His Diner Princess: Regan Brothers, #4

By S. D. Wells

Frank Regan is twenty-eight years old and is at the cross roads of his life. He is a known playboy but after watching three of his older brothers marry he begins to reevaluate his life. Deciding he wants a change he begins to slowly pull back from the playboy lifestyle. At his brother's wedding he vows to make some changes, starting with giving up that life.

Rachael Wilder is a thirty year old aspiring chef. After years of struggling she finally makes it to the top of the food chain. All the high restaurants are fighting over her but one bad review changes that. Suddenly she is part of a scandal and is in need of a quiet vacation. With a controlling father and an emotional ex-boyfriend breathing down her neck, she hops on a Greyhound and heads west. Not knowing where to go, she keeps going until she ends up in a small farming community in the middle of Wisconsin. There she finds more than just a job, she discovers a life that she had always wanted and a man who makes her insides turn to mush.

After their first encounter the young couple finds themselves in the middle of a passionate romance that neither one had expected. Life seems prefect until tragedy strikes the country and her family. Regret and remorse keep her from pursuing anything further with Frank. However he is not ready to give up and will stop at nothing to win the heart of his diner princess

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sandra Wells
• Release date: Oct 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781540112446

S. D. Wells

I am married with 3 grown children. I was raised in Dallas, Texas and have always loved to read and write. I have been married since April of 2001 to my best freind. I have experince loss of my own in my past. My eldest child died in 2006. I am a Christan and am strong in my faith. To me family is important as are freinds and God.

Book preview

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I want to first thank you as my readers and hope you enjoy the story.

Thank you to the staff at Baylor Hospital in Carrollton and Carrollton Community Care Clinic for your advice and help with medical questions.

To Dalene Dunkerley, for your friendship and support.

To Gina Chipman, for editing and helping me along the way. Thank for everything you have done and your support.

To JJ Ellis, my Author friend, thank for your support and your friendship. Thanks for the help with the book cover. Thanks for all the help you have offered me.

To my husband, Stephen Wells for his love and support through this experience. He is truly a blessing to have in my life.

I especially want to thank God for giving me the courage to go for this adventure and for giving me the wisdom to write this book.

In my new series the Regans are an Irish family and most of the nicknames I found are from a Gaelic or Irish dictionary.

One of the characters you will come across is Massy. Her name is actually Dutch and her name is pronounced Macy.

Aiden gives Charlotte the nickname Macushla. It’s pronounced Ma-shoe-la.

Aingel is the nickname Brendan gives Massy. It means Angel and is pronounced the same way.

Song bird was the nickname Dillon gave his first wife

Rose Petal is the nickname Dillon will give Megan

Princess is the nickname Frank will give Rachael

Though the characters and some places in this book are fictional, it takes place around the events of 9/11. The people in this book will be deeply affected by the events of that day. Though I never knew anyone who it had affected, this book was hard to write. It was an emotional journey for me.

I hope you enjoy His Diner Princess.

PROLOGUE

July 13, 2001 ~ 07:54 pm ~ New York, New York

Rachael Wilder had just celebrated her thirtieth birthday and was the only child to Richard and Sophia Wilder. At the age of nine, her mother passed away from breast cancer, forcing her father to move them from Lower Manhattan to Hoboken, New Jersey to live with her grandparents, Caleb and Joyce Wilder.

Richard worked at one of the top financial firms at the World Trade Center with her Uncle Edward. Her Aunt Sydney worked at the Stock Exchange and her grandparents, who had also worked in the financial district, were retired. They now played the doting grandparents on Sydney and Edward’s three girls. In a sense her entire family was part of the big financial district that made up the Manhattan area.

Knowing her family depended on her, Rachael had studied hard, earning herself a scholarship to NYU. However, by the time she reached her sixteenth birthday she had developed another love, one that would forever change her future. Cooking, chopping, sautéing, and baking were things she loved doing more than counting money. Instead of going to NYU she had decided to go to culinary school and her father had hit the roof. No daughter of his would be anything less than what was expected of her. Snorting, Rachael let herself into her tiny apartment as she thought about how the man had changed his tune when he realized what it would mean to his career to have a daughter on the list of the top ten chefs in New York City.

After graduating top of her class she had worked two years under one of the top named chefs in the country before being hired away by another establishment. Almost nine years after getting her degree she had climbed the ladder to become one of the best chefs on the east coast. At least she had been until the God awful week that had led to her unemployment status. First she had ended things with her long time fiancé, Jonathan Carrington and then two days later she had been given a bad review in the New York Times. From there it was like the domino effect of her world crumbling into the bottom of an abyss. After the bad review she lost her job and then the scandal of her breakup with Jonathan hit the tabloids. Her father was spouting out his disappointment at her failures as her stupid ex was constantly harassing her. What she needed was a change. What she needed was to start over someplace where no one cared how she lived her life.

After going to her closet, she pulled out her suitcases and started packing as she thought about her morning. She had been summoned to attend a family meeting where her father had tried to bully her into going back to Jonathan and fixing the mess that she had created. Didn’t the man even care about her feelings at all or did he only care about how it all affected his reputation? After storming away from her father, she hurried back to her place so she could flee from the world that was crumbling around her. By the next morning, she would be on a bus that would take her west. Maybe she’d get a job working somewhere in California or even Las Vegas. Why did she have to work and live on the east coast to be happy?

