"Savannah, you look beautiful," Ruby calls, already looking at Luke with the appraising expression of a woman who intends to have a full report ready for her regulars by morning. "And who is this handsome young man?"
Luke takes my hand and smiles at her like he's known her his whole life. I am going to kill him. "Hi, Miss Ruby. I've heard so much about your apple pie. Maybe tomorrow we can both drop in?" He turns to me like we've already agreed to this.
"What a lovely idea," I say through my teeth.
"Oh, I'm so pleased you have company," Ruby says, delighted. "Especially after the business with the shooting the other day. You must have been frightened, darling."
"I'm completely fine, Ruby."
"A shooting?" Luke turns to look at me. "You didn't tell me that. I'm going to have to spank you for that later, young lady," he says it loudly enough for the whole street to hear and I watch Ruby's face light up like Christmas morning.
"Goodnight, Ruby," I say firmly, and drag Luke away by the arm while he laughs. "That isn’t funny. By the time we get to the bar she'll have called ahead and told everyone we're together."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Luke."
"I'm joking. Is she always like that?"
"You have no idea. Watch and learn."
He's still laughing when we walk into the bar and everyone turns to look at us. I see the moment he understands what I mean, his expression shifting from amusement to mild alarm as heads swivel with the choreographed interest of people who've already been briefed.
"She called ahead," he says.
"She always calls ahead."
I order two beers and we find a little booth at the back and slide in on opposite sides. It's a Friday night and the bar's busy. There’s the good kind of Friday noise, with low music and overlapping conversations. I take in the smell of beer and old wood. I'd forgotten how much I used to like this place. I'd forgotten how much I'd left behind that I didn't mind.
"Why are they still looking at us?" Luke asks.
"They haven't all seen me since I got back. And we're here together and they're nosy bastards. My parents will know about this before I get home tonight."
"Small towns," he says, shaking his head. But he's smiling. "You look happy here, Sav. Like, actually happy. Not the face you put on at the hospital."
"I do like it here. I always did." I drink my beer. "I just forgot."
We're four beers in and I'm warm, loose and actually laughing at something Luke is doing with a beer mat when he says, without changing his expression, "Who's the guy at the bar."
I knew without looking. I'd felt him come in. I don't know how to explain it better than that and I've stopped trying to. Austin has always been a presence I register before I see him, something in the air that shifts slightly and then there he is.
"My ex," I say.
"You didn't look."
"I didn't need to."
Luke considers this. "He looks like he wants to kill me."
"He won't."
"That's not as reassuring as you think it is." He finishes his beer. "I'm going to the bathroom. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"That gives me a very wide range of options."
He grins before he slides out of the booth and I finally let myself look.
Austin is at the bar with Brick and Cash, which means this wasn't a social visit. This is club business that happened to bring them to this particular bar on this particular night. They're following up on High Stakes intel; I know that much from what EJ told me when I asked why the whole club had shown up at the diner. There's always a reason when the Black Saints go somewhere together.
