Page 1 of A Love Unfaltering

Chapter One

Amy

Thursday nights were never that eventful.

The Capital Diner had been open in my town for as long as I could remember. It was a regular occurrence for college students to head down and grab a greasy burger and fries on their free nights or after exams, which was likely the only reason that it had stayed open for so long. On Thursday nights, however, the students stayed in their dorms, and the townspeople went home to their white-collar lives, and I got to stand around and do dishes and stare at the clock for four hours.

On this particular Thursday, I was cleaning the glasses of fingerprints left behind even after the most thorough running through the dishwasher and looking up every thirty seconds hoping that an hour had passed.

It hadn’t. Two hours left in my shift, and I was the only one on the floor. Nobody had come in since my shift had started, and I’d already made sure everything around the place was in tip-top shape.

As usual, my boss was locked in his office, likely watching TV and waiting for me to knock and tell him that the night was over.

It was an easy-going job, at least. And it had helped me through the entirety of my time at university, so I couldn’t be too mad about the occasional boring shift. However, that boredom wouldn’t last very long because, to my surprise, I heard the jingle of the bell above the door. I picked up a menu and walked around the corner of the booth, looking up at the man who had walked in.

I didn’t realize it at the moment, but the exact second I met his eyes, my life would change forever.

I recognized this man.

Jared Helms had been my best friend ever since Kindergarten, when he practically adopted me, him being the massive extrovert and me being the shy and quiet introvert. We’d grown close during elementary and middle school and had been closer than ever during high school, but we started to drift apart when he moved away about a year ago.

We hadn’t even spoken in the past few weeks, which was new for us, but I figured that was just our relationship’s new nature.

Meeting his eyes now, though, and seeing him smile upon recognizing me, brought a happy smile to my face as well.

I’d missed him.

“Well, look who finally decided to show up,” I said, tapping the menu against his chest and shaking my head with a disappointed tone to my voice. “And I thought I’d finally gotten rid of you for good. Shame that I have to put up with you again.”

He laughed good-naturedly and took the menu, following after me as I led him toward an empty table up near the front.

“Well, I figured that you’d be bored on a Thursday night, so I might as well drop by and see if annoying you was on the table.”

He remembered me complaining about Thursdays, at least. Even after being apart for so long, it was still easy to fall into joking with him.

“Well, you were right about that. It’s been dead all night,” I replied, pointing him toward one of the tables. “You’re the first and will probably be the only customer for the entire night.”

“Well, I guess that means I get to bug you without feeling bad about taking time away from other customers,” he said, to which I laughed and walked over to the bar.

“A beer, I assume?” I called out, pulling out a glass and walking over to the few beers we had on tap.

“Oh, actually, just water is fine, thank you!” he called out, which was the first sign to me that something about him had changed.

Jared Helms was… Well, he’d never lost his extroverted nature as he’d grown older. He’d always been one of the popular kids, heading to parties and getting drunk and never shying away from alcohol. It was one of the many things that I disagreed with him about, so hearing him reject a chance at a beer…

It was strange.

“Alright, who are you, and what’ve you done with Jared?” I asked, pulling out a clean glass and filling it with water from the dispenser. I carried it over to him to find him fidgeting with the menu, a nervous smile on his face.

“Well… I gave up drinking a couple of months ago. I gave up quite a few things, while… You know,” he said, a bit of a sad tone to his voice. I nodded sympathetically and patted his shoulder, knowing very well what he meant.

Jared had moved away not by choice but because he wanted to be with his father. It had been a tough decision for him, and I think it was eventually me that convinced him to move out there to help.

It seemed to have changed him by the looks of things.

“I hope everything is well,” I said softly, to which he nodded and looked up at me with a bit of a sad smile.

“Everything’s well. I just wanted to come back for a bit and check up on people, starting with you. We haven’t been talking much, and I feel bad about that. How’ve you been, Amy? What’ve you been up to?”

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