I said a silent prayer that I could get through the slice of pie without vomiting all over the place. I didn’t really want to eat anymore, but I wasn’t ready to leave yet, either. I hadn’t told Avery who I was, yet. The longer I waited, the more weird it was gonna be when it happened. I was just so fucking nervous.
When Avery brought the pie and my check, he asked, “Are you just visiting?”
“No, I live here. Why?”
He shrugged. “You said you’d never been here before, so I thought maybe you were just in town for business.”
I chuckled. “No, I’m no businessman. I’ve, umm… been gone for several years, and just recently came back. I’m actually a mechanic. I’ve just started at a garage not far from here.”
“Oh, well. In that case, maybe I’ll see you again sometime."
“Yeah, definitely.”
He smiled at me one last time before he turned and walked away. I picked up the check and confirmed what I had known since the moment he had first spoken to me:
Today your server was : AVERY
My total was 11 dollars and some change, so I pulled the $20 bill out of my wallet and laid it on the counter. I carefully picked up my copy of the receipt and folded it into my wallet. I took one last look at Avery as he was leaning through the kitchen window picking up a plate the cook had just placed there, and then walked out.
“Maybe I’ll see you again sometime…”
Count on it, sweetheart.
Chapter Four
Avery
Istared out the passenger-side window as the streetlights flashed by. I couldn’t get the guy from the diner out of my head; I had been thinking about him all afternoon. It was so strange—there was something about him that made me feel… weird. Not weird in a bad way, just… different.
I’d had my fair share of creeps that came into the diner and looked me up and down, and then proceed to watch me like a hawk thinking I didn’t notice. He was different. For the first time Ilikedthat someone was creepin’ on me. Watching me as I worked. It was… hot.
He was hot!
So far from my type, though, it wasn’t even funny. He was big, and nearly bald. Looked like an everyday meathead who spent more time in the gym than using his brain. In fact, he was even a little scary. In most men, an intimidating aura guaranteed that all I wanted to do was run the other way. In the diner guy, however?
Shit. It was like I was drawn to him.
“Avery?”
“Hmm? Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”
“I was sayin’ how Markowski lost the bet, so he had to be the one to wrestle the homeless guy to the ground. He was completely covered in shit!” David hooted, and even hit the wheel with the meat of his palm. “Oh, fuck, you shoulda seen it. Not that being covered in shit is new for him, with how far up Chief’s ass he’s always climbing.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.” I gave a half-hearted laugh and hoped it was enough to convince him that I actually gave a shit about his stupid story. It seemed to do the trick, because he continued right on talking about how jealous Markowski was of him, and how close he and the chief were because he was marrying the chief’s son. Same story I’d heard a thousand times. I kind of tuned it out when he got going on the same old, same old. Cop antics were amusing the first dozenor so times, then they got tiresome.
David pulled into my parents’ driveway and I got out of the car. I opened the back, grabbed the large salad bowl covered with plastic wrap, and turned around to hand it to David only to realize he’d gone ahead inside without me.
Again.
I sighed, grabbed the pan of oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies, and carefully balanced it on the rim of the salad bowl. I used my foot to close the car door. I made it up the walk and pushed the door open with my shoulder. At least David had left it ajar.
“Hi sweetheart,” Mom called from the living room. “Oh, do you need help?”
David turned at my mother’s question and hurried over. “Avery, you should have said something,” he complained as he took the pan of cookies.
“Sorry,” I said. “I thought I could handle it.”
“It’s okay, babe. Next time just ask for help; it doesn’t make you weak. We’re a team.”
