A
dozen or so regulars huddled in green vinyl booths or sat at the Friedenshutten’s long counter, drinking coffee and digging into plates of fried eggs, thick-cut bacon, and hash browns. Cap knew most of them—farmers, truck drivers, and men and women that worked at the slaughterhouse.
On any other day, Cap would shake some hands and make small talk, but on this morning, he felt like keeping to himself, drinking a few mugs of coffee, and trying to make sense of what to do about Tess. The woman was damaged, and despite his attraction to her, he wasn’t sure whether the two of them were good for each other. Or was he merely overthinking the whole thing and making something complicated that was supposed to be simple?
He sat down on a stool at the end of the counter next to a mountain of a ma
