Page 37 of I Wanna Be Your Lager

I glance at her from the corner of my eye. As she stares out the window, I can’t fight the smile that tickles my lips. If a diner will make her happy, I’ll give her all the diners from here back to Harbor Highlands.

I spot the oversized cartoon beaver sign from half a mile away. I pull into the full parking lot of The Angry Beaver. If all the locals are here, I suspect it’s the entire town. Luckily, I find a parking spot in the far corner which may or may not be an actual parking spot. I jump out and round the rear, meeting Eve. We stroll side by side to the glass double doors. With my hand on the metal handle, I hold the door open for Eve to lead the way, and I follow a step behind her. Servers hustle past us with plates lining their arms as we wait next to the Please Wait To Be Seated sign. This place is exactly how Eve described. Bacon grease and maple syrup aromas fill the diner. Cooks yell orders back and forth.

“Look!” Eve elbows me, pure elation written on her face like a kid given free rein in a toy store. “They have t-shirts. I need the Angry Beaver or Bust one.”

“Welcome to The Angry Beaver,” An older woman wearing a red apron tied around her waist and salt-and-pepper hair tied back into a bun greets us. “Just the two of you?”

“Yes,” Eve says.

She grabs two menus and waves for us to follow her. Families, couples, and friends fill practically every table,chatting over breakfast. We meander through the crowded diner until she stops at a booth along the far wall. Eve slides into one side, and I take the other. The server places a laminated menu in front of each of us. I glance at her name tag. It’s not Betty, but Mary Lou.

“What can I get y’all to drink?”

“I’ll have a coffee,” Eve says.

“And I’ll have an orange juice. And a water. Thanks, Mary Lou,” I say.

She saunters off to help a table a few feet away. We both peruse the menu in silence.

“I think I know what I’m going to order,” Eve says.

“Let me guess. The fluffy pancake stack with bananas.”

She drops her menu to the table. “Now why do you think that would be my order?”

“It’s sweet, and you seem like a pancake kind of girl.”

“Let me guess, you’re going to order the steak and eggs because it’s meaty and manly.” She squares her shoulders and puffs out her chest.

A smile spreads across my face. “Actually, I’m getting the fluffy pancakes with extra bananas.”

A sweet laugh, the one I love, bubbles out of her. “I never expected you to be a fluffy pancake kind of girl.”

“I can never make them like they do at a diner. They just don’t turn out the same.”

Mary Lou returns a few minutes later with Eve’s coffee in one hand and expertly holds my water and orange juice in the other.

“Have y’all had a chance to look over the menu?” Mary Lou asks.

“Yes. I’ll have the omelet super deluxe with extra crispy bacon. Not like extra crispy, but extra bacon, and make it crispy,” Eve says. She lowers her menu. “I once asked for extracrispy bacon, and I basically got bacon dust. No one wants bacon dust.”

I give Mary Lou my order for pancakes with a side of sausage links before she collects our menus and tucks them under her arm. She saunters to the next table without missing a beat.

“I wonder how long she’s been working here. On the menu, it said they opened in nineteen seventy-eight. By the way she floats around with ease, I bet she’s been here since they opened. Could you imagine working in the same job for that many years? Even if I had my photo studio, I don’t know if I’d want to do that for the rest of my life.”

I strum my fingers on the tabletop. “My plan is to never leave Porter’s.”

“Really?” She taps her chin before dropping her arm to the table. “I mean, I get working for Jake. He’s great because he’s my brother and all, but serving drinks for the rest of your life?”

The “J” word. The elephant looming over me who told me to watch out for his little sister. For the past day, I forgot how our relationships weaved together and pretended we were just Eve and Lach. In another twenty-four hours, our bubble will burst, and I’ll snap back to reality.

“It’s more than serving drinks. It’s something new every day. Plus, it’s like a second home to me.”

Her shoulders sag, and her smile turns upside down. “Can I just say,” she blows out a breath, her gaze dropping to the table, “I’m envious of the friendships you and everyone have at the bar. Everyone has each other’s back, no matter what. I never had that.”

I tug at the paper strip securing the rolled silverware. “Now you do.”

She peers up at me through her lashes. A smile tugs on her lips. I’m not sure if she believes me or not, but it’s true. She’s only been working at the bar for a month, but she fits right in.All the girls love working with her, and I certainly enjoy her company.

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