Tanner Casey
Off work today.
Moon Pie? Never heard of it.
What street is it on?
Lance Kingsley
Colliver. At the corner of Main.
Tanner Casey
You got time for a stack?
If I pick you up, and I pay?
Lance Kingsley
You drive, I pay, and you have yourself a deal.
Tanner Casey
Be there in 10.
*****
Tanner hadn’t slept much. Maybe a few minutes here and there. Tuesday’s doctor appointments had royally fucked with his head. He didn’t know what he was going to do about Dr. Williston’s recommendations for future treatments. And his damned shrink wasn’t nearly as much of a help as she seemed to think. Overall, his Tuesday had sucked swamp water. And unfortunately, it had dictated the rest of his week. He’d been a mess all through Wednesday and Thursday. Unable to do anything besides stare at a wall and force himself to breathe. He’d vowed to make his Friday a little less shitty. Starting by getting dressed and out of the house. Now that he'd made plans—it was looking up. Having breakfast with Lance seemed like a great way to kickstart his day. And boy oh boy did he need one of those to get his head on straight again.
He tapped out a steady rhythm on his steering wheel waiting for Lance. He’d texted him a minute ago to let him know he’d arrived, but his severe jitters had less to do with impatience and more to do with nervous exhaustion.
“Hey,” Lance said, as he jumped into the truck. His smile was blinding, but it fell as soon as he took in Tanner’s appearance.
How Lance managed to look so well put together at this ungodly hour was a complete mystery. Perfectly decked out in a nice burgundy knit shirt and a new pair of jeans, along with a nice dress watch. Hell—the fucker had even styled his hair. In contrast, Tanner looked like he just fell out of a dumpster.
“Hi,” Tanner replied as he dropped the truck into gear. He tried to think of a way to play off his fatigue, but his mind had gone blank. He couldn’t come up with anything, as if he’d never made fucking small talk before. Both pissed off by his inability to converse like a normal person and his intense fatigue, heretreated into silence. Lance must have sensed his dark mood because he spoke only when he had to provide directions to the diner.
“Just turn right here,” Lance said, as they approached the parking lot next to the retro sign of the Moon Pie Diner. The blueberry pie logo was in the shape of a half-crescent moon, with a purple cow jumping over it.
It was quite clever, if Tanner was honest.
He cleared his throat as he parked his truck, desperate to findsomethingto say. After all, he’d dragged Lance out of his house before 8:00. The least he could do was make an effort to hold a decent conversation.
“Thanks for coming out,” he said, which was pretty lame, but better than nothing.
Lance smiled warmly. “Of course! Call me anytime. I’m always down for breakfast, especially at this place. Their food is ridiculously good and super cheap.”
“Lance Kingsley, where’ve you been lately?” A pretty brunette rushed towards them as soon as they walked in. She gave Lance a big hug and ruffled his hair. He laughed and turned her towards Tanner.
“Kathya, I’d like you to meet my buddy, Tanner. Tanner, this is Kathya, the owner of this fabulous place. She took me on as her accountant when I first went into business for myself.”
“I’m terrible with numbers—thank God that Mr. Numbers Man came in and gave me his business card! He pretty much saved this place from going under.”
Lance laughed and nodded. “To be fair, I was mostly trying to sweet talk her into going out with me, but her wife already had first dibs.”
“Damn right!” she said, laughing as she picked up two menus from the host stand and winked at Lance. “Just followme, hot stuff! You’ll get the best table in the house!” she promised them with a flirty wink, leading them to the big booth by the front window.
After taking their drink orders, she headed for the coffee machine while they scanned the menus.
