Nora brought him the stew, two slices of toast, and a paper cup of coffee.
He held the warm cup with both hands before touching the food.
His eyes followed her name tag, and he repeated her name under his breath.
He ate slowly, as though a careless movement might cause the meal to disappear.
When Nora asked whether he needed anything else, he asked to use the diner telephone.
She carried the receiver over on its tangled gray cord.
The man dialed a number from memory and spoke too softly for anyone else to hear.
Nora heard only one sentence before she returned to the kitchen.
He told the person on the other end that he had found someone worth trusting.
Chapter 2: Forty-Five Minutes
Curtis waited until the man had finished before calling Nora into his office.
The office contained an old safe, a refrigerator covered with delivery stickers, and framed photographs of Curtis shaking hands with people who had never visited the diner again.
Curtis explained that Nora’s actions had embarrassed him in front of a security consultant who sometimes ate at the counter.
He removed her Saturday and Sunday shifts from the schedule and handed her a revised copy.
Nora stared at the missing hours and calculated the rent she would no longer be able to pay.
She asked whether the decision could wait until the morning.
Curtis told her that people who wanted financial stability should learn to follow instructions.
Nora walked out without allowing him to see her cry.
The stranger had left his booth and waited just inside the door.
He apologized for the trouble and asked whether she had family waiting at home.
She said she had a son and that he was eight.
The man’s expression changed when she mentioned the boy’s name.
He asked whether Owen had ever wanted to ride on a train.
Nora said he wanted to become an engineer because he loved bridges.
The man nodded, and for a moment he appeared to be somewhere far from the diner.
He thanked her again and stepped into the snow.
Nora watched him disappear between the parked cars.
She expected never to see him again.
Forty-five minutes after the first ringing of the doorbell, headlights filled the dining room.
Three black sedans pulled up along the curb, followed by a silver Bentley with dark windows.
A woman wearing a navy coat stepped out of the Bentley and spoke briefly to two men beside the first sedan.
