Chapter 1 - THE LAST POT OF SOUP
Near midnight at the Red Lantern Diner, waitress Avery Morrison notices two identical seven-year-old girls huddled beneath the awning in the freezing October rain. Their jackets are thin, their shoes worn, and one of them is so hungry that her stomach growls while Avery tries gently to speak with them.
When Avery offers them vegetable soup, she returns to the kitchen only to find night manager Gavin Cole deliberately dumping the last pot into the trash. Gavin insists the diner is not a shelter and claims feeding homeless people will only encourage them to return.
Avery, struggling financially herself and saving every dollar of her tips to keep her electricity from being shut off, refuses to accept his cruelty. She takes eight dollars from her tip money and places it on the counter.
“Then sell me two bowls.”
The decision seems small.
May you like
A poor waitress buying dinner for two frightened children.
But Avery has no idea who the twins really are, why they are terrified of the police, or why, before the next day is over, three black SUVs will surround the diner and a billionaire will walk through its doors looking specifically for her.
