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“Order up!” the burly cook exclaimed as he slapped his large hand down on the silver bell.

It was another beautiful day out in Edgartown, complete with the lovely sound of crowing chickens and mooing cows from neighboring farms. Aislynn Miller welcomed these sounds with open arms. Although she was born and raised in this small town, she could honestly never get tired of the common sounds she was greeted with every morning.

“My, my… my cobbler is going faster than them hotcakes, huh?” Aislynn joked as she grabbed plate of her homemade peach cobbler, topped with French vanilla ice cream and fresh whipped cream.

“You know whenever you made that good ole peach cobbler of yours, that’s always the first to go!” Benny, the cook replied. “This is probably the only town that starts off their day with dessert whenever you make that cobbler.”

“Gotta give the people what they want.” Aislynn replied with a smile as she grabbed the second plate that was decorated with over-easy eggs, two strips of bacon, two sausage links, a heaping serving of hash browns and three hotcakes. “I’ll be back to get the other orders.”

“Don’t worry about it, Nancy’s got it.” Benny said, volunteering the youngest waitress to grab the complete orders, who was busy flirting with a group of young construction workers, all the while taking their orders. “You need to stop overworking yourself!”

“Life never stops!” Aislynn chuckled as she began walking out slowly towards the tables with the two plates, trying to find her way around everyone.

“Here we are…” she said with a smile, “Got one peach cobbler and a plate of eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and pancakes.”

The two customers she served immediately grabbed their plates, “Thank you.”

“Anytime. Can I get you guys a refill on anything? Coffee, orange juice, pop…?”

“No, we’re good.” the male customer replied. “Can’t wait to tear into this cobbler though, heard it’s the best in this state!”

She gave an amused look, “Have you now? Well, that’s quite a bold statement that you heard, so I’ll go ahead and let you be the judge of that. You guys go ahead and enjoy your meals, I’ll be back around if you need anything.”

Aislynn left the table she had just served and set out to find her youngest employee, Nancy. She stood there for a while, until she finally picked out her voice amongst the chatter. Turning, she began making her way over towards the table of the young men Nancy was still flirting with.

“Working your charm on a young, beautiful lady is surely to work up your appetite as well.” she addressed the table, standing next to Nancy.

“Aislynn!” the men exclaimed happily in unison. “Good morning.”

“Mornin’ fellas. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna have to steal this lovely lady away for just a while so she can go put your guys’ orders in, okay?” she said as she linked her arm through Nancy’s and began to lead her away from the table.

“Oh. My. Gosh. I love construction workers!” Nancy squealed as they both began to make their way to the kitchen.

Aislynn laughed and shook her head, “I can tell. Luckily I came to pull you away, they probably would’ve never got their food.”

Nancy grinned sheepishly, “Sorry Lynn.”

“There’s no need to apologize honey, just go and put their orders in and you can go back to entertaining them.”

Nancy immediately halted in her trek, causing Aislynn to stop as well. She was rendered motionless at the sight of a middle-aged man who had just walked into their diner. He wore torn jeans and a simple t-shirt, sporting a baseball cap to complete his look; he surely wasn’t from around here. His facial hair seemed trimmed and up kept, but his face looked of sheer exhaustion. Regardless, he was a really good looking man and his mysteriousness was all the more alluring.

“Lynn?” Nancy choked out as she tightened her grip around Aislynn’s arm. “You gotta let me take that, please?”

“What is i-” Aislynn faltered off, figuring she already knew what Nancy wanted. “Go ahead.” she laughed as she grabbed the order out of Nancy’s hands, ushering her towards their new customer.

“Thank you!” Nancy whispered giddily as she quickly made her way over towards the new customer. “Hello!” she greeted with a big smile, “Welcome to TLB, are you expecting anyone else to join your party?”

“Um, no.” the man replied, glancing around the diner.

Nancy nodded, silently thanking God that this beautiful man was here by himself. “Okay, follow me.” she said as she grabbed a menu and began to lead him further into the diner.

All the while the man looked around, studying his new surroundings and the people. “Here you go.” Nancy said as she pulled out the chair, gesturing for the man to sit. “Our special for today is our endless flapjacks with sausage, bacon and hash browns, or country fried potatoes if you prefer. We also have our famous peach cobbler on the menu today, which I recommend getting before you leave because it’s seriously the best anywhere.” she explained as she handed him the menu.

“Coffee is fine for now.” the man replied as he opened the menu, looking his options over.

Nancy stood there for a while, knowing Aislynn would be over with the coffee pot soon and she didn’t want to leave him yet. “You’re not from around here, are you?” she asked, trying to strike up a conversation.

