Lu listened to every word and all the things behind them. Even I could tell his casual tone covered more he didn’t want to say. It covered confusion, mixed with surprise and a soft sort of loneliness.
“We don’t do this, Lu,” I said, sitting down in the seat Jo had left. “We don’t meddle in love affairs. We hunt magical items. We sell magical items. We look for some way to break this half-alive curse we’re living under. Love falls squarely under the rule of gods and mortals, not wayward souls like us.”
Her fingers lifted toward the pocket watch resting against her heart. She didn’t touch it, but I knew she wanted to. I knew she wanted to talk to me.
“Let’s go, Lu. Let’s hit the road. I don’t think Jo wants anything to do with Sunshine, here. He just let her walk out that door.”
“I’ll settle the bill,” Sunshine said, “and get to work on your truck. You can stop by anytime to check out the progress.”
“I will.”
He stood away from the table and paused to say something to Susan who was at the coffee station. She gave him a peck on the cheek, then he strolled out the door.
Lu stirred the ice in her glass with a straw, then drank the rest of her water. “He likes her,” she whispered so that only I could hear.
I blew out a huge sigh. “I’m never gonna talk you out of this, am I? You playing Cupid.”
Lu looked off into the distance, a small smile ghosting her lips.
“Wish I knew what was going through your head to put that look on your face.” I leaned forward to crowd up into her space, wanting to be nearer to her, wanting to hold her, surround her, feel her. I drew one finger across the back of her hand, and she turned her hand over, letting my fingers slide between hers even though she couldn’t feel it.
“They’re talking,” she whispered.
I frowned and looked around. “Who?”
That’s when I spotted Sunshine standing outside the window with Jo.
“Oh, hell no.” I stood and pushed through the wall, careful not to touch Lu on my way past.
There was a moment where the diner spoke to me—it was old, had seen fire, hard winds, floods. Flashes of those moments stuttered before my eyes, along with the echo of laughter, sobbing, and music that was popular during the jukebox fad.
Then I popped through to the outside.
Lorde lifted her head from where she still lay in the shade, gnawing on the soup bone.
“Stay, girl.” I didn’t want the dog to follow me and put an end to the conversation I planned to overhear.
Lorde looked between me and the restaurant, wagged her tail slowly, then went back to the bone.
“…think it’s pretty clear, isn’t it?” Jo said. She leaned against her car—a little GTO with great bones and a bad paint job. Sunshine was standing in front of her, hands stuck in his back pockets, smiling that smile.
“What, that Doug is a class-A jackass? Yeah, he’s been that way since he moved back here ten years ago. We mostly ignore him.”
“We?”
Sunshine shrugged. “The town McLean. We all know he’s a crappy human.”
She bit her bottom lip, trying to figure something there behind his words.
“You could stay,” he said quieter, “for the night. Let me cover your room. Business expense. No personal strings attached.”
“I don’t think I fit in here.”
“I’d rather have fifty of you over one of Doug.”
Her eyebrows raised, and there was the slightest pinking of her cheeks.
“What I’m saying is, I’m sorry for him, and I hope you won’t let the worst of us turn you away from the good we have here. If you’d like, stay the night. I mean, not with me. I’m not expecting you to…” His ears went red, and he leaned his shoulders back and stared at the trees on the other side of the parking lot.
