“Yes please.” Once Tilly left, Jessa offered Landon a sympathetic smile. Her admiration for him grew as she’d watched him handle the situation with dignity. “You handled her well.”
“I’ve dealt with her type before. Harmless if you ignore them, but give them an inch, they’ll drag you along for a mile.”
She burst into laughter and used the napkin to dab the tears from her eyes. “You pegged her exactly right. She’s very sweet, but a bit too ambitious to find matrimonial bliss.”
“Which she won’t find in me. No one will.”
“You don’t believe in marriage?”
He squinted, contorted his mouth to a frown. “That’s a loaded question.”
Even without knowing the specifics of his story, she was receiving a clear picture that he’d suffered substantial hurt in his life. “Divorced?”
“Never been married.”
Tilly reappeared with their drinks, and her sudden smile said she’d heard his last comment. “Interesting.”
Landon looked directly at Tilly. “And I never plan to.”
“Lots of men say that, but they just haven’t found the right woman.”
Seeing Landon’s jaw clench, Jessa interrupted. “Any specials today?”
“The mini dog plate with your choice of toppings and a side of fries for six dollars. Add a fourth dog for only a dollar more.”
Her stomach revolted. “I’ll take the chicken salad on a croissant with a fruit cup as my side.”
“Always a good choice.” Tilly glanced at Landon, seeming to be deterred from sinking her hooks into Landon, at least temporarily. “And for you?”
“I’ll take the special with chili and cheese on top.” He handed her the menu.
“Would you like the extra dog?”
“No thanks.”
Once they were alone again, Landon looked at her. “Did I order the wrong thing? I saw your nose scrunch when I gave my order.”
“People rave about their mini dogs, say they’re the best.” She unwrapped her straw and set it in her cup. “I can’t eat hot dogs, not even small ones. When I was eight, I had two hot dogs at a church fair. That night I came down sick. Even though it turned out to be a nasty virus, I’ve always associated hot dogs with it and haven’t had one since.”
“I can’t eat coconut cream pie for the same reason. Fourth of July picnic for me.” He sipped his tea and swallowed. “It’s only been in the last few years I can eat anything with coconut.”
“Funny how those childhood memories stick with us.”
“If you only knew,” he mumbled.
The conversation began to frustrate her. Either he would share or he wouldn’t, but for the love of everything, she wished he’d stop alluding to whatever happened. That annoyed her.
You’re not being fair. You’re a stranger in his life, a brief interlude who happened to cross his path at a bad time in his life. He owes you no explanations.“When’s this trip you’re planning?”
“I’d made the reservations for the first weekend in November because that was the only available vacancies for the bed and breakfast.” He pushed his cup aside and sighed. “Now I’ll have to change the weekend or find a different place since we’ll be needing an extra room.”
“You can’t keep your original reservations and have your parents stay somewhere else?”
“Nope.” He drew a long breath, exhaled in slow motion. “Gran is taking this extremely serious and said that would be a cop-out—that nothing would be resolved if they stayed in a separate location.”
“Can I ask what your parents did to cause the rift?”
He snickered. “Rift is an understatement.” His gaze lingered out the window. His eyes clouded as emotions flickered through them. “They abandoned my siblings and me. We were just young kids when they decided they didn’t want the responsibility of us. Dropped us off at our grandparents, said good riddance, and parted ways.”
