Page 3

Three

I’d grill your cheese.

— Searcy’s secret thoughts

SEARCY

“What kind of name is Searcy for a girl?”

I looked at the old lady that came in like clockwork every Wednesday afternoon.

I liked her.

She said what she wanted, and was unapologetic about it.

She didn’t complain, either, when I got her food order wrong.

I wasn’t like my brother.

I couldn’t remember everyone’s order without writing it down.

Sometimes, I had to write it down, then double check to make sure that I’d read what I’d written down correctly.

Most of the time I got it right.

Sometimes, I could barely read my own handwriting.

“The kind of name I had no part in choosing,” I returned as I placed the food down in front of her. “You want a refill on coffee?”

“Nah,” she said. “I drink too much of it, and it makes me have to shit.”

I didn’t bat an eye at her words.

I’d heard them often enough.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll bring over a water.”

“Dr Pepper,” she said. “That’s the only reason I’m living right now. I don’t pollute this temple with water.”

I snorted and walked away, getting her a Dr Pepper and taking it back to her table.

When I got back to the kitchen, the food for Koda’s three-top came up, so I grabbed it up and started to take it over.

When I got there, there was a woman standing up at the edge of the four-person table, and three men in leather sitting down, staring at her expectantly.

I elbowed her aside and said, “Here’s your food.”

The three men grunted and sat back, allowing space for me to set their food down.

“Who had the jalapeno?” I asked.

“Me.”

The deep, resonating voice did weird things to my chest.

I shoved those feelings down so hard that they would never be heard from again.

Nope.

Not going there.

Don’t have time.

Would probably never have time.

“Did you hear me?” the woman asked, crowding me close once she’d recovered from my shove.

“I heard you,” the jalapeno lover said. “But I don’t think it’s mine.”

There was a long pause and then, “You’re joking, right?”

“Ketchup only?” I asked.

“Me,” the one that looked like Elvis Presley with his great hair and stunning eyes said.

I set his down, and assumed the lone one without food was the owner of the double meat.

“Need anything else?” I asked, impatient.

“You could escort her out,” Elvis suggested.

I looked at the woman and huffed, “Are you ordering?”

“No.” She curled her lip up at me. “Like I would eat here .”

The way she said it, sounding so utterly disgusted, had my back up.

“Then why are you here?” I demanded.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m talking to my ex. We’re going to have a baby,” she lied.

I snorted.

I’d spent a lot of time with liars in my lifetime—I could thank my little sister Calliope for teaching me how to spot them—and I knew damn well and good when a lady was lying.

“When did you find out?” I asked.

She blinked. “Uh, last week.”

I nodded. “How long since you missed your period?”

She blinked. “Um, two weeks.”

I nodded. “Were you on birth control?”

“Yes…” she lied again, her eyes gazing down and to the side before she returned her gaze to me. “It was a missed pill or two.”

“What kind of birth control pill were you on?” I pushed.

She sighed. “The low-hormone one.”

“Plannon?” I asked.

“Yes,” she answered quickly.

“I just made that up off the top of my head,” I told her.

“You’re not pregnant. You’re trying to win him back.

I’m sure that he’s a great guy, but no guy is worth lying about being pregnant.

Women get such a bad rap as it is. Now we have women like you who are lying and cheating your way into men’s lives, and the rest of us have to work twice as hard to get in there.

Trust me when I say, if he doesn’t want you, you need to respect that. Don’t demean yourself like this.”

The woman’s eyes blazed. “I’m pregnant.”

“You may wish you were pregnant, but you’re not.

You’re trying to save face and win him back.

Probably, you fucked up, and he called your bluff.

You kept thinking he’d come crawling back, and when he didn’t, you started to get desperate.

Trust me when I say, you’ll find someone that’s willing to put up with your bullshit.

You’re young, beautiful, and obviously very rich.

Find some unsuspecting man that’ll give you everything you want and more, but don’t come into my diner anymore unless you’re actually going to order something.

And if you leave me a bad review on Yelp or Google, I’ll ruin your fuckin’ life. ”

There was a snort from the table behind me.

“Fine, I’ll have a coffee.” She crossed her arms.

“We’re not serving coffee anymore. It’s noon. The last batch of coffee was dumped out once Mrs. Pearl told me she didn’t want anymore. I don’t make coffee again until tomorrow morning,” I said.

The woman harrumphed.

“You could order a grilled cheese,” my brother said as he came to the men’s table from behind me. “They’re fantastic.”

“The grease is disgusting on those.” She eyed the jalapeno guy’s behind me. “Posy, will you please talk to me outside?”

“No thanks.” He took a large bite of his sandwich.

I tried not to watch the muscles in his jaw flex as he chewed, but failed.

Fuck, but he was hot.

He had dark hair, even darker eyes, and a sculpted jaw that sent shivers down my spine.

He had a goatee, a crooked nose that spoke of multiple breaks, and jaw muscles for days.

When I’d read about square jaws in book blurbs—because I sure the fuck didn’t have time to read an actual book—I’d thought I had an idea of what I was picturing.

I was wrong.

This man—Posy—had a square cut jaw.

Wow.

“You owe me this,” the woman snapped.

That’s when my siblings came in, sans my mother.

They looked tired, and Kent looked pissed as hell.

I dismissed the woman for now, heading to my brother and sister. “What’s wrong?”

Kent gritted his jaw and said quietly, “Mom decided to go out on a date for lunch with the dentist. And left us there.”

My mouth opened and closed, and I decided it was best to count to ten.

When that didn’t work, I went to the diner telephone that still had a stretched out wire attached to both ends, and picked it up before dialing.

My fingers hit the button angrily as I tried and failed to curb my frustration.

My mom didn’t answer, but I left a voicemail anyway.

“You had one job, Mother,” I snarled. “And you were supposed to be back here by two so I could head to my own dentist appointment.”

I’d had to sweet talk the receptionist into letting me come in later after my siblings because if I didn’t, I couldn’t get on the free list that allowed the local college students studying dentistry to clean my teeth.

It was a solid setup, but if I didn’t leave in the next half hour, I’d miss my appointment time.

Of course my mother would do this.

It was her MO, after all.

“I’m here now,” Kent said. “I’ll cover you until you can get back. Then we can all work dinner together. Anders can wash the dishes.”

I sighed.

But since they were already off of school for the appointment, I figured…why the fuck not.

They officially had two more days of school, and I would totally not send them back if they weren’t one day away from truancy.

Speaking of…

“Did Mom get the school note for y’all?” I asked.

“Anders asked, but Mom said she would go do it, then decided to accept that date.” Kent winced. “I’m sorry, I was just worried about how to get back here.”

“I’ll get it,” I said as I started gathering my things. “I’m headed out.”

Kent jerked his chin at me, and I walked out the door, unsurprised to find that the woman hadn’t left yet.

She did stand outside and sulk, though.

I didn’t say anything to her as I left for my appointment.

I got my school note an hour later and was headed back when I heard the roar of a bike coming up fast on my left.

I didn’t look over my shoulder to see who it was.

I was just fucking exhausted.

I got up this morning at four, and hadn’t stopped since.

To be honest, life would be a hell of a lot easier if I got abducted.

Maybe they’d put me in a quiet room where there was no sound, where I could sleep on a bare mattress for months.

That sounded like heaven…