heard if she’d befriended a bunch of strapping boys like y’all.”
Boys. That made every one of them grin. Ruby was something else. A fitting next stop on the quirky express that made up this interesting town.
But Caleb had an agenda, and flirting with older women wasn’t on it. He made a mental note to remind Tristan that the women here weren’t used to his kind of attention, especially not the ones twice his age. Unless he had a serious interest in the much older woman, which Caleb doubted was the case, he needed to tone it done. Flirting was like breathing to a guy like Marchande—he did it without a first, let alone second, thought.
But that was later. Serenity was now. “She wrote to us while we were deployed. So we’re here to um… meet her.”
If that sounded as lame out loud as it had in his head, they were done before they’d started. Calling ahead might have been a better plan. But why beat around the bush? They had nothing else to do except wallow in the reality of an honorable discharge. As if tacking honorable to the concept might lessen the sting of the involuntary part.
Ruby took the whole thing in stride though, like a champ. “Well, she’ll be along in a minute.”
“Really?” Caleb glanced around. They’d been talking to Ruby since they walked in the door, and she hadn’t moved other than to start the pot of coffee. He’d been about to ask her directions to Serenity’s house or if she could call her or something since the woman in question hadn’t been present in the diner after all. “Because you set off a secret bat signal?”
Ruby patted his hand patiently. “Because this is Superstition Springs, honey. We don’t need bat signals in order for everyone in town to know your business before you do. Either someone will mention it to her or she’ll sense it. Serenity’s pretty tapped in to the universe.”
On cue, the door chimed, announcing the presence of someone new. Caleb swung around.
Serenity.
It had to be her. How else could he explain the sudden sense of recognition despite never having seen a picture of his pen pal? Her flowing gray hair moved with her as she streamed into the diner, her careworn face beaming. She wore a long, multicolor dress pieced together like a quilt and earrings that dripped with sparkles. One by one she let her gaze rest on each of them.
“Which one of you is Caleb?” she asked, her voice as warm as the smile she treated him to when he stepped forward to shake her hand.
She was having none of that. Pulling him into her embrace, she hugged him fiercely, wrapping him up in a circle of tenderness the likes of which he hadn’t felt in a long time.
“Hi, Serenity,” he said gruffly, mystified why he was so emotional all at once.
It was just… well, he hadn’t expected her to be so welcoming, so motherly, right off the bat. Why this surprised him, he couldn’t say. She’d been exactly like this in her letters, open, caring, never too busy to write. Caleb and Rowe had been on their own for a long time since their parents had been killed in a car accident during their first deployment to Iraq a million years ago. Who could blame him for seeking a mom figure?
You never got too old to want someone in your life who remembered your birthday and loved you just because. Honestly that might have been at least a quarter of his motivation for coming to meet her.