The man glanced up at her, “How’d you guess?”

Nancy shrugged her shoulders in a flirtatious manner, tossing her light blond curls back, “I don’t know… it’s a pretty small town out here, so everyone kinda knows everyone. I just can’t place my finger on where you could possibly be from.”

The man cocked an eyebrow in surprise, “Really?”

Nancy nodded eagerly, glad that the man seemed as if he wanted to further their conversation. “I would try and guess, but I wouldn’t want to offend you in anyway, I’ve been known to be wrong.” she tried to laugh her nervousness off.

The man immediately sensed how she was feeling and why she was acting the way she was. He flashed her a smirk, “Is there a bathroom I could use?”

“Um, yeah, it’s back that way near the entrance, I could show you if you want.”

The man chuckled and shook his head as he rose from his seat, “Thank you, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

The man turned around sharply, feeling himself collide directly with another person. Although he was taken back by the impact, he immediately shot his arms out for the woman he had just turned into, trying to catch her before she hit the ground. The woman, who was already knocked off balance, immediately dropped the coffee pot she was carrying and reached out for the man who bumped into her, grabbing onto his outstretched arms and pulling him down with her. The diner fell silent at the sound of the coffee pot breaking and the two bodies hitting the ground with a dull thud.

Nancy stood there, hands clasped over her agape mouth. “Oh my… Aislynn, are you okay?”

Aislynn groaned as she tried to sit up, but couldn’t due to the body that was partially on top of her. “Someone remind me to get some plush carpet in this place.” Aislynn tried to laugh it off, but ended up groaning in pain.

“Oh my god, I am sooo sorry.” the man apologized sympathetically as he quickly got off the younger woman he had landed on.

Aislynn gave a small smile as she shifted a bit on the floor, trying to be mindful of the shards of glass that was surely scattered around her. “There’s no need to cry over spilt milk, or spilt coffee in this case.”

The man reached out to help her up from the ground, but was quickly reeled back and thrust into a group of young looking men. “What the hell’s ya problem man?” one of the construction workers asked as they closed in on the man. When they had seen him crash into Aislynn, they all quickly got up and made their way over, immediately becoming protective of the waitress the whole town knew and love.

“There’s no need for that Buckey.” Aislynn warned in a soft tone as Nancy helped her up from the floor. “It was an accident, he doesn’t have a problem. And I surely don’t want you boys starting any problems in this diner.”

Obediently, they backed down, but not before brushing shoulders with the man and eyeing him down as they made their way back to their table. Nevertheless, the man ignored them and focused on the person he had hurt. “Again, I’m really sorry, I can pay for any of the damages I’ve caused.”

Aislynn chuckled, “Like what, the broken coffee pot? That’s easily replaceable honey, don’t worry about it.”

“Well, I still feel really bad, I mean… I knocked you to the ground.”

“You didn’t knock me to the ground. I was thrown off guard and reached out for the closest thing to me, which happened to be you, and pulled you down with me.” Aislynn laughed as she fixed her rumpled work clothes.

The man stared long and hard at the waitress before him. She was a little shorter than him, her frame slender yet profound. She had a light mocha complexion, her brown hair tied back in ponytail while her bangs was swept neatly to the side of her face, the remaining strands of hair hung in very loose curls. Her facial structure was nice while her lips were petite, yet slightly plumped. What also interested him was the fact that she wore reading glasses that appeared to be sunglasses as well. She seemed to be a well refined, smart young woman.

“Let me make it up to you somehow… maybe buy you coffee or breakfast or something?” the man pleaded.

Aislynn gave a genuine smile, “That’s really sweet of you, but I’m gonna have to decline. I just have so much to do, starting with cleaning this up.”

Benny, who had quickly made his way out of the kitchen when he heard the commotion, quickly intervened. “Don’t worry about this mess Lynn, I’ll get a few people to take care of it.”

She turned to face Benny, “Regardless, I still have work to do.”

Benny grasped Aislynn lightly by the shoulders, “Like I said, you work too much. This man is offering to buy you breakfast and I know you didn’t eat this morning. Go on and get outta here. Nancy will help me take care of it all, just go on and take him up on his offer.”

Aislynn stood there for a while, as if contemplating it all over. Releasing a small groan, she reluctantly agreed. “Alright. I can’t believe you guys are kicking me out.” she pouted with a small laugh. “Well, can we at least have breakfast here?”

Both Benny and Nancy glanced over at each other, “Of course, we’ll get you guys set up right quick.”

Aislynn shook her head as she looked back over towards the man, “Don’t mind them. My name’s Aislynn by the way.”

The man smiled, “AJ.”