“My habits in high school had nothing to do with it,” Dean laughs audibly.
“What can I get for you, darling?” Tracy asks, tapping the menu on the table with her pen. I immediately notice the cap is chewed on.
“Just my usual,” Dean smiles.
“Black coffee and toast?” Tracy takes a second to recall, but she doesn’t hesitate to say his order aloud.
“You know it.”
“Anything for you, Miss Madeline?” She asks.
“Do you have hot tea?” I ask.
“Of course we do, sugar. Anything else?”
“Uhh,” I haven’t even looked at the menu. “A bagel?”
“Butter or cream cheese?” Tracy asks.
“Butter.”
Tracy picks up the menus, claps them together and is gone in a woosh.
“You two seem awfully familiar,” I remark to Dean, who seems awfully nonchalant despite the largely social interaction we just had.
“I came here a lot in high school and college.” He says, fiddling with his cuticles.
“I noticed.”
“Are you jealous?” He raises an eyebrow.
“Of Tracy? Absolutely. She got to see the high-school Dean. I bet he was so moody.”
“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll see the high-school Dean this weekend, I’m sure of it. If not from Sierra, from my mother. Photos anyway. They about cover the entire house.” He rolls his eyes.
“You’re just going to allow it?” I ask simply.
“Those women run my life.”
“Run or ruin?”
“Run,” Dean assures me. “They are nothing but a blessing.”
“Really…aren’t you sweet?” I laugh.
“Don’t tell my mother I said that. And definitely don’t tell Sierra.”
“Your secret is safe with me.” I say, a smile forming on my lips. “What other secrets should I know about?”
“I never gave Eliza a fair shot.” Dean rests his chin on his left hand, his right resting on the coffee mug.
“No?” I ask.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“There’s someone else I had my eye on.” The corners of Dean’s mouth upturn ever so slightly, and I can’t help but notice his pink lips. “Eliza couldn’t even hold a candle to her.”
