Come Together by Marie Force
Epilogue
Ten minutes after Linc slid into the booth across from Elmer at the diner, they were still waiting for Butch to bring them coffee. Linc was thinking about getting it himself.
“He said he doesn’t need us to hire someone to cover for Megan,” Elmer said, “but he seems overwhelmed. How can one person wait on the tables and cook the food, too?”
“I hate to say it, but I think you’re going to have to start delivering coffee, old man,” Linc said, grinning at his father-in-law.
“Who you calling old, boy?”
“Figure of speech. I want to be ‘old’ like you someday.”
“You think we ought to pitch in?” Elmer asked.
“I think we’d better before there’s a riot.”
“How hard can it be? We watch Megan do it every day.”
“Exactly.”
“You get the coffee,” Elmer said. “I’ll take the orders.”
“On it.”
For the next hour, they ran their asses off, refilling coffee, taking orders, delivering food, messing up orders, redoing orders, making more coffee, clearing tables and wiping up after each customer.
When the breakfast rush was finally over, they dropped into their usual booth, completely exhausted.
“Holy. Shit.”
“What you said.” Elmer guzzled the glass of ice water he’d poured for himself. “How does Megan do that every day by herself? And pregnant for the last nine months, no less!”
“I have a whole new respect for her,” Linc said.
“Me, too.”
Butch came out from the kitchen. “Thanks for the help, boys. You saved my ass.”
“We need to get someone here to help while Megan’s out.”
“She won’t be gone long, will she? How long does it take to get over having a baby, anyway?”
Linc snorted with laughter. “It’s gonna be a while, my friend.”
“Our company believes in full maternity leave,” Elmer said. “As the official owner of the diner, I encouraged her to take all the time she needs. So, let’s hire someone to help out in the meantime.”
“I don’t like change,” Butch said, frowning.
“Well, I’m not going to pour coffee for you every day,” Linc said.
“And I’m too damned old to work this hard,” Elmer said.
“Oh, so now you’re old,” Linc said.
“Don’t be cheeky, young man.”
Linc lost it laughing. “I’m just pointing out that when it’s convenient for you, you play the old-man card.”
“If you live to be my age, you can play any card you want.”
Butch refilled their mugs. “If you want more, get it yourself,” he said as he walked away.
“He does know we’re the bosses around here, doesn’t he?” Elmer asked, grinning.
“He’s well aware that we need him more than he needs us.”
“Especially right now.” Elmer settled back against the booth. “Well, that got the blood pumping. I’ll sleep well tonight.”
“Makes me realize how easy my real job is,” Linc said.
“If it’s too easy for you, I can find someone else to run my parents’ business.”
“I think that ship has sailed, my friend. You’re stuck with me.”
“All this excitement made me forget that I wanted to tell you I heard Noah and Brianna bought the Foster horse barn.”
“Did they now?” Linc asked, beaming. “That’s wonderful. They told us how they want to restore old barns and churches and other unique properties.”
“It’s a great idea. There are a lot of abandoned old places in need of a purpose. I love to see him coming out of his shell with her.”
“I do, too. Brianna is good for him. Hannah told us that the police arrested a suspect in Brianna’s ex-husband’s murder, a business associate he allegedly scammed out of a ton of money.”
“Jeez. That guy was a piece of work.”
“Yes, he was, but there’s good news, too. The ex-husband never changed the beneficiary of the life insurance policies they got when they were first married. His parents are insisting the money go to her, and it’s a hefty chunk of change.”
“Good for her,” Linc said. “From everything I’ve heard about what he put her through, she certainly deserves it.”
“Indeed. She’s planning to invest some of it into the business she and Noah are starting together.”
“I’m so happy for them,” Linc said.
“Me, too. No one deserves to be happy more than that boy. And this weekend, I’ll get to meet my new great-grandson, Elliott.”
“Noah showed me some photos. He’s the spitting image of his daddy at that age.”
“He sure is. Adorable.”
“Hannah is infuriated that we didn’t know about him until now,” Elmer said.
“Can’t say I blame her. It’s egregious.”
“She wants Noah to file for full custody, but he’s not doing that. It’s not what’s best for the boy.”
“No, it isn’t. It’ll take a while for Hannah to get past that, but she will.”
“She said she’ll never forgive Melinda for any of it. You heard the full story about him catching her with his foreman?”
“Yeah, Molly told me the other day. It’s horrible. No wonder he retreated from everything for a few years.”
“Don’t blame him at all. That’s a bitter pill to swallow.”
“Ah, well, he’s on the right path now.”
“Thanks to us,” Linc said, raising his mug to toast his father-in-law.
“Oh, please,” Elmer scoffed. “Sending Noah and Brianna to dinner was my idea. There was no we involved in that. You’re getting your ass kicked in this competition. You’re so far behind, you might never catch up.”
“Whatever. Who do you think called Cabot to tell him Izzy was in the hospital?”
“Mia called him.”
“Au contraire, mon frère. The first call came from me.”
Elmer eyed his son-in-law with respect. “Is that right?”
“Yep, and I can have my friend Cabot testify to that.”
“Very interesting. I’ve taught you well, my young protégé.”
Lincoln rolled his eyes to high heaven. “Protégé, my ass. If things work out between Cabot and Izzy, that one is all mine.”
“I’ll concede that one to you, but only if they make a go of it. It’s about time you won a round.”
“Have you heard anything about how things are going at Izzy’s?” Linc asked.
“Nothing more than Cabot is waiting on her hand and foot and plans to stay for as long as she needs him.”
“He’s a little bit older than our Izzy,” Linc said. “How do we feel about that?”
“From everything I’ve seen of him, he seems like a wonderful guy.”
“I think so, too. I’ll be on the lookout for anything I can do to help things along so I can score this point you say I need.”
Elmer sipped his ice water. “You need a lot of points to catch up to the master.”
“Don’t count your chickens just yet. I’ve still got six Colemans and one Abbott to work with.”
Elmer leaned forward, grinning. “Cluck, cluck.”
Preorder the next book in the series, Here, There and Everywhere, Izzy and Cabot’s story, now!
* * *
Thankyou for reading Noah and Brianna’s story! Noah has been a bit of an enigma during the series, so it was fun figuring out what made him into a cranky loner and finding the right woman to bring him back to life. I hope you enjoyed getting to know the Colemans as much as I did.
Many thanks to all the people who help me behind the scenes, including Julie Cupp, Lisa Cafferty, Tia Kelly, Jean Mello, Andrea Lopes, Ashley Lopez and Kristina Brinton, for the gorgeous cover of Come Together. I appreciate the hard work of my editors, Linda Ingmanson and Joyce Lamb, and my beta readers, Anne Woodall and Kara Conrad. Also, a big thanks to the Vermont series beta readers: Marchia, Alice, Nancy, Betty, Katy, Jennifer, Deb, Doreen
A special thank you to Melissa Shufon for the insight she provided into the role of women in the construction business.
As you can probably imagine, Izzy and Cabot are up next in Here, There and Everywhere, and I’m looking forward to finding out more about them and whether they can make a go of it. After that, I’ve made the decision to end the Butler, Vermont series with Max Abbott’s book, which will jump the timeline ahead a little so we can see what everyone is up to before we leave the Abbotts and Colemans, for now anyway. I won’t rule out a return to Butler at some point in the future, but after the next two books, I’ll no longer be regularly adding to this series.
Preorder Here, There and Everywhere now to read it on March 22, 2022!
Thank you again for reading Come Together and for your excitement for more in this series.
xoxo
Marie
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