Stockholm

Chapter 23

The town is quaint. A busy few blocks with cars traveling about and a handful of people walking the sidewalks. It's very ordinary though, all the normal things you'd expect to see. I'm not sure why I was thinking it would be glaringly obvious, as if the whole town, buildings and all would be pointing at the diner screaming "they did it".

The diner isn't hard to find either and I pull my rental car into a parking spot on the street. Sitting in my car, I study the building, you can see straight into the place through big wide windows. A long bar running parallel to the street, a few tables scattered among booths. One of the windows says "best breakfast in town", a flier on the door for a fair. I can see a few heads at various spots, patrons eating more than likely. But I take a few moments to watch, see if I can catch a glimpse of anyone that works there.

I'm nervous, I can feel it in the urgent pulse that beats through my body, my heart rate elevated, palms sweaty. A woman bustles through the diner, plates of food in her hand but I can't make out enough distinguishing features to tell if they could be Kathryn or Chloe.

I have to go in.

Killing the engine, I climb out, stuffing the keys to the rental in my pocket and go inside the diner. Air conditioning blasts me in the face like a wall cooling the heat of the sun that baked me through the window of the rental as I drove. I do a quick sweep of the layout, noting the saloon doors that lead to the kitchen, the bathrooms on the other. The decor is minimal, nothing too extravagant, forgettable really.

"Have a seat wherever." The woman calls out to me. "I'll be with you in a moment."

I barely catch a glance of her face before she turns back to her table. I take a seat at the bar, a strategic move on my part, I'm hoping whoever the woman is I can get her talking. Find out some information.

There's a caddy with mustard and ketchup, sugar packets and jams, with a napkin dispenser and menus tucked behind it perched on the bar and I pull a menu out. The food looks run of the mill for a diner, nothing wild, and I flip through the pages realizing for the first time today I haven't eaten. My stomach grumbles in protest as I read the burger options. There's one called "the diner burger" and without reading what's on it, I decide on that. I go to put the menu back, the backside catching in the reflection of the glass window behind the bar. I bet it's a two way mirror.

But that's not my concern, I toss the menu down, back facing me and find the photograph of the man and woman that caught my attention.

There's a small blurb about Sam and Carly, the owners of the diner. They bought it 25 years ago from the original owners after living in the area for a few years.  And now run it with their daughter Jane. There's no picture of Jane.

"Hey there, sorry about that. What can I get ya?" The woman's voice has my head snapping up, my heart catching in my throat.

It takes all I have to keep my composure as I lock eyes with hers. The same eyes I've stared at countless times in a photograph. Sure she's older, sure she looks different, but she wears the same smile as she did in the photograph minus the chocolate cupcake. And her eyes still dance with a youthful glow.

"Um..yeah." All I can hear is my heart pounding in my ears. "A coffee please, black."

"Sure thing." She's got the slightest drawl, the edges of her words rounded and soft.

I watch her as she grabs a beige mug, the standard mug that all diners, chain or not, seem to have and fills it with coffee. And my mind sits baffled, completely caught off guard as I watch my little sister move about a diner as a woman. She's been a toddler all this time in my thoughts, a lost, scared little girl but this woman that stands before me is nothing of those things.

As she sets my coffee back down I point at the picture of Sam and Carly and ask "are you Jane?"

"I am." A big, proud, grin spreads across her features. "My Ma and Pa are living the retirement dream, travelin' around. I got the diner all to myself."

"Lucky you." I return her smile.

"Mhmm, they deserve it." She tells me. "Can I get ya any food honey?"

"Yeah I'll take the diner burger, how it comes is good." I tuck the menu back into the caddy, watching as she wipes something down with a towel. I make note of whether she's wearing a ring or not, she's not.

"I'll get that going for ya." She scribbles down my order on a pad of paper, disappearing into the kitchen for a moment. The saloon doors don't have a chance to still before she's pushing back through them. "You don't sound like you're from here? Work or pleasure?"

I'm not exactly sure which it is but I tell her "pleasure, I guess".

"Good for you." She gives me a genuine smile and I take a drink of my coffee forcing myself to look away. "People need to take time for themselves more than they do."

The door to the diner opens and her whole demeanor changes. She goes from being friendly to a stranger to like she's welcoming family and a whirlwind of emotions burst through me. Jealously, fear, anger, hesitation, there's too many to count.

"Hey Larry." She calls out and an old man answers "hey there Janey."

"The usual?" She asks.

He gives a gruff "mmhmm" and I listen to his footsteps shuffle to a table. I sneak a glance at him in the mirror. A Vietnam vet baseball cap on, a flannel, newspaper tucked under his arm. His shoulders slightly rounded making him lose a few inches in stature but when Jane goes to take him his drink all his features soften.

She's loved.

I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or worse.

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Happy new year everyone! I was asleep by 11 😂