of the night. Add in that particular disorientation that comes from being in a chain restaurant after hours on the road and a late-night food stop at Denny’s seemed like a fixed point in time.
We had always been in this Denny’s and we would always be in this Denny’s. The waitress would always be a thin teenager with a nose ring and fading black hair dye who didn’t bat an eye at our highly suspicious-looking group as she placed six glasses of water on the round table. I wonder what she made of us.
Steele, a Cuban mountain of a man, sat with Breck curled up in his lap. The soft smile on his face as he carded his fingers through Breck’s hair hurt something in my cold, dead heart, and I turned away.
The waitress’s eyes darted from Breck to Ridge and back again. Understandable. Besides looking like debauched angels, the boys were the most identical set of twins I’d ever seen in person. It had been useful having someone who could be in two places at once but that advantage disappeared when people realized there were two of them.
Leo and Danny looked fairly normal and I knew, if asked, the waitress might not even remember serving me. But what story would she come up with to explain what this unlikely group of men was all doing together at this ungodly hour at a Denny’s near the highway?
“Brekkie,” Ridge said, kicking lazily at his brother. “Stop fondling your boyfriend and look at the menu.”
“You’re just jealous because your boyfriend isn’t here.” Breck stuck his tongue out at Ridge and then nuzzled Steele’s neck.
“Fiancé,” Ridge corrected. “And you’re just jealous because your boyfriend isn’t rich.”
“Hey, now,” Steele said. “I do a’ight.”
Breck shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re engaged. Is he still holding you to that? You’re sure it wasn’t the concussion and blood loss?”
The blood had been Davis’, from the bullet wound his mother had given him. Ridge had gotten the concussion when he’d swung from the chandelier on a grappling hook and landed on Davis’s mother just a half-second too late.
It was definitely a ‘how we met’ story to tell the grandkids one day.
Ridge smiled softly and caressed the ridiculously expensive watch Davis had given him as an engagement present while sitting in a puddle of his own blood. “Yeah. I think I really want to do it,” Ridge said. “Is it crazy?” He looked at his twin, his expression begging for reassurance. I could tell Breck’s opinion was important to him.
Breck gave him a wide smile. “Not even a little crazy. As long as it’s a swanky wedding and I get to be your best man.”
“Duh,” Ridge said succinctly.
The grin the waitress gave said she would be telling the story of the hot, gay twins for days to come. “What can I get y’all?” she asked.
Steele went first, getting a double order of salmon with steamed veggies. “I have got to get back to the gym,” he said with a frown.
Breck squeezed his biceps. “You look awesome, babe.”
The waitress nodded her agreement before turning expectantly to Breck.
“I’ll have the blueberry and white chocolate chip pancake puppies with cream cheese icing on the side and a strawberry milkshake,” he said.
Leo looked horrified. I completely agreed with his expression.
Ridge shook his head and spoke to the waitress without looking up from the menu. “No, he won’t. He’ll have a Moon Over My Hammy and a glass of milk.”
“Ridge,” Breck whined.
“Nobody wants to be in a car with you bouncing all over like a toddler with a package of Pixy Stix,” he said. “You need some protein.” He ordered a chicken-fried steak and eggs skillet and a cup of coffee for himself.
Where did they put all that food? They must both have the metabolism of an arctic explorer. Oh, to be twenty-one again. Not that I would want the life I’d had then, but I wouldn’t mind the body.
“And you, cutie pie?” she asked Danny, managing to sound motherly even though she couldn’t be more than eighteen. I wondered what she was doing working so late at night.
Danny blushed and stammered, looking down at the laminated sheet in his hand. The kid was adorable. How he’d come out of the shit years he’d had on the streets still capable of blushing when a pretty girl smiled at him was a mystery to me. “Oh, um, I’ll have, uh, just the biscuits and gravy plate,” he said. “I’ve never had that before.”