Read Online Josie Day Is Coming Home by Lisa Plumley - Free Book Online Page B

outside.
    “Hey, she’s comin’ this way!” he yelled.
“Duck!”
    Eight men scrambled for the closest booths. Two grabbed
menus and buried their noses in them. Another waved his coffee cup at Luanne
for a decoy refill.
    The waitress gave him a withering look.
    Luke grinned. If you wanted good service at Frank’s Diner,
it was a bad idea to ogle anybody but Luanne.
    “Holy smokes!” one of the retirees said, staring
outside again. “I know her. That’s little Josie Day. Warren and Nancy’s
girl.”
    “Jenna?”
    “No. The other one.”
    A shocked silence fell over the retirees.
    Then, “The one who ran off to Las Vegas.”
    At that, even the local women in the nearby booths perked up
their ears. Several bouffant-haired heads swiveled toward the diner’s front
door. Luke felt a strange energy in the air, an almost palpable curiosity. This
was exactly what he’d meant about people in Donovan’s Corner. It didn’t take
much to stir them up.
    The bell over the diner’s front door jangled. Josie stepped
inside.
    Her pink outfit and rainbow shoes were the same ones from
this morning. Both looked twice as colorful as anything in the diner. In them,
she reminded Luke of a Technicolor starlet in a black and white movie. The
whole place sort of…faded to gray around her. She was all he could see.
    “Hi, Luanne. Hi, Frank!” Not noticing Luke yet,
Josie waved to the diner’s employees, standing on tiptoes to see past the
counter into the kitchen beyond. She surveyed the restaurant, then headed for
an empty booth, her trademark sashay firmly in place. “Hey, Mr.
McKee.”
    McKee’s ruddy face turned ten times pinker. Luke would’ve
sworn the man blushed. His reaction was contagious, too. Every last retiree
surrounding him wore a similar rosy hue and aw-shucks expression.
    “Hi, Mrs. Webster. Hi, Debra-Ann.”
    The women seated opposite the retirees stuck their noses in
the air. The pair behind them snapped their ketchup-splattered menus upward to
hide their faces.
    Noticing them, Josie looked troubled. She continued gamely
down the aisle between booths, all the same. Summoning up another smile, she
nodded to two more customers. Then she greeted another pair, a husband and wife
Luke recognized.
    “How’s it going, you two?” Her tone sounded warm.
Friendly. “Still hanging out at Frank’s, I see.”
    “Hmmph.” The wife stood with such force that her
hair curlers wobbled beneath their head-scarf moorings. She grabbed her
husband’s arm without another look at Josie. “Come on, Henry. I changed my
mind about that pie.”
    “But you love the pie here, Linda.”
    “ Not “—she shot an indignant look at
Josie—” anymore .”
    The two bustled out of the diner. Openmouthed, Josie watched
them. Then she seemed to realize she was still standing in the middle of the
restaurant. She spotted an empty booth and slid onto the worn red vinyl, all
her attention fixed on the menu propped behind the napkin dispenser. She pulled
it out.
    Aside from a trembling in her fingers, she seemed all right
to Luke. Composed, straight-backed, and with a neutral expression on her
face—although he sort of missed the beaming smile she’d entered the diner with.
Bothered by what had just happened, he dragged his gaze away from her. What he
saw when he looked around didn’t improve his mood.
    To a customer, every last person was either gawking at Josie
or studiously not noticing her. He didn’t get it. Donovan’s Corner
wasn’t exactly a hotbed of friendliness to newcomers, but this was ridiculous.
    Then he remembered. Josie wasn’t a newcomer.
    Another minute passed. He wanted to say something, but he
didn’t know what. Despite the fact that she’d just moved into his house, he
barely knew her. Was she one of those talk-talk-talk women? Or one of those
distract-me-with-gifts women?
    These days, Luke didn’t have much to offer in the gift
department.
    Josie kept her face firmly behind her menu. Only her
Barbie-painted