The Patriot A Small Town Romance - Jennifer Millikin Page 0,61

business operating a vehicle.

To be fair, I’m not sober either. After the awkwardness where Wes realized I’d chosen the back corner of the park on purpose, what else was there to do to fill the silence between us? Yeah, the band was playing and so it wasn’t actually quiet, but there was nothing but dead air between him and I. Multiple drinks it was.

Now the consequence of that choice is staring us right in the face. The concert is over and I don’t know what to do from here. I finish folding the blanket and tuck it under my arm.

“So…” Wes says, looking around at the people passing us.

I answer by tucking my top lip into my bottom lip and raising my eyebrows at him.

Wes digs into the pockets of his jeans and produces his keys. “Can I see you tomorrow?”

“We’d better.” I frown, watching his keys spin around the keyring on his finger. “Believable whirlwind romance and all.” I reach for his keys, but he pushes them back into his pocket. Even in his buzzed state, he is surprisingly agile.

My arms cross in front of my chest. “You cannot drive right now.”

“I’m aware.”

I hold my tongue until a group of four people passes us. “So you were going to… what? Walk around by yourself until you sobered up?”

“Sit in my truck, actually. Read the news on my phone.”

I make a disbelieving face. “I think you can still get a DUI for being behind the wheel, even if your car isn’t actually in motion.” I only know that because I looked it up on the internet after I got drunk with Waylon and was curious about the law in Arizona.

“Then I’ll walk around for a while,” Wes says.

Why is he acting like he can’t wait to be away from me? Was my choosing that spot in the park that bad? I thought I was being considerate.

I shrug like I don’t care. “Suit yourself. I’m going to get some pie.” I start to turn around but his voice stops me.

“Pie?”

“Yes, have you ever heard of it?”

He almost smiles. Considering it’s the most he’s smiled in the past two hours, I’ll take it. He walks beside me, his hands shoved in his pockets.

“Here we are,” I announce, holding out my arm to the windowed storefront with the words $9.99 Dinner Special painted on the glass in bright pink and orange.

Wes doesn’t look convinced but he opens the door for me. We settle into a booth and he peeks at me from over the top of his menu. “Is this like that show? Where they find dives that serve great food?”

I laugh. “Nope.”

Wes’s mouth falls open. “Seriously? It’s not a hidden treasure or something like that?”

“No. It’s your run-of-the-mill diner with varying shades of brown food and most of it is fried.” I pick at a chip in the Formica tabletop. “Have you never been here? It looks pretty old. It must’ve been around when you were in your heyday.”

He looks like he wants to comment on my use of the word heyday but decides against it and instead glances around, studying the place. “It does look familiar,” he says haltingly, as if trying to understand why.

The server from the time I was here with my dad steps up to the table. “Hi there. What can I get you?” She takes another second to look at me and her eyes light up in recognition. “It’s you! The out-of-towner. Still in town, I see.” She glances at Wes. “And if it isn’t the oldest Hayden boy. I haven’t seen you in a very long time.”

Wes shifts in his seat. He picks up the menu only to drop it with a plastic-y thwack on the table. “Yeah, uh…”

“Don’t worry”—she bats at the air—“I don’t expect you to remember me. I worked here when this place was a pizza joint. You used to come in here after Friday night football games with all your friends. You all made a hell of a mess and you were loud, but you tipped well.” She chuckles at the memory.

Recognition lights up Wes’s eyes, and the effect it has on his entire face is captivating. It erases ten years of stress from him in an instant. He snaps his fingers and points at her. “Cherilyn.”

My eyes fly to her chest, searching for the name tag she wore last time. It’s not there.

She grins broadly. “Bingo. Now tell me, are you two in here for the peach or the cherry pie?