Read Online The Fortune Cafe by Heather B. Moore, Melanie Jacobson, Julie Wright - Free Book Online Page A

escape. She considered asking Cái for a refund on her cookie fortune but felt too disheartened.
    Better to get back to her job and focus so she didn’t drop any more trays. She serviced the table where the young woman she’d nearly spilled the tray on sat. The young woman sat with two older couples and a guy who looked annoyed to be there. It had to be a meet-the-new-in-laws get-together. And Emma was the lucky waitress who served them.
    She felt sorry for the girl and, as she went back to the kitchen to place the orders, decided that the one good thing about being perpetually single was that she’d never have to do the awkward in-law meeting.
    Except looking at the bright side of her singleness thrummed something raw and painful deep in her stomach. She’d had a boyfriend in high school, but none since.
    When her dad died and the world fell on her shoulders, there hadn’t been time for men. Besides, who wanted to date the girl with the neurotic mom? The couple of dates she had been on had been interrupted with phone calls demanding immediate attention as her mom wailed her distress loud enough that the guy had heard every word. Those guys never called back.
    She didn’t want Harrison to be like those men. She didn’t want him to think she wasn’t worth the trouble. Because no matter what she’d said to Cái, she really liked the idea of Harrison chasing her. But maybe it was better if Harrison didn’t chase her, because there was no way she could allow herself to get caught. She couldn’t pull anyone else into the emotional black hole of her mother’s life.
    She was glad she’d canceled the dinner plan, glad she’d told him how busy her life would be, and glad that he’d checked for himself to find that she’d been honest about that. He was only in town for two weeks. He could spend that time with his family and go back east, and she could continue being resigned to living her life as the reclusive girl with the crazy mom.
    Because she didn’t want him falling through the chasm of her mother’s depression. That was a fall she had to take alone.

Harrison glanced at his phone again to see the address his sister had forwarded him. She wanted him to meet her at the seaside reception center where she’d planned to hold their parents’ thirtieth wedding anniversary party. He’d managed to avoid her since the restaurant fiasco. He wasn’t up to her instigating a face-to-face confrontation with Andrea. But the anniversary party was important. He couldn’t put it off any longer. He pulled into the parking space next to his sister’s sedan and then entered the marbled building to find her.
    She stood at a fountain that burbled in the center of the main room. She stared at a large menu in her hands. It appeared that Andrea wasn’t with her. “Hey, Kris!” he called.
    “Harrison!” she called back, but hers was not a friendly greeting. It was a definite growl. “You’re in trouble.”
    “Usually am.” He gave her a hug even though she stood rigid and glaring at him. He refused to let go until she gave in and hugged him back— even though she did it with a swat from the menu to his shoulder.
    “I can’t believe you humiliated Andrea in front of an entire restaurant.” She took another swipe at him. “And then you never called her to apologize.”
    She raised her hand to smack him with the menu again, but he caught her hand.
    “Called to apologize? I can’t believe you’re taking her side. You’re unbelievable. I’m the blood relative here, and I’m the one who was assaulted and humiliated. She threw her meal at me. ”
    “She actually did tell me that.” Kristin’s voice softened a little. “How’s the waitress?”
    Harrison let go of Kristin’s hand and narrowed his eyes. “She didn’t press charges. Andrea’s lucky.”
    Kristin finally had the decency to look abashed. “It was bad enough she could’ve pressed charges?”
    “Andrea threw a plate at the owner, but it hit Emma