Queenie's Cafe (5 page)

“Why, thank you, Mr. Windsor,” she said sweetly. “I’ll do just that.” She held his card over the trash can and let go.

On their way out, Laura heard Luke Windsor say, “Frank, what’s going on here? You told me she was ready to sell. If you’re just wasting my time—”

“She’ll sell. She’ll have to sell. She can’t run this place by herself. Hell, she doesn’t even have enough money to open the café.”

Laura steamed. Weren’t conversations with people at a bank supposed to be confidential? She didn’t want the whole world knowing her business. If there was any other bank in town, she’d never deal with the Kingston Bank again.

As soon as her visitors drove away, Laura reached in the trash can and pulled out Luke Windsor’s business card.

Just in case.

Chapter Three

L
uke sat in the office at his mother’s ranch and watched Carlos cutting wide swaths of grass with the riding lawnmower. They could afford to rent a separate office somewhere, but the office Mom had built into the ranch worked fine. He was on the go too much to justify renting a business office. The other two employees of the corporation, an accountant and an attorney, had their own offices. He carried a laptop and cell phone with him on his business trips, and so far the arrangement had worked well.

Dark clouds in the distance threatened another spring storm as Carlos finished mowing and headed toward the barn. At one time, they’d worried about the storms chasing customers away from Mom’s little diner, but that was no longer an issue. Mom sold the business four years ago.

He scratched Molly’s black head and the dog leaned on his leg.

“Who was that on the phone?”

Luke looked around to see his mother standing in the office doorway. “Earl. He asked me to work in his Vero Beach store for a few days while one of his people is on vacation. What do you think?”

She hesitated before answering. “It’s up to you.”

“You never talked about him when I was growing up.”

“My grandmother used to tell me, ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.’ I chose not to say anything.”

“Is he really that bad?” From the look on her face, he must be, at least in her mind.

“Go ahead, get to know your father. You decide what kind of person he is. Did you ask him why he never contacted you before I won that money?”

“He said he didn’t know about me.”

“He knew.” She said it so softly he barely heard her.

Luke didn’t want to upset his mother, but he was curious about his father. Mom had never said much about him, except his name. She never spoke of their relationship, only that they weren’t married and he didn’t pay child support. The man owned a big flooring business with eleven locations scattered throughout the state. Surely he could have helped them out, especially during the lean times when Mom barely made enough to buy groceries.

Luke hadn’t met his father until after he graduated from college. Aside from lunch a couple times, they’d never spent any time together. Working for Earl for a few days would give him a chance to know the man.

“When do you leave for your cruise, Mom?”

“Tomorrow afternoon. Judy and Meg are going with me.”

“Well, that should be fun.” Just like his mother to treat her two best friends to a vacation. She was a generous woman, and she could afford to be generous these days.

“Keep an eye on things here at the ranch, Luke. You don’t have to be here every day, but check in with Carlos once in awhile.”

Carlos was perfectly capable of taking care of the ranch. “Will you quit worrying? Enjoy yourself for a change.” She’d spent most of her life working in a diner. Now she didn’t have to work at all.

Winning the lottery changed their lives, but Mom didn’t spend much on herself. She gave some away and invested in other people’s dreams. That said everything about the kind of person she was. Luke had a lot of respect for his mother. She’d brought them through the difficult times into prosperity. Although she hadn’t finished high school, she insisted he get a college degree. And he did.

Now they worked together in their own corporation. No more struggling to pay the rent, no more working long hours in a dumpy diner. They’d broken free of that life.

<>

Laura drove to West Palm Beach to pick up her final paycheck from the diner she’d worked in for the past few months. She’d spoken with her boss the day after Queenie’s funeral, and he’d already hired someone to replace her.

Just like Dad had replaced her with Florence.

Using the pay phone in the restaurant, she tried to call the man she’d been dating off and on over the past three or four months, but she got the recording. “Corbin, this is Laura. I just wanted to let you know that I’m leaving town and moving back to Kingston.” He wouldn’t miss her. They’d dated a few times, but it wasn’t anything serious. He was at least ten years older, with thinning hair and a bland personality. He was a pleasant enough guy, but not someone she could see herself with for the long term. She’d never told him much about her childhood, and aside from telling her he was a salesman who traveled a lot, he didn’t talk about his life. She’d often wondered if he had another woman somewhere, but she’d never had the courage to ask.

Packing her things took less than an hour. Six boxes and a suitcase. Everything she had fit in the backseat and trunk of her car. It was more than she had when she left home, but it wasn’t much to show for nine months of living on her own.

She told her landlady goodbye and drove back to Kingston.

Back home.

<>

On Monday, Luke went to work in the Windsor Floors Vero Beach store. Earl introduced him to the staff as, “My boy, Luke.”

Luke didn’t feel like Earl’s “boy.” He tried to make himself useful, although he apparently wasn’t really needed. Earl didn’t have enough business to justify the number of people working in the store. Employees were making work or standing around telling each other jokes. Everyone avoided Earl, especially the women, which Luke found strange. The whole situation felt strange.

One day Earl summoned him to his office. “There’s an old friend of mine on the phone. Florence. She needs a favor and I want you to handle it. Line four.”

