Page 69 of Demitri

“Sandy’s is.” I want to punch the grin off the guy’s face, but fuck. Sandy’s breakfast is the best food in the world. Her waffles can make a grown man cry.

“Fine, fuckers. Sandy’s.”

Grady, Daniel, and even Joker laugh at that, knowing they’d all say the same thing. I once told Sandy I loved her after eating those waffles. And shakes. Woman knows her shit when it comes to perfect diner food.

“George, look who it is!” Sandy yells over her shoulder as soon as I walk through the door. “Our lost boy is back!”

“Mama Sandy.” I smile at her, letting her pull me into a hug.

When I first met Aunt Linda, she brought me here for breakfast in the pre-dawn hour. I’d just unloaded twenty-plus years of pain and rejection and heartache on the woman, and I thought she was ridiculous for suggesting waffles at four in the morning. She neglected to tell me the fucking things are magical. Sandy took one look at me and pulled me in for a hug. It was one that only a mother can give, and it had been so long since I’d felt any kind of affection that wasn’t attached to strings that I broke. Right there in the middle of the diner. I was a snotty,blubbering mess. That woman held me for what felt like hours, shooing away anyone who came near. Including Aunt Linda.

When I pulled myself together enough that I could let go of her, her husband, George, took me into the kitchen and taught me how to make an old-fashioned milkshake. For a few months, I practically lived in this place. They fed me, and Sandy brought me clothes that her son had left when he moved out.

George isn’t behind the stove anymore, mainly sitting at the counter bullshitting with the other customers because of a back injury. Hasn’t stopped him from being everyone’s favorite with his big, sparkling white teeth etched in his dark skin with laugh lines showing how well he’s lived.

“How’s my boy this morning?” Sandy asks, gripping my chin and turning my face left and right, like she’s checking for damage. Did she call me her boy? Yes. Am I almost a foot taller than her and probably seventy pounds heavier? Also, yes. Will I ever stop her? Hell no.

“I’m alright, Mama S. Just had a long night.”

She turns to Grady, Daniel, Joker, and Aiden and narrows her eyes at them. “You better not be upsetting my boy here. Or getting him into trouble.”

“Sandy, you wound me.” Daniel grins, giving her a side hug. “You know I’d never.”

“Bullshit, Danny. I know too well you would.”

He laughs, moving past us and grabbing the corner booth. Each man, in turn, stops to give Sandy a hug. She’s the town mom if there ever was one. I look out the windows and see James on the sidewalk, making a call. That man is so strange.

Sandy takes my arm and pulls me over to George, who gives me his own once over.

“I’m alright, you two, promise,” I tell them.

“You do look better than the last time we saw you. You got a girl or something?” George asks, his smile firmly in place.

“Ahh, well…” I rub the back of my neck, my face getting hot.

“Tell us all about her,” Sandy demands.

“She’s perfect.” I smile. “She’s a smartass who puts me in my place, but she loves her people hard.”

“Sounds like a winner. And when are you bringing her in for some good cooking?”

I laugh, shaking my head. “I don’t know. She doesn’t come over the mountain very often.”

As I’m speaking, the door opens, and it takes me a minute to realize what I’m seeing. Mia, Grace, Nola, and Sofie all flank Aunt Linda.

“Unless she does,” I say more to myself, watching the group. Grace looks more pale than normal, her eyes darting from one side of the diner to the other. Nola and Sofie look like they might have been on a bender all night, and Mia is swaying a little bit, too. But she’s got this goofy grin on her face as she meets my eyes, and I can’t look away.

“Ladies,” Sandy greets before freezing in her tracks. “My girls.”

The way she says it, like she’s feeling everything they’ve ever been through. Like it’s a relief to see them alive, and like it’s been a lifetime since she’s laid her own two eyes on them. She lets go of my arm, almost like she’s lost the ability to hold on, and her feet carry her to the women.

They all stare at each other, not sure what to do, when Sandy decides for them. She pushes Aunt Linda out of the way and grabs all four women at once. It’s almost comical, but this isn’t a funny moment. This is a healing moment.

“My girls,” Sandy repeats, tears in her eyes.

All five women are crying now, Sandy pulling each one in for the same hug she gave me. Each with the same heart-healing arms. No words are spoken, but you can almost see the love they all have for each other.

“George, your wife is an amazing woman.” I lean into his shoulder.

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