“Who?”
Cosmo snorted. “Your face says otherwise.”
My shoulders slumped. “Did I ever tell you about the rival diner in town? I’ve been spending time with the son of the family who owns that diner because we’re working on an event together for the Christmas festival.”
Cosmo’s eyes went dreamy. “And you like him? How Romeo and Juliet of you. Scratch that, Romeo and Julius? But let’s skip the tragic ending though, yeah?”
“It’s not like that. We just get along well and understand each other with our similar backgrounds, family restaurants, all that.” And almost hooked up that one time, but Cosmo didn’t need to know that, otherwise he would start pushing me to make a move on Mickey.
As if I wasn’t already thinking about that exact thing every day. I only planned to stay in Maplewood for the rest of December, and it hardly seemed worth making things even more complicated. On the other hand, we could try to have a little fun together while I was in town. Something that could continue anytime I came back to town, maybe?It’s already getting complicated and it’s still imaginary.
Cosmo’s expression turned serious. “If you like a guy, who cares if your parents run different restaurants?”
I tried to think of how to explain it to someone who didn’t grow up with the division between diners woven into the town’scultural tapestry. “It’s like if my family owned the Red Sox and his family owned the Yankees. But on an intense, gossipy, small-town scale. People would freak out.”
“It’s that serious?”
I noted. “Friendships have ended over diner allegiances.”
“That’s wild.”
“Tell me about it.” I smirked. “I’m sure you’ll find out now that you’re a small-town guy. There’s got to be a feud of some sort over in, what did you say the name was? Dahlia Springs?”
“It looks like some of these dolls are about to start feuding with each other. Or with me in my sleep. If I die here, know the dolls did it.”
I laughed. “I’ll be sure to try and get a ghost hunting show to go out and communicate with you.”
“All right. I like the sound of that. Well, on that morbid note, I’m going to shower and then head out for some grub. Good to talk to you, Amos. Keep me posted on what happens with Julius, yeah?”
Chuckling, I shook my head in exasperation. “Send me mountain pics. Talk to you soon.”
I wasn’t sure I felt any better once we hung up, but it was good to get a reality check from someone who wasn’t swept up in the Maplewood madness.
Inhaling a fortifying breath, I opened my laptop to a job posting for a national cheese brand that I’d found the other day. An idea sparked, and I felt that familiar rush in my gut that I often experienced with the new ideas that had kept me going through all the frustrations with my job.
I smiled and began making a plan.
SIXTEEN
MICKEY
“One of the dartboards just opened. I’ll go snag it.” Sam hustled over to stake their claim.
The Striped Maple was busy as usual for a Friday night. It had been a long week at the diner, and I was glad to get a chance to hang out with my friends. My chit-chat meter was full, but my friends were always great about sensing that and letting me engage as much or as little as I needed.
“What are the rules du jour?” Finn asked once we joined Sam.
Sam rubbed their chin. “How about playing with one eye closed?”
“You can barely hit the board with both eyes open,” Finn said incredulously while the rest of us chuckled.
“Exactly! Maybe throwing with one eye will give me the advantage I need.” Sam grinned.
We rarely played with the same rules, and none of us knew the real ones, but I noticed there were more voices in the debate now. With our crew nearly doubling in size this year, it was understandable.
I appreciated my friends making time to hang out like this outside of our roughly monthly D&D nights. Truthfully, Iwouldn’t blame any of them for cutting back on group hangouts to focus on building their new relationships, but the new boyfriends blended seamlessly into our merry band of misfits and hung out with us much of the time.
I’d stopped taking for granted the time we all got together. Who knew how long it would last? People might start having kids or move away, like Andre did. If I voiced the concern, everyone would say that would never happen, and Alex would probably say something about how I should get my own boyfriend so I didn’t have time to worry about ridiculous shit like that.
