Stripped Love (Guys Next Door #1) - Baylin Crow Page 0,76
hurt him.
My uncle grunted. "Trouble in paradise?"
I shrugged, and he sighed. "Well, I may not have the best advice, but it might help to talk about it over breakfast."
I followed him to the car, and dropped into the seat. The engine roared to life, vibrating my entire body, and I pretended to be oblivious to the worried glances my uncle cast my way.
The drive to the unfamiliar diner was short, and we were quickly seated in a red leather booth. The smell of coffee and bacon were prominent, making my stomach growl. I hadn't eaten much yesterday and truthfully, I wasn't sure how much I could tolerate now.
Avoiding my uncle's inquisitive eyes, I scoped out the eclectic restaurant. Red and white striped wallpaper clashed with colorful oddities mounted on the walls. Road signs, a traffic light and even an entire bumper from an old car took up one wall, while another boasted roosters. Seriously, fake baskets of eggs, an old coop and chicken wire were only a few things that stood out. Where had my uncle brought me?
As if he could read my mind, he spoke up. "The owners are a bit…eccentric, but I ate here for the first time last month. No one does better omelets. Just don't look at the stuffed roosters while you eat them."
I shuddered. "I think I'll pass on the omelet."
He chuckled as our waitress approached the table decked out in an old-fashioned uniform. She plucked a small notepad from her checkered apron. "Mornin' huns. What can I start ya off with?"
"Coffee," my uncle murmured as he took an interested look at her that lingered a little longer than necessary.
Her cheeks bloomed pink before she turned to me. "And you?"
"Coffee's fine."
She wrote down the rest of our order and when she flounced off, my uncle watched her leave. He really was a lot like Caleb in some ways. Once she disappeared through the swinging door, I knew my time was up.
"Alright, Arch. Tell me what's got you so twisted up?"
I flicked my gaze to his before lowering it to the Formica tabletop. Spinning my napkin in circles, I chewed on my bottom lip before meeting his eyes again. "How do you know if you can really trust yourself?"
"Come again?" He squinted as he rested his elbows on the table.
This was awkward, but CJ and Caleb had already helped as much as they could. My uncle had known me my whole life, and I knew he would give it to me straight. "I don't have experience with relationships. How do I know if trusting someone is naïve, when I have a reason to maybe not trust them?”
His hand hit the table with a thud. "Phoenix do something?"
"Yes. No. I mean, I don't think so." I shook my head because I knew I wasn't making any sense. "Something happened, but I know it wasn't his fault. Not really. And when he explained what happened, I immediately believed him. It hurt, but it wasn't like he set out to hurt me in any way. I can't help but think maybe I'm being gullible though. But it's Phoenix…"
I sighed because I didn't figure that explanation had cleared things up at all. Uncle Isaac's confused expression confirmed it.
"Well, without details, it's kind of hard to understand, but it sounds like I'm not going to get them." I shook my head, and he nodded. "Your aunt and I had an okay marriage. We weren't ever head over heels about each other, but we were comfortable. So when she met someone who lit a spark I'd never seen with her, I let her go. That spark? I see it with you, but I also see it in Phoenix."
I'd never heard much about my uncle and aunt's divorce but had known it was amicable. To hear she'd left him for another man made me sad for him, even if he didn't seem that broken up about it. But what I really focused on was what he'd said about the spark between Phoenix and me. I felt it, but was it that obvious to others?
The waitress' heels clacked against the linoleum floor, and my uncle's eyes lit up as she stopped by the table.
"Here ya go, sugars." She set down two coffee cups and filled them. "Food will be out in about ten minutes. Need anything else?"
"You offering anything else?" my uncle asked, and I hid behind my hands as I groaned.
Her laugh was light. "I'll be back with your food soon."