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you might say,”
she finally answered. She looked toward the front window. “You know
the island of misfit toys? From that old Christmas cartoon?”
    Tiana shook her head. She hadn’t watched much
TV as a kid and had never really developed the habit as an adult.
Her family had always been more about spending time together doing
things—camping, hiking, board games, travel, trips to museums,
hunting. Her parents believed there was too much to do in life to
spend a lot of time in front of a television.
    Jane shrugged. “Well, you might not get the
reference then, but this town is a bit like that island. Lot of us
came in broken. We found a home here.”
    “What broke you?” she asked quietly.
Suddenly, the woman across from her seemed more vulnerable and
Tiana’s curiosity spiked. A town of broken people seemed exactly
the kind of place Nick would settle.
    Jane sipped her tea before answering. With a
sigh, she said, “Oh, it’s a clichéd tale. Bad man. Pregnant, single
girl, too young to know what do to with herself. When I found out
my son was on the Autism Spectrum, I got my shit together enough to
leave his father. Didn’t want my boy to take the beatings I was
getting just because he couldn’t communicate.”
    She set her cup down very carefully. “So I
moved around a bit, taking odd jobs, trying to find ways to help
Ben. Finally got in touch with a cousin in Kansas City who was a
speech therapist. I was mostly just looking for suggestions, but
she said if I could get to her, she’d work with Ben. I couldn’t
afford the therapies he needed otherwise, so I up and moved us.
Again. On the way there, my old banger car crapped out on me just
outside of town.”
    “And you haven’t left since?”
    She laughed. “No. I worked until I could
afford to buy another cheap car, then continued on my way. I was
pretty desperate for the help my cousin was offering. But by the
time I’d made enough for the car, I’d gotten to know the people. I
loved it here. Ben’s needs took precedence, though. I got to Kansas
City and my cousin started working with him immediately. We had to
home school him initially, but eventually we got him into school.
After four years, working my ass off to keep a roof over our heads,
I saw huge improvement in my boy.”
    Her smile made Tiana’s heart ache. So much
love there.
    Jane took a deep breath and refocused on
Tiana. “All that time, I couldn’t get this place out of my heart.”
She waved at the shop, but the gesture seemed to encompass the
whole town.
    “When did you come back?”
    “Seven years ago. When my boy was ten and
communicated at close to age level. He’s real high functioning. The
speech was our biggest issue. Once we could discuss moving, he got
behind the idea. He…he had one good friend, but his friend had just
moved a few months earlier—parents wanted to live closer to family.
Ben was sad to lose his friend, and eager to make a change. He was
ready to come back here. So was I.”
    She leaned back in her chair and that little
soft smile came back. “He’s so freaking smart, my Ben. He’s off to
college next year. I can’t believe it’s that time already.”
    Tiana watched Jane’s motherly pride shine
through, and it overwhelmed her. She really wanted to experience
that love herself. Her own family had been so close, so full of
love and laughter, and arguments and fights and fun. She wanted
that same kind of closeness in her own family—with a husband and
children and all the chaos. All the love.
    She just had to convince Nick they could have
that together.
    Jane picked up her tea again. “So, that’s my
story. I was here about two years before Nick arrived, and I’d
settled in like a local. When Nick rolled in, we recognized one of
our own. He bought the diner from the previous owner, who wanted to
retire, and he’s been a fixture ever since.”
    “And that was that? You just took him
in?”
    “Yeah. Well, Nick did a bit more for us, too.
But we