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As my heart rate sped up, Jo-Beth went on. “Well, this is an arousing — I mean rousing — dinner, hm?” There were some other words, but they were lost in the acceleration of my pulse.
“What’d you say?” Phoebe asked her dreamily, as though through water.
“I said you should sell tickets, because there was someone enjoying your show.”
That, at last, caught Phoebe’s attention. She bit her lip and dropped her foot onto the linoleum. Phoebe was ballsy, but not quite that ballsy — I imagine that she, like I, had no interest in being arrested for public indecency.
Phoebe broke our eye lock, and followed the tilt of Jo-Beth’s head to the outside world.
“What are you talking about?” Phoebe asked. “Were you just trying to get my attention?”
Jo-Beth shook her head. “No, just thought you oughta know you had an audience outside.”
Phoebe rolled her eyes, not buying this story for a minute. “All right, all right, your point is taken, you have my full and undivided attention. How was your day?”
Unable to help myself, I turned around in my seat just enough to look back out the window. There was, as Jo-Beth said, no one there.
I turned back, and tried to rejoin the conversation, but…
That had been kind of weird, right? Someone supposedly watching us in a window, especially in a town so small? Whoever it was would’ve knocked on the glass and greeted me at least as we know everyone.
Whoever it was probably couldn’t see your face, I told myself, even as a shiver ran up my spine. Any townsperson would’ve said hi if they saw your face.
Or Jo-Beth really had just been making it up. I wouldn’t blame her. Phoebe and I were getting a bit carried away. This thought was underlined as I tried to unstick my pants from my hard cock, because there was seriously no way to explain myself if Henry saw that unusual bulge.
Maybe the person in the window didn’t want you to see them, a quiet voice in my head speculated.
Okay, I was getting too paranoid. No more coffee in the evenings for me.
“Let’s order,” I announced, waving Miss Keller over and trying to put all dark and stormy thoughts from my mind.
But night was closing in.
CHAPTER 20
Phoebe
AS IT TURNED out, the place really knew how to serve up some damn good food.
Jo-Beth and I had been to plenty of dive bars and diners on our road trip, trying to sample all the best shit from all the seediest places. Along the way, we’d had some truly inspired meals. So trust me when I say, I know a good burger and fries, and this was one of ‘em.
We all ate like royalty. After Jo-Beth finally diverted my attention away from Carter’s cock — oops! — we fell into a steadier, less explicit conversation, and then the food started rolling in and things started to smooth out. Somehow, I’d forgotten that Jo-Beth had never really shared a meal with Carter, even though it felt like I’d shared a lifetime with him.
The service ran slow — as though it were on ‘island time’ — but once Jo-Beth stopped hounding the two of us, nobody minded the plodding pace of food. Even Henry, though he was but a little kid, sat patiently, eating and giggling, never seeming to mind the wait.
Man, I was never like that as a kid, I thought, before realizing that perhaps being raised in a place that moves lazily could actually be beneficial for a child’s temperament. No TV — no screens, period. Sounded kinda nice.
At long last, after we were all stuffed and cheerful, Carter nodded to Miss Keller, who was stationed up behind the counter, having discarded her crossword puzzle and moved on to some sudoku.
“Coming right out,” she said, bustling to our table and plopping the check down. “Take your time.”
I reached instinctively for the slip of paper, but Carter was faster, snatching it up in his large hand.
“Nu-uh, I got this.”
“But—”
“It’s a gentleman’s job to treat a lady,” he said, then corrected himself. “Ladies, rather. Especially with the wage gap and all.”
I snorted, but resigned myself to letting him pay. In truth, I was a broke-ass college student. In other words, there was no point in being too proud.
Carter laid down his cash and, I noticed, left an ample tip. Good. I’d worked as a barista at one of my college’s cafes, so I knew just how important tips were. Especially in a place like this, that couldn’t see more than ten customers a day.
“All right, Miss Keller,” he called. “We’re headin’ out. You have a good one.”
“You too, kiddo. Bring Henry by again soon.”
“Will do, ma’am.”
Together, the four of us maneuvered out of the booth. Henry stood on the edge of the leather seats so that he could jump onto Carter’s back, quickly assuming his usual position. We walked out of the diner and into the night.
