Excerpt from Chapter Two
Joe drew in a deep breath and opened the door to the Apple Grove Diner. With a nod to the sisters behind the counter, Peggy and Katie McCormack, he strode over to the picture window facing Main Street and stopped next to the booth where Mary Murphy sat drinking coffee with Miss Trudi Philo.
They were deep in conversation and didn’t notice him approaching their table.
“I heard that Deputy Jones’ sister-in-law is praying Sgt. Jones makes it back in time for Christmas.” Before Miss Trudi could comment, Joe cleared his throat. That got their attention.
“Why Joseph,” Miss Trudi said with a smile, “how nice to see you in the Diner at this hour.”
A shaft of sunlight surrounded Mary. She smiled at him and just like that, he knew it was a sign that he was right not to wait until they’d figured things out. Who cares how many houses they owned, or how many couches they had between them?
He dropped to one knee and reached for Mary’s hand. Her eyes widened and her hand fluttered in his grasp.
Determined, he cleared his throat a second time, and conversation in the diner came to a halt.
“Mary Murphy, will you marry me?”
Her mouth opened and closed twice, but not a sound emerged. She reminded him of that trout he’d snagged a few months back.
The silence grew awkward, and he’d later swear not a soul in that diner drew a breath during those agonizing minutes Mary kept him waiting.
His heart picked up the beat as he started to sweat. Why did he have to kneel down? He couldn’t trust his bad knee not to give out on him.
Wouldn’t that just cap off the silence, having Doc Gannon running into the diner to help him to his feet?
Before Mary found her voice and added insult to injury by telling him no, Joe lifted her hand to his lips, brushed a kiss across her knuckles and stood.
Without another word, he nodded to Miss Trudi and Mary, spun on his heel, stalked to the door and jerked it open. He’d parked next door behind Mulcahys. The short walk didn’t release any of the tension building inside of him since he’d hit the floor on one knee and…nothing.
“I’m too old for this!”
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