They control it.
I walk back over with the coffee pot.“You always sit facing the door?”
His gaze flicks up.“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Habit.”
“Military?”
He shakes his head.“Army years ago.”
I wait.He doesn’t elaborate.Fair enough.We aren’t friends.We aren’t even acquaintances so no need for him to explain more.
The bell over the door jingles again.I glance up automatically.And my stomach drops.
Roger.Of course it’s Roger.He walks in wearing the same wrinkled baseball cap he’s had since high school, his shoulders slightly hunched like he’s already expecting a fight with the world.Apparently nothing about him has changed according to all the locals.When I came to Freedom Falls he asked me out, and hasn’t stopped coming in pushing me since.
He hasn’t seen me yet.But he will.He always does.Whether he finds me here or at the ice-cream shop, it doesn’t matter, he will seek me out.He will confront me about brushing him off.It’s not that he’s a bad guy.I don’t know him well enough to make a judgement.I simply don’t have the energy to put into dating someone.And I really don’t have the time.When I’m not working I want to spend time with Quinn.
My heart starts pounding.I set the coffee pot down slowly.
Tucker notices immediately.His eyes follow mine to the door.Then back to my face.“You okay?”he asks quietly.
I force a smile.“Yeah.”But my voice betrays me.
Roger finally spots me.And his expression changes instantly.There it is.
That familiar mix of excitement and entitlement.He strides toward the counter.“Lucy.”
The old men beside Tucker suddenly become very interested in their pancakes.
“Hi, Roger.”
“What’re you doing here?”he asks.
I blink unsure why he asked me this.He knows what I’m doing.“Working.Same as usual, Roger.”
His gaze slides to Tucker.Then to the cut on his back.Then back to me.His mouth tightens.“Makin’ new friends, Lucy?”
Tucker doesn’t move.Doesn’t react.Just slowly lifts his coffee cup and takes a sip.
I wish I had that kind of control.“He’s a customer,” I answer.
Roger scoffs.“Looks like more than that the way you’re giving him attention.I watched you from outside.”
My cheeks heat.“Just stop, Roger.We’re not doing this right now.”This man has spent the last three months asking me out to dinner, each time I decline, and he still tries over and over again.
“We’re doing it whenever I say we’re doing it,” he snaps.“You let him take you to dinner, huh Lucy?You got time for him, I bet.”
Tucker sets his coffee cup down.Slowly.Still not looking at Roger.But something in the air shifts.Like a storm rolling in.
Roger notices it too.His voice gets louder.“I’ve been calling you.”
“I um, I’ve had phone problems,” I lie.
“Bullshit.”
