Watching the sunshine come back out over rolling green fields.
Rolling down the windows to breathe in the scent of the rain.
Stopping on a whim at a farmer’s market for fresh peaches and local cheese, and to take a picture with a ridiculously large cow statue.
Daphne’s been quiet.
That’s the only unsettling part.
The storm seemed to upset her, and she’s not bouncing back quickly.
So when she tells me she’s done sitting in the car for the day about an hour after the farmer’s market, I pull over in the first town we come to.
There’s a single motel with a single vacancy tonight. Apparently the next town over is a big college town, and it’s freshman move-in weekend.
I check into it with my fake driver’s license and pay cash.
We drop our bags in the room, and Daphne points out the window at a diner. “Real food.”
“We have peaches and cheese.”
“Save it for tomorrow.”
And that’s how we end up in a run-down little diner where Daphne is telling the server to bring us one of everything.
“One of—what?” I interrupt, not because I care, but more because it’s the first opening I’ve had to give her crap since the thunderstorm, and I want the old Daphne back. “We can’t eat that much food.”
“I’ve never been to this diner before, and I probably won’t ever be back in this diner again, and I’d like to sample everything and see what’s best,” she replies.
She’s wearing lipstick that she picked up at our last ValuKart run, but no other makeup. Her hair’s a disaster—she made a comment about the humidity, so I assume that’s why it’s frizzy and a little wavy in unpredictable ways—and she’s back in a Miles2Go Cupholder T-shirt, either because she wants to torture me or because she’s found a theme for the day.
I’m choosing to believe it’s a theme and that it’s helping.
Based on how tightly she was gripping the stuffed Cupholder during the rainstorm, it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Even with Daphne.
“Gonna need to move y’all to a bigger table,” the server says.
“Bring us your six favorite dishes instead of one of everything,” I tell her.
“Plus all of the sides. Sides are my favorite,” Daphne says.
The only other couple in the diner is staring at us.
That part makes me uneasy, but I have to get used to it.
“And one of all of the sides,” I agree.
“But two of the tater tots,” Daphne says. “One of everything else, two of the tater tots. And do you have cheese dip for them?”
“Yep,” the server says.
“Fabulous. Thank you.”
The older lady doesn’t act like our request was weird, but then, she has to be seventy-three if she’s a day.
She’s probably seen things.
Especially if she’s worked here long.
