“Hey!” she protested. “I just got that fixed the way I wanted it.”
Bitter coffee with just a dash of cream coated my tongue. I reached for the sweetener. “Needs more sugar.”
The harried waitress, a redhead named Sally who’d gone through two husbands before calling it quits and raising her kids on her own, stopped at our table. She sat a cup in front of Wendy and clucked her tongue at me.
“I ought to kick you out of here,” she said. “You know better than to steal a woman’s caffeine.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled before taking a big gulp of coffee just in case Sally decided to confiscate my contraband. Luckily, she poured Wendy a fresh coffee and let the matter go. “All right, what do you want for breakfast?”
Wendy skimmed over the menu. “I’ll take the veggie omelet.”
Sally nodded and glanced toward me. “And you?”
“Sausage, eggs over easy, hash browns, toast… Oh, can I get a stack of chocolate chip pancakes on the side? Oh, and bring some of that delicious molasses y’all have to pour all over them. That stuff is addictive.”
Sally finally cracked a smile. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks.” I took another swallow of coffee.
Sally stepped away from the table, then paused and turned back to top off my cup with more coffee. “Behave.”
“I always do,” I said with my widest smile.
She shook her head with a little laugh and moved on. Wendy kicked my foot. “You’d get away with murder, I swear.”
“It was just a little coffee, and I’m tired as fuck. I was up until almost two in the morning.”
Later than that if you counted the time I spent lying in bed wondering if Jory didn’t walk Maverick to his door because he’d already kissed him in that truck. Then wondering why I even cared. Maverick was my annoying neighbor. Who he dated really wasn’t my concern.
But then Ihadbeen the one to set up the matchmaking profile. Maybe I felt a little responsible for what came of that.
“Why were you up so late?” Wendy wiggled her eyebrows. “Did you have a hot date?”
“Not like some people,” I grumbled.
“What?”
“Rudy invited himself over, ate my food, and drank all my beer,” I said. “A great time was had by…well, just him.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know how you put up with that guy. He’s just so…”
“Rudy?”
She laughed. “Yeah.”
Sally arrived with plates full of hot food and I dove in. My plate was nearly clear before Wendy had made it through even half of that boring omelet. Why did women eat so slow anyway? Oh, right, because they talked all the damn time.
“…Mom and Dad’s anniversary party,” Wendy was saying. “Can you get the flowers?”
“Huh? What?”
“Flowers. For the party.” At my blank look, she leaned forward and flicked my forehead. “You do remember why we met for breakfast, right? It wasn’t so you could inhale sugar like there’s about to be a worldwide shortage.”
“I remember,” I said. “But why would you askmeto get flowers? I don’t know anything about that crap.”
She smirked, suddenly looking devious. “But your neighbor does. He’s a florist. You should totally take advantage.”
My stomach flip-flopped. “You know we don’t get along.”
