Sometimes dreams have to wait awhile.
I head to the food pass and get there just as Billy is setting down my next order.
“Hey,” I call out to the cook as I slide the slip of paper from my pocket and unfold it, trying to wear an earnest expression. “I never knew you had such kind words in you. I’m also interested in, what was it…” I glance down at the note and then back up at the confused man. “The future of us.”
Billy frowns, wrinkles forming in his normally pale forehead that’s flushed red from the heat of the stove. A backward baseball cap keeps his blond hair off his face, and he studies me with striking blue eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“Your letter.” I hold it up for him to see. “I know you said not to mention it, but I just had to thank you.” I overplay the sincerity, barely managing to keep from laughing.
Billy reaches a long arm through the window and snatches thepaper from my hand. I let him, enjoying the way his face scrunches into a scowl as he reads.
“Mom!” he bellows.
Sally Cornfield flips a chestnut ponytail threaded with silver over her shoulder as she glances our way from her spot at the register, brows raised and expression innocent.
“Yes, dear?”
“I’m too shy?” Billy growls at her, his head stuck through the pass, hand waving the note. I snatch up the plate for my customer to save it from the impending argument and slide the grilled cheese across the counter to Mr.Fraser, one of my regulars. The older man seems more interested in the cook’s outrage than his food. Guess everyone wants drama added as a special menu item today.
“Oh, you are?” Sally presses a hand against her chest. “That’s good of you to acknowledge.”
I bite my lip to keep from chuckling.
Billy breathes through his nose like an angry bull. “Stop writing love notes to Beth from me! It’s creepy. She’s basically my sister.”
Personally, I think Sally’s blatant attempts at matchmaking are hilarious. But I agree about the sibling-like relationship. The Cornfields began fostering Billy and his twin sister, Darla, when they were ten, and the three of us grew up in this diner together. Sally’s parents built the place, and my mom started waitressing here while she was pregnant with me and stayed all the way until I graduated high school.
The idea of kissing Billy…no thank you.
Mrs.Cornfield bats her lashes, peachy cheeks not even darkening with the slightest touch of embarrassment at getting caught. “Well, goodness. I have no idea what you’re referring to.”
“Of course not. And this certainly isn’t your handwriting, either.” He gives the paper another vigorous wave before retracting his arm. “No more meddling at work.”
“At work?” Sally clasps her hands under her chin, eager expression in her eyes, likely planning to ambush her son with a dating show the moment he steps out of the diner.
“No more meddling period! I can find my own dates. And I’m sure Beth can, too.”
I choose to keep my mouth shut following this declaration. Whether I can find dates is a questionable assertion, seeing as how I haven’t looked for one in a long while.
Thinking back, I try to recall the last time I went out with a man. I must have been…nineteen. Right around the time we found out about my mom’s diagnosis. The guy—I think his name was Don—looked terrified when I broke down crying on one of our dates. He never called me after that.
And I got too busy to think about romance.
Even though Mom hasn’t had a health scare in almost a year now, I still haven’t considered getting flirty with anyone. Not until yesterday. Not until…him.
George Bunsen.
Go away, crush! You are not wanted!
“If you both can find your own then why are you still single?” Mrs.Cornfield sidles up to me and clasps me around the shoulders, unaware that my heart is fluttering for a man who is not her son. “Don’t you think Billy is handsome?”
Currently Billy is wearing a twisted scowl, transforming his normally good-looking features into a sour mask.
“Oh yes,” I agree readily. “A sight to behold. But like he said, Billy’s basically my brother.”
Sally scoffs. “You two are just close, that’s all. Sounds like the perfect start to a love affair to me.”
“Who’s my sister in a love affair with?”
