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“Well, I’ve gotta go back to work,” Josie said, turning away from them and striding back into the diner, leaving them to look after her, Sawyer more confused than anything.
“Is she okay?” Sawyer asked, unsure where the bouncy, ray-of-sunshine personality he’d seen all afternoon had disappeared to and still hoping he wasn’t the reason it had vanished. Luke sighed.
“It’s fine,” he said. “Actually, it’s not, but I’ll apologize later.”
Sawyer didn’t ask any further questions as Luke threw his coat into the truck and didn’t even bother to lock the vehicle before they started wandering over to the entrance. There was practically a sign above his brother’s head that readI don’t want to talk about itin bright, flashing neon. It was safer for everyone involved if Sawyer just kept his mouth shut, which was how most of their interactions went these days.
A lot of Josie’s coolness seemed to be directed at him as well. But he definitely hadn’t done anything… Had he? Maybe Luke really had said something to her, but then maybe that was being unfair to Luke. Maybe Sawyer had said something, something that he’d let slip that he hadn’t noticed. He thought they’d been getting on so well that afternoon? But people were good actors, he supposed. How were you supposed to know what anyone was really thinking?
They entered the diner, and despite never having set foot in there before, it was everything that Sawyer expected it to be. There was a low thrum of music and conversation, nearly every table packed as pretty much everyone from town and the surrounding farms sat down to eat their dinner. The lights were a warm orange color, not the bright fluorescents seen in fast food chains, and pictures hung up on the walls from past county fairs and ribbons too, in pride of place. A pair of longhorns were mounted up above the counter where Sawyer spotted Sandy running back and forth with some task or another, and a small window into the kitchen gave him a glimpse of activity and flashing steel cookware. The whole place screamed southern comfort, and despite himself, Sawyer felt himself relaxing into it.
“Well, I’ll be darned…”
It was such an old-fashioned turn of phrase, from such a croaky-sounding voice and saidreallyloudly, that both Sawyer and Luke turned with eyebrows raised. One of their neighbors, who had seemed old when Sawyer was a kid and now seemed ancient, was rising from his seat and walking over to them, a look of dumbstruck awe on his face.
“The young Falcon’s returned to the nest, huh?” he wheezed, breaking into a smile.
Sawyer grinned. “Hey, Mr. Martinez. It’s good to see you.”
He held out a hand to shake and the old man took it enthusiastically between his own frail hands, shaking it like he was pumping water from a well or something.
“Good to see me? I’m not any football star or nothing. What’re you doing back here of all places?”
More curious faces had turned to see what was going on, murmurs starting up as people realized it was Sawyer. Willow Ridge had always been a big football town, but Sawyer felt a little spark of pride at how interested everyone seemed to be.
“Helping Luke fix the place up, you know. Extra hands on deck.”
“Good on you, young man, good on you. Taking time out from such a busy schedule to come all the way down here. And Luke, how’re you?”
Luke gave Mr. Martinez a tight-lipped smile. “I’m great, thanks for asking.”
They managed to shake the old man off, convincing him to go back to his dinner, but were stopped on their way to an empty booth several more times before they could get a chance to sit down. Multiple people came up to Sawyer, wanting to shakehis hand, saying that they’d seen the season finale where the Falcons had obliterated the opposition and come out victorious. Sawyer shook every hand he was offered and answered questions. Heck, he even posed for a couple of photos because people had asked and you couldn’t really say no. But he noticed Luke’s shoulders tensing tighter and tighter with every passing minute, his stiff smile growing thinner too. Sawyer brushed people off then as politely as he could, saying he was here to catch up with his brother. From then on he was left alone with something akin to reverence, people peeking out the corners of their eyes as they pretended not to be watching. He and Lukefinallygot to sit down in a corner booth.
“Wasn’t expecting that,” Sawyer said, settling into his chair and pulling a menu over to look at. “Half these people saw me break my nose riding my bike down Main Street when I was eight, and now they’re acting like they’ve never met me before.”
Luke gave him another of those deadpan looks of his as if Sawyer were missing something obvious.
“What?” Sawyer asked, wondering what he’d done wrong this time. Luke let out a sigh as if he were about to explain something to a very small child.
“You’re the town hero, Sawyer. Every kid who wants to play football here wears your jersey number, and every Falcons game is played on basically every TV in town. Including the bar. You’re Willow Ridge’s success story.”
“Oh,” said Sawyer, still kind of surprised but failing to see what the problem was. “I had no idea.”
“You might have had an idea if you ever came back.”
Sawyer ground his teeth. He was backnow, wasn’t he?
“Listen—”
“Gentleman,” said Josie, arriving with impeccable timing and a notepad in her hand. Sawyer swallowed down whatever it was he’d been about to say, and he and Luke shared a look. They both knew that Josie had saved them from another argument. A public one this time.
“Are you being nice to us now?” Luke asked Josie. “Cause I’m getting whiplash.”
“I’m on the clock,” she said cheerfully. “I’m being paid to be nice to you.”
“I’ll apologize properly later, I promise,” Luke said, looking exasperated with his friend. Josie held a hand to her chest as if truly honored.
“And I am so looking forward to it.” She tapped him on the head with her notepad and that seemed to settle whatever dispute the two of them had been having. If only it could be that easy for Sawyer and Luke…
