The high school boys finally got up next, tossing their trash and shouting a quick thanks before heading out.
That left the Dairy Bar mostly empty.
The fryer was off.The grill had already been cleaned.The soft-serve machine hummed behind me, and the overhead lights cast the whole place in that same warm yellow glow they always did at night.
Lark sighed like a woman on the edge of collapse.“If one more person comes in and orders food, I’m crying.”
I snorted.“No, you won’t.”
“No, I really will.”
The bell above the door jingled.
Lark closed her eyes.“I hate this place.”
I looked up automatically and Jesse walked in.
He paused just inside the door long enough to glance around, then his eyes landed on me.He smiled a little and started toward the counter.
“Your admirer is here again,” Lark said teasingly.She bumped her hip into mine.
“He is not my admirer,” I insisted.
She rolled her eyes and grabbed the rag to wipe the counter.“Sure, it’s normal for a guy to come in four times a week to talk to only you, order a vanilla cone, and then leave.”
I watched Jesse make his way to the counter with his eyes right on me.
Lark wasn’t wrong.
He’d been coming in for the past two weeks.Eight times, from what she’d been counting.I hadn’t been.At least, not officially.
It had become a thing with her though.
There he is again.
Vanilla cone guy.
Your boyfriend is back.
All of it ridiculous.
“I am going to go start the dishes,” Lark said.
“You’re abandoning me?”
“I’m giving you privacy,” she whispered loudly.
I shot her a look, but she was already heading toward the back with a grin on her face.
The second she disappeared, Jesse stepped up to the counter.He rested his forearms against it like he belonged there, relaxed and easy in a way most people weren’t around last call.
“The usual?”I asked him.
He smirked and leaned against the counter.“Have I become a regular?”
A laugh slipped out before I could stop it.“You’re becoming a local,” I said with a wink and grabbed a cake cone.
“Yeah?”he asked.
