Page 61 of 3 Daddies to Go

“I swear, we didn’t totally hate it. It might not have been our thing, but we liked seeing you get so excited. You treated Mr. Monty really well. I don’t think he gets that much respect from anyone else.”

Kendall smiles sadly.

“I don’t think he does, either. That’s why I make it a point to stop by as often as I can. He and his wife used to run the place together, but she died last year. He’s been especially lonely since then.”

“You’re amazing, you know that right?”

She blushes. “I’m really not. But thank you.”

I doubt she’ll ever believe it no matter how many times I say it, so I drop the subject.

My stomach grumbles. It’s a little after five now, and we haven’t eaten since breakfast.

“You guys up for dinner? I’m hungry.”

Kendall is nodding before I even finish my question.

“I skipped lunch to get all my work done, so I’m starving,” she says ruefully.

“Where do you want to go?”

She thinks for a second.

“Let’s go to Beermeisters. It’s not far from here.”

Kendall starts down the street, and we follow. The streets are busier now. Most people are off work, and they’re enjoying the warm weather before the sun goes down.

We get to the restaurant and are immediately assaulted by the smell of beer. I suppose we should’ve expected it, but this is potent. I feel like I’ll get drunk just breathing.

The hostess knows Kendall, and she seats us immediately. We’re used to getting this kind of treatment, but Kendall smiles shyly when we’re led to a table in the back.

“I come here a lot,” she admits. “They have the best burgers in town.”

We reach for our menus, but Kendall stops us. “You should get the Beermeister Burger.”

“What the hell is a ‘Beermeister Burger’?” I ask.

Kendall giggles.

“They marinate the burger patties in their special beer brew. It’s incredible, you have to try it.”

She hasn’t steered us wrong on food so far, so when the waitress returns, we each order a Beermeister Burger and a round of beers.

“I should warn you,” Kendall says. “After this, you’ll be ruined for all other burgers. You’ll have to come back to Boone just to satisfy your cravings.”

There’s a hint of sadness in her voice.

We’re leaving at the end of the week. My heart aches at the thought. In just a short time, Kendall has become an important part of our lives. I don’t want to have to say goodbye.

I shake away the thought. There’s no point in thinking about it right now. It’s going to happen, so we may as well enjoy the time we have.

“Did you sort everything out with that server issue?” Kendall asks Trace, changing the subject.

Trace rolls his eyes.

“One of my dumbass interns literally unplugged the server. All he had to do was plug it back in, and the system was back up. We went through like a hundred different diagnostics yesterday because we never suspected it could be something so ridiculous. My assistant called me to tell me one of the leads found the server cord dangling and fixed the problem.”

“Was the intern fired?” Kendall asks.