Read Online And the Shofar Blew by Francine Rivers - Free Book Online

breakfast plates in her hands. She gave him a double take and smiled before turning her attention to two customers several stools away. She set an omelet in front of a man in oil-stained coveralls and eggs Benedict in front of a man in a brown UPS uniform. In a fluid motion, she turned, picked up the coffeepot from its hot plate, refilled their cups, picked up another cup, and walked the length of the counter. She smiled. “Coffee?”
    “Please.”
    She set the cup down and filled it to the brim. “Cream? Sugar?”
    “Black is fine, thanks.”
    “I don’t think I’ve seen you before. I’m sure I’d remember if I had.”
    Lifting his cup, he smiled back over the brim and took a sip of the scalding brew.
    “My name’s Sally Wentworth, by the way. And yours?”
    “Stephen Decker.”
    She looked from the Wall Street Journal to his work shirt. Stephen wondered if she was trying to get a fix on who and what he was. “Anyone ever tell you that you look like Tom Selleck?”
    “Once or twice.” He smiled. “He’s older.”
    She laughed. “Well, aren’t we all? What sort of work do you do?”
    “Construction.”
    “Carpenter?”
    “A little of everything.”
    “You’re not exactly an open book, are you?”
    The cook slapped the bell twice. “Hey, Sally, quit pestering the customers. Pancakes and a Denver omelet up.”
    “One of these days I’m going to take that bell away from you, Charlie!” She looked back at Stephen and jerked her head. “My husband.”
    “I like to see you jump!” Charlie hollered from the back.
    “Yeah, yeah.” Laughing, she put the coffeepot onto the burner and picked up the two plates. She carried them out to an elderly couple sitting in a booth by the front windows. Stephen could hear her talking to her customers. Apparently, they were regulars because she told them to say hello to their daughter and asked about their grandchildren by name.
    “Hey, you there at the counter!” Charlie peered at him. “If Sally asks too many questions, just tell her to mind her own business!”
    Stephen laughed. “This is quite a place you have here.”
    Sally sauntered back behind the counter. “We like to treat our customers like family.” She pulled her tablet out of her apron pocket and her pencil from the blonde bun on her head. “Now, what can Charlie fix you for breakfast? Something lean and mean or something loaded with fat and flavor?”
    “Three eggs over easy, hash browns, and a steak, medium rare.”
    “Good for you. You only live once. Might as well enjoy yourself while you’re filling up on cholesterol.” She called over her shoulder. “One he-man breakfast, Charlie! And get a move on! This guy looks hungry!” She winked at Stephen. “Want a little OJ to wet your whistle while you’re waiting?”
    “Sure. Why not?”
    She left him alone after that, talking with the UPS driver and auto mechanic.
    Stephen shook open his newspaper and read while he waited. He’d been out of the mainstream for a while. Six months in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center tended to do that to you. He’d only been out for six weeks. He was still treading carefully, trying to stay dry in a wet world. He’d made a conscious decision to leave business behind and focus on recovery. It had been a sound decision.
    Unfortunately, he’d waited too long for it to make a difference to his family. The day after he signed himself in, his wife, Kathryn, had closed out their bank accounts and checked herself out of his life, taking his five-year-old daughter, Brittany, with her. He’d faced down his first major temptation when he called home and found out the telephone had been disconnected. It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to stick to the program and not pack up and head home to an empty house and a full bottle of scotch.
    He’d calmed down when a friend did some checking and learned Kathryn had moved into an apartment in Sacramento, closer to the brokerage firm where she had worked