Lonely Single Dad Sat alone at Café on Christmas— Until the Waitress Walked in and Made him Smile…
The Author and Her Most Loyal Reader
What Johan didn’t know was that Hannah had recognized his last name from somewhere. When she got home she was going to discover something that would change everything.
Hannah walked through her mom’s front door at 2:00. She was carrying leftover pie from the cafe and trying to figure out how to explain the invitation.
Her mom Grace looked up from the kitchen where she was basting a turkey. It was way too big for two people.
“Mia you’re home early did Mrs chen close up?”
Hannah set the pie down, took a breath and said.
“Mom I invited someone for dinner is that okay?”
Grace’s whole face lit up like someone had plugged in the Christmas tree.
“Someone like a man someone hannah maria Rodriguez are you telling me you have a date?”
“It’s not a date Mom stop.”
Hannah felt her face heating up.
“He’s a customer who was sitting alone at the cafe on Christmas and I felt bad so I invited him don’t make it into something it’s not.”
Grace wiped her hands on her apron, looking way too pleased with herself.
“What’s his name?”
“Yoan Bennett.”
Hannah watched her mom’s expression change from excited to shocked in about two seconds flat.
“Yoan Bennett the man whose daughter checks out your books.”
Hannah froze because she’d forgotten her mom knew about that. Grace was already heading to the bookshelf where Hannah kept her collection.
“Here’s the thing.”
Hannah hadn’t told Johan she wrote children’s books under the pen name M. Rivers. They were kind of a big deal.
It was a best-selling series about a girl who finds magic in everyday places. She made enough money from royalties that she could live comfortably without working at all.
After her dad passed and her mom got sick, Hannah moved back from Seattle. She ran the cafe because it was her father’s dream and she couldn’t let it disappear.
She wrote at night after her shifts when the house was quiet. Before the library went fully digital, they used to have checkout cards in the back of books.
Hannah had saved a bunch of them from her own books because she was sentimental like that. One name had shown up over and over and over.
Grace pulled out a shoe box from the shelf and handed it to Hannah.
“Look at these again and tell me this is just a coincidence.”
Hannah opened the box even though she already knew what she’d see. There were checkout cards from the library for her books.
Written in careful kid handwriting on every single one was a name.
“Ava Bennett Ava Bennett Ava Bennett.”
Some of them were checked out five or six times.
“I recognized his last name when he paid with his card a few months ago.”
Hannah said this quietly.
“But I didn’t say anything because how do you bring that up without sounding like a total creep? Hey I know your daughter because I stalk records.”
Grace put her hand on Hannah’s shoulder.
“Maybe it’s not random Mih maybe you were supposed to help each other you’re both grieving you’re both alone and his daughter loves your books that means something.”
Hannah shook her head.
“It means his kid has good taste in reading that’s it we’re just two lonely people having Christmas dinner don’t turn this into some fairy tale.”
Grace smiled in that knowing way moms do.
“We’ll see.”
Grace went back to the kitchen. Hannah sat there staring at those checkout cards.
She wondered what the odds were that the saddest man she’d ever seen was the father of her most loyal reader. Johan showed up at 2:20 with flowers for Grace.
His mama raised him right even if his life had fallen apart. When Hannah opened the door he looked terrified.
“I almost bailed three times on the drive over but then Ava called.”
“When I told her I was having dinner with people she sounded so happy I couldn’t cancel.”
Hannah took the flowers.
“Well I’m glad you didn’t bail come in before you freeze it’s like 20° out there.”
She led him inside where Grace was waiting with the biggest smile Hannah had seen in months. Dinner was actually amazing in a way Hannah hadn’t expected.
Grace told embarrassing stories about Hannah as a kid. She used to write stories on napkins and leave them around the cafe for customers to find.
It drove her father crazy because they would run out of napkins.
“Mom please you’re going to scare him away.”
Grace just laughed.
“Good then we’ll know he’s not worth keeping.”
Johan actually smiled, a real genuine smile that made him look 10 years younger. He told stories about Ava getting paint in her hair during art class and trying to hide it under a hat for three days.
Hannah watched him transform from the hollow man in the cafe booth into someone who remembered how to be alive. They were halfway through pie when Grace spoke.
She said super casually like she wasn’t dropping a bomb.
“Hannah writes children’s books did she tell you that?”
Johan looked at Hannah with surprise.
“Wait what you’re a writer?”
Hannah shot her mom a look that said they were talking about this later.
“I write under a pen name it’s not a big deal.”
Johan was leaning forward now, interested.
“That’s incredible what name maybe Ava’s read your stuff she goes through books like crazy.”
