AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But the look on Cole’s face says that he feels differently. His steely gaze stays locked on me, making me wish I could crawl under my seat and disappear. He steeples his fingers and gives a long-suffering sigh.
Thank god the waitress comes over at that very second, saving the day.
“Hey, y’all.” Pearl bustles up to our table. She wears a pink and white waitress’s uniform, and bright pink Converse. She side-eyes Rex, her lovely, mahogany-colored cheeks flushing a deep pink, and she fidgets with one of her long, dark, pigtailed braids. “Hey Sav. You want coffee, hon?”
“Herbal tea, please!” I reply smoothly. “And a pecan waffle, when you get a chance.”
“Mmhm.” She makes a quick note on the notepad she keeps in her apron pocket. “Coming right up.”
I lean in closer to Pearl, eager to avoid Cole’s blazing stare. I touch her wrist lightly. “Don’t forget that you still owe me the details of your date with that guy we met at the bar.”
Pearl blushes even harder and rolls her eyes. “He was a dud. So boring. I’ll be sure to catch you up later.” She looks around the table with a smile. “Coffee for anyone else?”
Cole shoves his empty mug out. Lucy scowls at him and puts her fingers over his forearm.
She smiles up at Pearl and says, “More coffee would be divine.”
“You got it, guys.” She turns around and grabs the coffee pot off of the counter. Quick as lightning, she refills the coffee and then zips off to talk to another table.
“Pearl is so impressive,” I say. “She runs this restaurant with an efficiency that would make the Swiss jealous.”
Rex and Cole turn to give her appraising looks, both raising a single eyebrow in eerily similar expressions. Lucy crinkles her nose and takes a sip of her coffee. “That was not an invitation to stare at her legs.”
Cole snorts. “I wasn’t staring at her legs. I was just wondering why I don’t know any of your friends.”
“You live in Atlanta. And you rarely drive the five hours back home to visit,” Lucy protests. “Besides, how can you complain? You’re literally meeting Sav right now.”
My eyes connect with Cole’s, and I blush so hard that I’m sure everyone in the history of ever knows that I’m hiding something.
“Uh huh,” Cole says vaguely. “I meant more generally.”
Rex puts his hand on the back of Cole’s neck and arches his eyebrows at us. “Cole is staying here for a while. He’s going to help me with my secret project. Isn’t that right, Cole?”
Cole grips the edge of the table and grimaces. “You keep saying you have a project to work on. But that’s all I know. I can’t commit to something that is a big fat question mark.”
“Sure, you can!” Rex pulls Cole into a half hug, half tackle, gritting his teeth while he smiles. “You’re my sports agent. Your entire job revolves around getting me whatever I want. And this project? It’s what I want.”
Cole smacks his hand away with a look of irritation. “Just tell me what the project is.”
“Nah. We’ll have to go for a drive.”
“I thought that’s what we were doing!” Cole shoots him a glare.
“You guys can fight later,” Lucy intervenes. “Right now, you’re supposed to be hanging out with me, your sweetest, youngest sister. And I desperately want you to change the conversation.”
Rex and Cole exchange glances. Rex shrugs. A lull in the conversation opens up. I can’t help but notice that Cole is regarding me with that dark blue gaze of his. I wrap my arms around myself and smile at Lucy. I’m about to ask her about her college studies when Rex practically shouts over to me.
“Savannah, I heard your mom passed a few months ago. I wanted to say that I’m sorry. Your mom was an absolute spitfire. She used to come to my baseball games when I was in high school and razz the other team.”
My mouth drops open. Rex remembers anything at all about my life?
Rex was, and still is, this town’s hero. Him asking me a personal question is sort of like finding out that your favorite singer wrote a song about you.
“Who are we talking about?” Cole asks, wrinkling his brow.
“Sav’s mother. She was a real character. She always had the loudest voice on the field, no matter where the field was.” Rex prods Cole.
“I must have missed that somehow,” Cole says, crossing his arms. He seems distracted, as if his mind is somewhere else entirely.
