step inside the little restaurant. It’s busier than yesterday, but still not packed by any means. Haley looks over her shoulder as Penn and I approach.
“I don’t think the world can handle the two of you together,” she says. She lets her sight linger on Penn for a long moment before flipping it to me. “Fancy running into you here.”
I take the seat beside her. “Nice jacket.”
“Some random guy let me wear it last night in a parking lot.”
“Some random guy, huh? You must like something about him if you’re wearing his clothes.”
She rests her chin on her hand. “He has a couple of things going for him.”
“I heard that. According to statistics, he’s in the top tier of looks, makes decent money, and has a killer personality.”
A snort rips through the air. “Is this Two Truths and a Lie?”
“No,” I say. “But I am curious which one you’d lie about and say isn’t true.”
She drops her hand and laughs. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“We’ve been at the site and thought we’d come down and grab some lunch.”
I look over my shoulder to see Penn taking a bag from Claire. She hands two bags to Dane before looking at me.
“We have their lunch ready, and Matt’s, because we know what they want and when they’ll be here,” Claire says to me. “If I’d have known you were coming in, I’d have had something ready for you too.”
“Oh, that’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” I grab a menu from between the napkin holder and ketchup bottle. “Can I get a bacon cheeseburger, no tomato, and a drink to go?”
“Sure thing,” Claire says. She makes a point to glance at Haley, who makes a point not to look at her, before disappearing into the back. I wonder what that’s about, but before I get too deep, Dane’s hand clasps my shoulder.
“We’re gonna head back,” he says to me. “Matt should be back with the rest of the wood for the deck, so we’ll get going on that.”
“Sounds good. I’ll come up later and see what’s happening,” I say.
He bites his lip as he glances down at Haley. “What are you doing today, Hay?”
“Well, I need to work on my résumé,” she says, shifting in her seat. “Jennifer told me she’ll call me in a couple of days, and I think it’s promising, but I can’t really waste time. If it doesn’t work out, I need to have another iron in the fire.”
“Who’s Jennifer?” I ask. It’s weird how people here seem to know absolutely everyone. They never use last names or reference them in any way other than “Jennifer,” as if there’s one “Jennifer” in the world.
Dane leans against Haley’s chair. “I’m guessing Jennifer from the flower shop.”
“Yup,” Haley says with a contained grin.
“That would be awesome,” Dane says. “You love flowers. It’s down the road from your house. They’d probably pay as much as, maybe even more than, the library.”
Her smile wavers. “But I don’t know anything about flowers. I just like them.”
Penn laughs. “I don’t know anything about women. I just like them. Doesn’t stop me.”
Haley swats him. “No one is paying you for a service to know about women.”
“You don’t know that,” Penn jokes.
Haley sighs, switching her attention back to Dane. “Anyway, it’s really exciting, but I don’t want to get my hopes up and then get let down. So the résumé it is. Unless, of course, you want to knock up your girlfriend so I can be a nanny again.”
Dane walks backward toward the door. His hands are in front of him, the bags Claire gave him dangling in the air. “Give me time.”
“I’m just saying,” Penn says, keeping a safe distance from Dane. “If Neely was my girl, I wouldn’t need a lot of ti—umph.” He covers his stomach as Dane elbows him in a lightning-fast move. “I was kidding. Kind of.”
“If you’re both still alive later, I’ll see you up there,” I say, laughing as they continue to poke each other.
“Bye, guys,” Haley says.
The door opens, filling the room with morning sun, before shutting again. Haley and I turn around to face the kitchen.
Her tongue is jammed in the side of her cheek. It’s as if she’s challenging me to speak first.
Challenge accepted.
“So . . .” I look at Haley.
“So . . .” Her tongue slips from her cheek as she looks at me. Her eyes are bright and lively, and I wonder if she wakes up this way. “I brought your jacket back.”