Chapter 39
Five minutes later, Selena and I were back inside the restaurant, sitting in the same booth. Standing at the end of our table, the waitress gave me a perplexed look. "Excuse me?"
"Our food," I said. "We want to order the same stuff as before."
She shook her head. "It's gone. Nicki told me you were done." Her lips pursed. "You weren't?"
"Yeah, we were," I said. "But now we want new stuff." Trying to sound as reasonable as possible, I said, "Just take the same order, and have them make it again." I gave her a tentative smile. "See?"
But from the look on her face, she obviously didn't. "What? You want free food?"
Across from me, Selena spoke up. "We don't expect it for free. Just pretend we're brand-new customers or something."
The waitress's gaze shifted toward the window, where Jake and Bishop were, once again, talking in the parking lot. They didn't look like best buddies or anything, but at least, they didn't look ready to kill each other.
On the nearby street, traffic was moving like nothing had happened. As for Ronnie, I had no idea where he was. And honestly? I didn't really want to find out.
As I watched, Jake flashed Bishop a grin and said something that actually made Bishop laugh.
For some reason, it warmed my heart. Progress? It would be nice to think so.
I turned back to the waitress and told her, "Don't worry. They're coming back."
A couple of booths away, that dreaded female voice muttered, "Great. Then,I'mleaving."
I turned in time to see her slam down her coffee cup, get to her feet, and bustle toward the exit, taking her newspaper with her.
Silently, the waitress watched her go. When the woman walked out the door, the waitress turned back to me and whispered, "Actually, she's been done for hours." She looked heavenward. "Coffee-drinkers. We should charge 'em by the hour, you know?"
As a bartender, I did know. I nodded, and then watched as the waitress turned away to deliver our food-order to the kitchen.
Happily, I was right about Jake and Bishop. They did come back, and managed to have a friendly enough breakfast that didn't involve either one of them throttling each other.
Like I said, progress.
An hour later, the four of us were in the parking lot, standing between the two different cars that had brought us here. When Bishop pulled Jake aside for a quick, private exchange, I walked Selena to her car door.
I hated that she was leaving so soon. In all the commotion, we still hadn't discussed her upcoming wedding. "I wish we had more time," I said.
"Me too," she replied, looking just as disappointed as I felt. But then, she brightened. "I know. Next weekend, let's get together. We can go shopping for bridesmaid dresses or something."
Loving this idea, I gave a happy nod, only to frown when I recalled something that I was dying to know. I lowered my voice. "Uh, that reminds me…" I hesitated, not sure how to put this.
"What?" Selena asked.
I glanced over at the guys, who were still talking. I sidled closer and said, "Do you remember Bob, the Appliance Guy?"
Her face froze, and for a long moment, she said nothing. Finally, in a carefully neutral voice, she said, "Yes. Why do you ask?"
From the look on her face, she knew exactly why I was asking.
I almost groaned out loud. "Don't tell me,youknow about that, too?"
"That depends." She winced. "Does the story involve that counter by Mom's fridge?"
"Oh, my God. She told you?" I should've known. Selena was a lot closer to my mom than I was. Still, it didn't quite mesh with something that my mom had said.
"I don't get it," I admitted. "She told me that you two never talked about it."