Luke grabbed the phone as Earl disappeared out the door. “Florence? This is Luke. What can I do for you?”

“You know Queenie’s Café on the highway in Kingston?”

“Yes, I know it.” He was just there last week.

“Queenie died and left it to Laura Whitfield, but it’s so rundown, she’ll never be able to make a go of it without some help. Me and some friends helped her get it cleaned and fixed up so she could open again, but the floors in that place are in awful shape.”

“Is that right?”

“She don’t have no money to buy new stuff. Your daddy said he’d do it for cost, if you’ll take care of it yourself. He said she could pay it off as she got things up and runnin’ again.”

“Okay.” Funny, Earl didn’t seem like the generous type, especially with women. Florence must be a good friend.

“Just tell Laura I sent you. She’ll understand.”

“What does she need?”

“New vinyl everywhere but the dinin’ area. That needs new carpet. That old stuff was shot twenty years ago.”

“I’ll take care of it.” If she didn’t shoot him when she saw him coming. Well, this should be interesting. Spunky girl, standing up to Frank Fosdick that way. Laura Whitfield couldn’t be much over twenty-two or so, and she obviously didn’t like Frank or appreciate him trying to sell her business. If he held her loan and she couldn’t make the payments, he could foreclose, but he couldn’t force her to sell.

It was nearly four when Luke left Vero Beach. He drove slowly when he reached the Kingston town limits, obeying the speed limit for a change. There wasn’t much to Kingston. Just a sleepy little town along the highway. A few businesses on either side of the road, a half-dozen streets leading to neighborhoods of modest homes, a couple of gas stations, a bank and a hardware store. One traffic light and one blinking light near the school. Grocery store, liquor store, drug store, real estate office, and a few other businesses on the other side. Just your typical small Florida town.

He spotted the sign for Queenie’s Café down the street. He didn’t have a chance to get a close look the other day, when he was here with Frank. The place was in bad shape. Even the sign looked worn out. He pulled in the parking lot, turned off the engine, and stared at the building. The stucco looked like it hadn’t been painted in at least thirty years. The flamingo color was popular half a century ago, but this looked awful. The paint was blotchy and faded from the sun. Dirt streaked the lower half of the walls, turning to a muddy brown at the base. Maybe it looked better inside, but he doubted it.

Was this place really worth investing in new carpets and flooring?

<>

Laura was making a list of staples to stock the pantry when she heard a tap on the front window. It was too soon for the health department inspector, but it wasn’t that same guy again. This was a nice looking young man in a white polo shirt and slacks. Wide shoulders, blue eyes, long legs, and a nice tan. Not the kind of customer who usually ate at Queenie’s. He looked a little familiar, but she couldn’t place him.

She pointed to the CLOSED sign in the window, but instead of leaving, he tapped again. She unlocked the door. “Sorry, we’re not open today.”

“Florence sent me.”

“Florence?”

He nodded.

“Come on in.” She’d spoken with Florence on the phone yesterday, and she didn’t mention sending someone.

“I’m Luke Windsor. I was here once before, with—”

“Frank Fosdick,” they said together.

“I’m still not interested in selling, Mr. Windsor. If that’s why you’re here, you’re wasting your time and mine.”

“That’s not why I’m here.”

She crossed her arms and tried to listen with an open mind.

“I’m here on behalf of my father, Earl Windsor.”

She dropped her arms. “Windsor Floors?”

Luke nodded. “He said this was a favor for an old friend.”

“What kind of favor?”

“Special deal on new vinyl and carpet for the café.”

She shook her head. “I can’t afford all that.” She couldn’t even afford to open unless someone loaned her some money. Billy Joe Redmond had bought Queenie’s old car, but the five hundred he gave her would barely cover the utility bills this month.

“We’ll do it for cost and you can pay it off at whatever you can afford. Labor is free. I’ll install it myself, if that’s all right with you. I think we may have some window shades that would work well in here, too.”

“Well, thank you, but I can’t afford new flooring. I don’t know if I can find enough money to buy supplies to open.” She still had the health department inspection to get through, permits to buy, food to stock, and other bills to pay. Before she could buy anything, she had to borrow money and get the café open for business.

“Why don’t we get some measurements and then you can come to the store in Vero Beach and see what we have in stock? We’ll figure out what it’ll cost you, and then you can decide. I assume you’d want it done pretty quick.”

She cocked her head. “Are you sure about this?”

He had a nice smile. “Absolutely sure.”

She couldn’t believe everyone had been so nice.

He measured the floors in each room and the windows in the dining room.

“I thought I’d make some new curtains for the windows,” said Laura. She still had the old sewing machine Queenie’s mother had used. It wasn’t fancy, but it worked.

Luke took his sketches and measurements and started for the door. He opened the door and turned back. “Look, about the other day. When Frank called, I had no idea he’d try to force you to sell. Is he trying to repossess your business?”

“No, I own it free and clear. I just don’t have any money for operating expenses.”

“I’m off at noon tomorrow. Why don’t you come to the Vero Beach store late tomorrow morning and see what we have, and then I’ll take you out for lunch? There’s something I’d like to show you.”