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5
Trent
Dropping my phone on the table, I lift my coffee cup to my lips and take a sip of the hot liquid as I wait for my food. I haven’t had a home-cooked meal since Ally left two weeks ago. Not because I can’t cook and only depend on Ally to feed me; I just haven’t had an appetite since she left.
The bell over the door dings, and I glance over just as Andrew enters. His gaze moves around the diner, and the moment his eyes meet mine, he spins on his heel in my direction. He smoothly slides into the booth across from me. I lift a brow, waiting for him to speak.
“I just left from the bar. I’m taking your shifts,” he informs me. “You leave tomorrow morning.”
“And where am I going?”
He gives me a deadpan look. “You know where.”
“I thought you and Jase were heading out to visit his and Chris’s parents tomorrow?”
Before he can answer, Maggie walks up to our table. Maggie, or Grams to most, owns the diner, hence Maggie’s Diner. She and her late husband built the place from the ground up decades ago. She’s Jaxon and Mia’s grandmother and is in her mid-eighties.
“Your food is almost up, honey,” she says to me before setting her eyes on Andrew. “You want some coffee?”
He gives her a wide grin. “You know me so well.”
Her mouth kicks up at the corner and she pats Andrew’s cheek. “You’ve been in here every day since you were a boy, so I would hope so.”
He takes her palm and kisses the back of it. “Thanks, Grams.”
“You wanting anything else?”
“A slice of your pie would be good for my stomach.” Andrew pats his belly, as if the delicious dessert is already sitting inside.
Maggie’s pies are to die for. Anyone who’s anyone in Jaded Hollow never comes into Maggie’s Diner without getting a slice. Or two.
“I set a slice on a plate for you as soon as I saw you come in. I’ll bring it with your coffee.”
“You’re the best.”
“And don’t you forget it either.”
With a cackle, she walks away, leaving me and Andrew alone. He looks back at me.
“To answer your question, we’re postponing our trip. I don’t like that Ally’s in Tennessee without one of us there. Something’s going on with her and I want to know what it is. I’d go myself, but I figured she’d want to see you more than her old man.” His eyes narrow. “I thought you’d be chomping at the bit to get down there to her.”
“Oh, I am.” I grab my coffee and take another swallow. “That’s why I told Jaxon this afternoon he had no choice but to find someone to cover me. I was already leaving tomorrow whether he did or not. I got off the phone with Caleb right before you walked in.”
“Shit,” he mutters.
I chuckle. “He suckered you into working and didn’t tell you I’d already found someone.”
“Fuck no, he didn’t,” he grumbles.
Maggie interrupts our conversation to drop off Andrew’s coffee, pie, and my plate of food. The disgruntled look on Andrew’s face is still there when she leaves us.
“I’m going to pay that bastard back.”
Flipping the top bun off my burger, I squirt some ketchup on top, then drop it back in place. I squeeze some onto my plate for the fries. “You know he doesn’t like when Caleb works. He flirts with the females more than he serves them alcohol.”
“So? I did the same when I worked there.”
“Yeah, but at least you did it in a way that had the customers buying more. No matter if they were male or female.” I take a bite of my burger. “What’s the big deal anyway? I thought you used to love working at Jaxon’s and only quit to help Jase at the garage. He hired Cooper a year ago. Jase should be good at the garage now.”
