Nolan by Ruth Colby

Isabella:

Nolan always sits in my section. I have a feeling he is working up the courage to ask me out. I wish I could, but I don’t date bikers. I was pregnant with Caleb at 18, and his father is a biker and part of the Aces, a gang in the next town over. He is mean and overbearing. I ran from him when Caleb was six months old.

I have been in love with Nolan for a while, living for the times that he came to the diner, and we could have one of our chats. I knew that I couldn’t pursue anything with him. He might be kind and gentle, but he was still involved in the world of illegal drugs, gambling, and whatever other unlawful activities biker gangs got up to. Caleb already had one father ripped from him. I wasn’t about to set him up for that kind of heartbreak again.

Nolan:

I had a feeling that Isabella wouldn’t react favorably to being asked out. It’s why I held off so long, hoping that if she got to know me that she would change her mind, but it looks like that won’t be the case. It makes me sad. I really like her little boy Caleb. He is a smart, inquisitive little boy with his mother’s sandy blond hair and grey eyes. In all the months that we have chatted, she has never mentioned the boy’s father, and it makes me wonder if she is on the run from someone. When she tells me that she doesn’t date bikers, my brain itches with something familiar. As I sip my coffee and watch her bustle around the dining room, I try to catch the thought. It is right there on my brain’s tip, but I just can’t bring it into focus.