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Chapter 1
"Hey darl'n,let me get some of that sweet ass over here!" The rolling, deep, southern twang grated through my ears like the shards of glass I was piling into the dustpan near the front door. Even Joanna, the only other waitress on shift, rolled her eyes from across the room and sent me a sympathetic glance. I groaned inwardly as I looked over my shoulder. The spokesman, along with an identically dressed sidekick, slid into a booth in my section. I realized with disgust that it was, in fact, my ass they were drooling over as I bent down to shuffle and pick up the clinking pieces of glass I haddropped.
After trashing the shattered bits, I returned from the kitchen just as the front door chimed and another man ducked in. His head swung low automatically in deference to his height. I looked him over, my eyes trailing up and up, and as he paused, the two redneck truckers began hollering for meagain.
"Give me one moment and I'll be right with you," I assured the giant. He nodded and simply took a seat at thecounter.
I flicked him an apologetic glance once more before hurrying through the nearly empty dining room towards the two truckers. They grew progressively louder until I reached them and then their catcalls and whistles abruptly came to an end. I held back the urge to pull the hem of my starched uniform lower and my necklinehigher.
"What can I get you, gentlemen?" The last word choked out of me as I gazed down at the greasy men with their balding heads hidden by fish-logo ball caps. Gentlemen, they certainly werenot.
"Well, hey there, Miss," The man on the right paused and leaned forward, squinting his eyes to read my name tag, "Harlow." He grinned like he'd found the secret to the universe in my name, and my panties would drop for him at anymoment.
Fat.Chance.
My eyes rolled as I imagined how good it would feel to pour an entire pot of freshly-brewed, hot coffee on them. The waste of perfectly good coffee would be worth the looks on their faces. Their attention was unnerving. I could have been wearing a parka and thick jeans and I would have still felt exposed around theseguys.
"Two coffees, and we'll have the special if that special includesyou."
Did that line really work on girls?It took concentration to keep my disgust from showing. I really hoped they were good tippers, but by the look of them – dirty, ripped jeans and wife beaters that may have once, long ago, been white – I didn't have highhopes.
"It doesn't," I said with a straight face, "but two coffees, coming rightup."
They chuckled as I walked away and I prayed that the skirt of my uniform hadn't riddenup.
The giant had taken up a seat at the end of the counter and Joanna was at the back of her section, on the border of the convenience store entrance that shared our building. She giggled shamelessly, flirting with her newest boyfriend: Mark or Jim or Bobby, I couldn't remember. He had been in the restaurant every night thisweek.
I sighed and decided that the two guys in my section weren't in any hurry and could wait a bit longer. I drifted to the tall stranger, pulling out my notepad to take hisorder.
"Are you ready toorder?"
Sharp blue eyes centered on my face and I froze. He looked down at me, as someone with his height couldn't help but do. He must have been six and a half feet tall. As he stared, though, it didn't feel like he was ogling me the way most guys who came to Alex's Diner did. No, he appeared to be analyzing me, and by the time he turned back to his menu, I was sure he knew everything about me; how many times I forgot someone's take-out order, how uncomfortable I was with the guys at my back watching my every move, and how absolutely, bone-deep exhausted Iwas.
"Yea, I'd like a glass of sweet tea and the number two special." He glanced back at me as he closed his menu and returned it to its holder behind one of the little condiment baskets that lined the counter. "And if you could grab a cup of coffee and a slice of apple pie too, that would be great." He smiled, a line of straight teeth beaming back atme.
"Okay, sure. Noproblem."
I shoved my pen and pad back into my apron without writing anything down and rushed to the back. I filled three mugs, imprinted with the Alex’s Diner logo, with hot, black coffee and loaded two little bowls with creamers. I paused when I reached the counter again, placing the tray of drinks down to fill a glass with sweet iced-tea. I'd argued with Joanna not to make it an hour before, but was thankful now that she hadn’tlistened.
I rushed back to the giant. Even sitting down, he towered over me. I guessed that he had sat at the bar because it was the only place in the diner where he wouldn't have had to cram his legs under the table. As it was, his large boots reached the floor quite easily, leaving enough room for him to bend his knees. A twinge of jealousy reminded me of how I always looked like a child, swinging my legs back and forth on thosestools.
I placed the tea in front of him and the cup of coffee next to it, with one of the bowls of creamers next to one of the condiment baskets. He flashed me a subdued, distracted smile as he perused his cell phone. The truckers had managed to calm down, I realized as I dropped off their coffees and creamers, engrossed in an animated conversation about a fishing trip one had gone on recently. When neither of them glanced at me, I thankfully hurriedaway.
As I dropped off the tray, the door chimed again and I couldn't believe how many customers were arriving so late on a Thursday night. Maybe I would actually make enough this week to afford the minimum payment on my mom's latest hospitalbill.
I watched as a slender boy, about my age, strode in, his eyes wandering over the worn tile and 50s style counter. He stood out in the room with his dark hair slicked back, wearing slacks and a white button-up under a gray cardigan. My eyebrows rose when he sat directly next to the giant, picked up the cup of coffee anddrank.
I approached slowly. "Hi?" They both looked up, a pair of bright, blue eyes and a pair of tornado-gray eyes, both intensely focused on me. "Um, can I get youanything?"
I paused at the end of the counter, directing my attention to the newcomer. He looked me over in the same way that the blue-eyed giant had, analyzing me in one moment, before turningaway.
"You ordered pie, right?" the gray eyed stranger asked, and the giant nodded. He looked back at me. "Then I'mgood."
"Alright then. Well, if you do need something, my name's Harlow, justcall."
He noddedonce.
I rushed back to the kitchen, hoping Joanna would take any new tables that came. I didn't want to leave the safety of the back until I absolutely had to. The two at the counter made me feel like a layer of skin was stripped away every time they looked atme.
