“You had to pee?” Xavi groaned, rubbing at the line forming between his eyebrows, and Lulu sucked in a breath, his eyes turning dark, too dark. “What?”
“Nothing. It’s just… when you gotta go, you gotta go. And I think I got to the wrong intersection somehow… I don’t know. It was really snowing a lot, and it was hard to read the signs, and a road is a road, you know?” Lulu had gone into full-on blabbering mode now.
Xavi couldn’t stop the small laugh from leaving his lips.A road is a road. Only, it wasn’t, was it? This was so typically Lulu, and it made zero sense to resort to anger or accusations. That would get them nowhere fast, and it would just cause a rift between them now after they’d finally found each other.
“Okay, so let’s backtrack to Whitney and find a room for the night.”
“Yeah, that’s a really great idea, but we can’t.” Lulu sighed as he took another sip from the Styrofoam cup.
“Why the hell not?”
“The road’s blocked now. Glenn just told me.”
“Who the hell is Glenn?”
“The gas station owner.” Lulu shrugged, and it was just so fucking Lulu to already be on a first-name basis with some random gas station owner. “Apparently, there was some major accident, and they’re waiting for assistance from some place called Chadron. Probably won’t get it cleared until tomorrow. Several collisions all over these parts of Nebraska, according to Glenn.”
“Well, that’s just fucking great!” Xavi groaned, wiping his hands along his face. “Fucking great. But I’m thrilled you made a new friend. Truly.”
“Hey, there’s no need to get jealous.”
“I’m not fucking jealous,” Xavi mumbled. Images of a rough-looking mechanic with a day-old scruff, forearms the size of thighs, and oil-stained nails flashed through Xavi’s head.Glenn. What kind of bullshit name was that anyway?Glenn.
“’Cause there’s no need,” Lulu continued, oblivious to the storm raging inside Xavi. “He’s happily married to Sue-Ellen and six times a grandaddy.” Lulu pondered something, then started counting on his fingers. “Bobbie-Ann, Jamie-Lou, Glenn Junior, Wal—”
“Will you cut it out? Fuck, this is just great, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, not really. But if you ask me nicely, I’ll tell you the good news.”The good news. Right.Xavi had forgotten about that. Maybe there was a café down the road that served America’s largest donut or some shit like that. You never knew.
“What’s the good news?” Xavi sighed, bracing himself.
“Okay!” Lulu nearly jumped in his seat, coffee spilling down his fingers. “So, there’s a small town about ten miles from here. And they apparently have this amazing diner, and if we’re lucky, they should have a room in the back of the diner that they rent out.”
Xavi wished he could share Lulu’s enthusiasm, he really did, but there were too many unknown factors for his liking.If they were lucky.Xavi had never felt that lucky, although people kept reminding him he’d been lucky to survive the fire. But maybe his luck was turning? He’d never imagined that he’d get to kiss, touch, or taste Lulu either, but now he had. More than once. Maybe this small town in the middle of Nowhere, Nebraska could turn out to be their lucky break in the middle of a blasting blizzard. Pulling out his phone, he opened his GPS and searched for their current location. Then, shrugging at Lulu, he asked, “What’s the name of the town with the most amazing diner ever and a maybe room for the night?”
“Hayley’s Peak,” Lulu beamed at him. “The town’s called Hayley’s Peak and the diner’s called Tilly’s.”
Chapter Twenty
Lulu
If you could adopt a grandmother at the ripe old age of twenty-nine, Lulu would adopt Tilly, the kind and extremely talkative small-town diner owner in Hayley’s Peak. It had been near-dark when they’d entered the cozy 80s-style diner. Everyone inside had looked up from their meals simultaneously, eyeing Lulu and Xavi like they’d just disembarked a spaceship. Tilly had appeared from the back with two plates of steaming food in her hands, hollering something to someone named Vern over her shoulder. As she’d spotted the two newcomers, her face had reflected a moment of guarded surprise, which soon spilled over into friendly curiosity.
“Howdy there, strangers,” had been the diner owner’s welcoming salute, and she hadn’t stopped talking ever since. Even Lulu was overwhelmed, to put it mildly, his head spinning from concentrating during the long drive in the snow and Tilly’s constant stream of words. By now they knew Tilly’s was named after Tilly, that her husband Vernon was king of the kitchen but not the house, and that today’s special was something calledRunzasstuffed with ground beef and cabbage and the dessert of the day was Tin Roof Sundaes because it was Saturday and‘everyone oughta have somethin’ sweet on a Saturday,’and‘why not a sundae,’and‘a little ice cream never hurt nobody.’
They were quickly invited to hang their jackets on a coat rack, which, upon closer inspection, was a row of brass catfish, their tails acting as hangers. Then Tilly shooed them kindly to a table facing what Lulu suspected was not just the main street but also theonlystreet in Hayley’s Peak. The red faux-leather booths were marked by decades of wear and tear, but everything was clean and carefully chosen, it seemed, to provide a homely ambience, such as the red-and-white checkered tablecloths and the soft notes of classic country music spilling from the jukebox in a corner. They ordered theRunzas, which turned out to be like Joe’s mom’sEmpanadas Cubanasand extremely tasty, although a whole lot heavier. When itwas time for dessert, they were both stuffed to the brim, and Xavi looked just about ready to pass out, tiny drops of sweat that Lulu just wanted to lick away, beating across his forehead. Lulu was feeling the building exhaustion too. Every limb in his body screamed at him for a place to lie down and rest, with Xavi’s beefy arms wrapped safely around him, as he cocooned Lulu from behind, until sleep finally swept him away.
“But it’s homemade vanilla ice cream with chocolate fudge sauce and salty Spanish peanuts.” Tilly looked at them, crestfallen when they patted their bloated bellies, trying to tell her there was no room for dessert, let alone a sundae. Then, eyeing them knowingly, she suddenly perked up, clasping her hands together. “I’ll get you one to share! You don’t mind sharing with your sweetheart, do you now?” She winked at Lulu, who gulped down the rest of his iced tea, stunned out of his mind. “Tin Roofs are perfect for sharing. Makes the sweet all the sweeter if you know what I mean.” She winked at Xavi. Oh, Lulu had a feeling he knew what Tilly was referring to, and Xavi probably did too, because he grunted something unintelligible as he looked around the diner. No one seemed to care about the two strangers anymore, though, too engulfed in their own meal or an intimate conversation with another patron.
Sweethearts.No one used that term anymore, at least not in Buffalo. It was quaint and outdated, but somehow it was also very sweet and innocent, and Lulu’s stomach did a weird flip. Was Xavi his sweetheart? And how could Tilly tell?
Tilly chuckled, then waved a finger at them. “Now, don’t tell me you two handsome youngsters ain’t a couple.” She blushed adorably, the fine lines around her pale eyes crinkling with genuine kindness. “I’ve seen the way your fella looks at you.” She nodded at Xavi. “Like you hung the moon and then went to Saturn to get that ol’ planet for him too. Like my Vernon back in the day when he couldn’t get an honest day’s work in, too busy runnin’ around, tryin’ to steal a kiss from me.” Tilly sighed longingly as her cheeks pinkened even more.
“We’re no—” Xavi started, but Tilly seemed to be on a roll now.
“Now don’t you worry about the folks here in Hayley’s. They may be church-going people, sometimes set in their ways, but they ain’t got no issue with people like you boys.”
People like you.Lulu knew Tilly didn’t mean anything by it. People like him, like Xavi. Like Joe and Noah. They were different. He knew they were. Especially here in a small town like this, they stood out. And still, no one seemed to care. It was not what Lulu had expected. Not at all.
