Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Chapter One
Amy Flynn was a waitress down, but she wasn’t going to allow that to stop her café from getting the job done. They were at the height of summer, and the tourists were flowing through town like a nice stream. So far, for the season, everything had gone smoothly. Most of the visitors were only there to see the views, a few families had opted to stay at one of their many hotels as well as the B&Bs that were spread through the town.
It hadn’t been too bad of a season, and Amy, for one, was loving it, but she also had a feeling that tourists were the reason her main waitress, Penelope, wasn’t in that day. Penelope was hoping to find her millionaire soul mate who had come to Lost Creek to find the woman meant for him, and leave. Penelope was looking for an escape every chance she got, and had been doing so for nearly ten years now, and so far, nothing.
She and Penelope were the same age, but where she loved the town of Lost Creek, along with the café, Penelope hated it. She wanted out, but rather than just take a chance and leave, she didn’t. For some reason, Penelope opted to stay, wait it out for the right guy, while at the same time enjoying the fresh visitors and the tourists.
Amy had never slept with a tourist, and she had no plans to do so. She’d seen the damage firsthand from giving in to a tourist. Now, she didn’t for a second believe they were all bad, because she also knew there were several guys who’d found their true loves, but they hadn’t left Lost Creek. They had come to stay, to build a life here. Which is what happened to her own parents before they passed away over fifteen years ago.
She was able to think about them without crying, but she did feel their loss all the time. Losing her parents at fifteen hadn’t been easy. She’d been close to her parents, but she had also seen how desperate they had been to have a vacation together, even just a long weekend. That was all it was meant to be. Amy had promised to behave as she went to stay with her grandparents, and then late Friday evening, her parents hadn’t even gotten to a hotel. There had been a hit-and-run at the local gas station, but it had soon escalated as the retreating car had been fired upon. Both her parents had been killed.
After the funeral, her grandparents had handled everything, and she lived with them. Now, with her grandparents gone, she owned two homes and this café. It was crazy how life had turned out. For a long time, all she had ever wanted to be was a doctor, but working at the café, her grandmother and even her mother had said she had a knack for feeding people, so that was exactly what she did. She fed people, and she did so well, which was why Flynn’s Café was on the map.
To keep the tourists coming all year round, she changed the menu up to entice them. Even through the summer, she would have multiple changes, and then there were her takeout options as well.
The locals loved this about the café. She would have Retro or Old Favorites Week, where food they used to love would be back on the menu.
This week was all about the different salads, with chicken, meat, and seafood. Living by the coast offered an array of exciting fish dishes, and she loved it. She was also friends with local farmers, and shopping locally was something her grandparents had felt passionate about, as did she. That way, if there was ever nothing available, she would change it up for what was available.
While Penelope was out, she at least had Martha, her grandparents’ friend, who had worked for them on and off for the last thirty, if not fifty years. She wasn’t quite sure how old Martha was, and it was not exactly polite to ask. Either way, Martha handled her way around the kitchen, and Amy took care of the pesky customers.
Martha, even though she was a nice older woman, wasn’t a people person, or at least, not a tourist person. She had no time for them, but when it came to the locals, she was a sweet old dear. Amy loved her, and she wouldn’t be without her.
“Good morning, welcome to Flynn’s Café, can I take your order?” Amy said, approaching the table in the corner. She quickly slid her glasses up her nose, and then looked past her notebook to see none other than Daniel Long, owner of The Reaper bar, sitting alone, reading the local paper.
“I’ll have my usual,” Daniel said.
She couldn’t help but smile. “You do realize I got out of having to remember everyone’s usual, by changing the menu up.”