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Alongside her husband Hank, Linda ran the Do Si Do diner with a wide smile, which usually cracked her bright pink lipstick. Her hair was tall and unnaturally blonde today. Tomorrow might be different. Linda liked to change things up. Her skin was the texture of the last piece of fruit in the house that everyone had been avoiding for days and the color of a ripe tangerine. The uniforms the staff wore were pink and like something from the sixties.
“He’s down the back, flirting with Betsy Regal. You may want to intervene there. Girl’s just been dumped by Fox Grayson again and looking for a rebound.”
Sawyer grunted something and moved on. When you lived in a small town, everyone felt it was their right to have a say on everything.
“I’ll bring you a coffee. You look like you need one,” Linda said.
She wasn’t wrong.
He walked past booths with red leather seats and shiny white tables and nodded when people looked his way. He found his brother talking to a blonde with a killer body and a sweet smile that fooled no one.
Betsy Regal was a man-eater.
Ryder sat in the middle of the Duke sibling lineup under Brody and ahead of Dan. He had the lightest hair of the brothers, but the rest of him was all Sawyer.
“Rye,” he acknowledged his brother.
“Bro.” Ryder’s eyebrows rose as he raised a hand, which Sawyer slapped. “What are you doing out in public?”
“Hello, Sawyer.” Betsy smiled up at him. Then she rose from her seat and kissed his cheek. He wasn’t the brother people normally kissed, but he took it and stepped back, sneezing.
“You need something?” Ryder asked him.
Sawyer nodded but didn’t go into detail, which told Ryder he didn’t want to talk about it in front of Betsy. He sneezed again.
“Okay.” Ryder flashed Betsy a smile showing all his teeth, which had Sawyer rolling his eyes. This brother was the Duke playboy. “I’m going to have to pass on tonight, sweetheart. Sawyer’s allergic to your scent.”
Her bright red lips pouted.
“I’m not allergic. I just sneezed,” Sawyer said.
“Sure you are. Remember that time you dated Luanne and—”
“Whatever. Shut up.” Because Sawyer remembered. They’d gotten naked for the first time, and the only thing that swelled up that night had been his face. Turned out there had been something in her perfume he’d reacted to.
“I’ll call you, Betsy,” Ryder said.
After exchanging numbers, Betsy left with another heated look for Ryder and a glare for Sawyer. Which was how things usually went.
Sawyer sat and picked up the menu, even though he could recite everything on it.
“What’ll it be?” Linda arrived with her coffeepot, muttering.
“What’s up?” Ryder asked her. “Can’t have the most beautiful woman in Lyntacky upset.”
“Someone just asked me for a latte. Do I look like I’d know how to make one of those fancy things?” She was frowning.
“To be fair, they are popular now.” Ryder smiled.
Linda returned it and then leaned in to top off his coffee.
“I’ve been thinking about getting one of those newfangled coffee monsters,” Linda said. “You know how to work one?”
“No, but Birdie does. She trained as a barrister once.”
Hearing Birdie’s name got Sawyer’s attention. “I’m sure you mean barista.”
“That.” His brother jabbed a finger his way.
