any other town, she’d have found a diner and gone for breakfast.
She took a long sip of coffee and set the empty cup on the porch rail, glancing down at the watch again. Her stepfather would have told her to stick it out in town, force them to respect her. He would have been ashamed of the way she’d turned tail and run. Gentle as he was, he’d had a core of iron, and he’d wanted Sarah to have that inner steel too.
“All right, Roy,” she muttered, stepping off the porch and heading for the car. She didn’t know for sure what her future held, but she knew she was going to be in Two Shot for a while if she stayed with Kelsey. Sooner or later, she’d have to tackle Suze and her customers. She might as well do it now.
The trip to town went far too fast. Parking spaces were in surprisingly short supply, and she was forced to pull in almost two blocks from the diner and walk. Her experience the other day had grown in her mind to the point where she fully expected to hear hissing from the few cars that passed by, but everyone was just going about their business.
She swung into the diner and slid into a booth near the door, glancing around the room. Joe was at the counter again, but it was early and only two members of the poker gang sat in the corner booth. Nobody seemed to be paying any attention to her, so she slid the menu out from behind the napkin holder and perused the familiar offerings.
“Can I get you something? Coffee to start?” Sarah looked up and was relieved to see that Suze wasn’t her waitress this time. Instead, a white-aproned teenager stood over her. The girl had lovely clear skin and flushed cheeks, but she was tall and raw-boned, a farm-girl type clearly going through an awkward stage, and her thick wire-framed glasses didn’t help. Judging from the way she held the order pad just inches from her nose, they didn’t do her much good.
“Cheese omelet,” Sarah said. “And does Eddie still make those home fries with onions and peppers?”
“Yup. Home-style potatoes.” The girl scribbled down the order with her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth. “Something to drink?”
“Coffee and a small orange juice, please.”
“Okay.” The girl lowered the order pad but didn’t leave the table. She stood over Sarah, shifting awkwardly from one foot to another.
“You’re her, aren’t you?” she finally said. “The girl who got that scholarship and left.”
Sarah swallowed, her throat suddenly dry, and nodded. For a little while there she’d thought she might get through breakfast without any complications, but clearly her reputation had preceded her.
She met the girl’s eyes, which wasn’t easy since they were flicking nervously around the room, lighting on everything but Sarah. They looked foggy and misshapen behind the thick glasses. “Yes, I did.”
To her surprise, the girl slid into the booth across from her and leaned forward eagerly. “I want to go too,” she said, clasping her hands together. “I want to leave so bad.”
Sarah looked again and saw past the tawdry uniform, the unkempt hair tumbling out of a tightly rubber-banded bun, and the thick glasses. She caught a glimpse of her old self in the girl’s breathless anticipation of a world full of wonders beyond Two Shot.
“How are your grades?”
“They’re good. I’d have straight As if it wasn’t for Phys Ed.” She made a wry face and Sarah was reminded of Carol Burnett, only this girl wasn’t playing her awkwardness for laughs. “I got a C in it last semester. We did volleyball, and I’m scared of the ball. Same thing with basketball. I try to catch it, but I flinch and then it’s gone. Or it hits me.” She put a hand to her chest as if remembering the ball’s last assault.
Sarah hadn’t been much for team sports either, but there had been other options that worked for her.
“Have you tried track?”
The girl sighed and gazed out the window, her cheeks flushing again. “My legs get tangled up and I fall down.”
Sarah suppressed a smile. The girl was long-limbed as a colt, and apparently just as clumsy. “It’ll change. You’re going to be pretty when you grow up.”
“Oh, no.” The girl’s blush looked almost painful now as it suffused her neck and chest. “I’m homely, and my eyes…” She made a helpless gesture toward the glasses. “But I’m smart.” She