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06:47 am ~ Port Authority Bus Station

Early the next morning Rachael was sitting on a crowded Greyhound bus as it pulled out of the terminal. Looking out the window, she felt her heart ache. Not only was she leaving behind the bad but she was also leaving behind the good. Her grandparents, her aunt, her little cousins and what few friends she had were the only things she would miss. No doubt her father would try to call her. Snickering, she wondered how well that would go over once Richard realized that his only daughter had given away most of her worldly possessions to a homeless guy before jumping on a bus. The man would crap his pants. Her grandmother and aunt would be mentally high fiving her for her bravery as her father and uncle cringed at the embarrassment she had caused the Wilder name.

Shrugging, she pulled out her map and studied it. The bus would make several stops before ending up in a town called Grant, Wisconsin. There she would rest a couple of days before catching a bus that would take her to Las Vegas. From there she’d head to Los Angeles, where she hoped to start her new life.

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The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. By: Socrates

ONE

July 22, 2001 ~ 11: 46 am ~ Grant, Wisconsin

Blowing out an exasperated sigh, Rachael fiddled with the strap of her purse as she listened to the officer talk. How could she have been so stupid?

Like I said, unless you saw the person, there is not a lot I can do. Did you lose anything valuable?

Aside from some clothes and my bus ticket?

Yes, the man responded.

She bowed her head and nodded. I’m so stupid. I...before I left New York I withdrew a large sum of money from the bank.

Please tell me it is in your purse.

Well, I was taught that when you travel you keep your valuables in your suitcase or carry on.

How much did you lose?

A little over three grand!

The man whistled and then wrote something down. Do you have any other cash or maybe a debit card?

No debit card. I closed up my account before I left New York. I have a little over a hundred bucks in my purse.

Wow, you were running. Are afraid of something?

Just tired of the crap that New York has to offer. I was thinking of heading to the west coast.

That hundred bucks will get a room over at the lodge and a couple of meals at the diner.

Yeah. Guess I better figure out how to make some cash if I want to keep going.

Why don’t I take you over to the lodge and get you settled. The diner is open twenty four seven. There’s a hospital a few blocks away.

I guess once I get settled I can walk over to the diner. I wonder if they’d hire me.

Don’t know for sure but I can talk to Gus for you. He might give you a part time job waiting tables or something.

Thank you, she whispered as they walked out of the terminal. Life was supposed to get better once she left the Big Apple not more complicated. Once again she was mentally beating herself up for not taking other precautions to secure her money. Cutting off her family meant she had to give up her life. Did she miss them? Yes and once she was settled she’d call or at least send her aunt an email. Would she tell them where she was? No, because she knew her father or uncle or even her ex would somehow get it out of them. It would not surprise her if Richard or even Jonathan had already hired a PI by now. If only her father would have been on her side, then maybe she would not have left.

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Linda plopped down at the counter and hung her head in her hands. She had been at the hospital most of the day waiting for some kind of news about her good friend and only cook, Donald Moore. The man had been out on his Harley, showing off, when the bike hit a slick spot on the road and went flying. Thank God he had been wearing a helmet or.... Well she would not think about that. Don was out of commission for at least three months. Her dilemma now was she was without a cook. Yeah she could cook, had even gone to culinary school, but that would make her shorthanded on the wait staff. Everyone was already pulling double duty because of the harvest festival. Even now she had left the diner in the capable hands of her best friend and manger, Kathy Jacobson. Even with it being Sunday they still stayed open during the harvest festival. Summer was their busiest time of the year. Groaning, she shook her head as she started to think of all the people she knew.

How’s Don doing? Gus asked as he placed a cup of coffee in front of her.

He suffered a fractured collarbone, a broken wrist and his left leg is broken in two places. Conor says he will need at least three months to heal. I’m ticked off that he was out there showing off like that. He is fifty two years old! What the hell was he thinking?

Gus laughed. When are you two going to quit playing that game and just get married? She just let out a snort and shook her head as she ignored his comment. So what will you do now?

I don’t know. I....

Excuse me, Gus. I’m sorry to interrupt but can I speak to you a moment? Linda looked up and saw one of the local deputies shifting from foot to the other as he fingered his hat.

Okay. I’ll be right back, Gus told her as he patted her arm. Nodding, she started adding cream and sugar to her coffee. A few minutes later she looked back at her friend and noticed him shaking his head as he scratched his chin. The man snapped his finger and then looked back at her. He whispered something to the deputy before moving back to her side.

Hey, he said as he sat beside her. I have a question.

Okay?

With Don, out of work, you are short handed. Right?

Yeah, I was going to see if you could lend me one of your cooks or wait staff.

I can do you one better. He nodded behind her as he continued to speak. That lady over there was robbed this morning. She is now stuck here. Deputy Kirk says she is a cook and is in need of a job. Linda arched her brow and turned to look at the person in question. She only has about a hundred bucks to her name now.

Linda studied the woman for a few minutes before getting up to go talk to her. Hi, she told the lady. My name is Linda Harper.

Hi.

I hear you are looking for work.

Well, yeah I....well someone took most of my money and... she shrugged as she bowed her head.

I hear you are a cook?

Yes, ma’am. I went to culinary school and worked in a few top restaurants in New York for the last decade.

Mmmmm, why aren’t you back there working?

Well, you see I...I just got tired of the crap there. I had a fight with my father and my ex and...it’s a complicated mess. I just wanted to go somewhere and start over.

Well, here is my situation: I own a diner in another town and my cook was in an accident today. He will be out of work for at least three months. If you are willing to hang on until Don comes back, I’d be willing to take a chance on you.

Really? You don’t want to see my resume or anything?

Like I said I’m willing to give you a shot. Depending on how long it takes you to catch on, I’ll have you follow me around a day or two. We don’t do the fancy stuff.

No I guess not and I bet the cowboys eat more than some of the high priced restaurants in New York serve. Linda chuckled along with the young woman as she looked at Gus.

"Have you already gotten a