Page 57 of Lovewell Lane

I caught him staring at me a lot, though. Through my diner window when he was working at his store. At home when we both crossed paths in the backyard. I still made an effort to see Tessa when I saw she was out after dinner playing with the ducks alone. We were cordial when I dropped off leftover bakery treats after work some days and when Tessa invited me to participate in their nightly farm chores. I secretly set aside an extra loaf of bread every week just for Derek.

I could tell he was waiting for me to say something about it first. He probably had some weird guilt over kissing me when he clearly fought the urge to at all costs. Maybe even regret. It was the busy season for him too, so I was sure he was throwing himself into work the same way I was. The giant trucks labeled Weston Farms coming and going every day told me they were doing well. So, I assumed he was okay with our cordialness.

I didn’t have time to ponder about Derek’s issues.

Maybe the kiss was just a freak incident. I was emotional over the diner opening, and he was clearly embarrassed aboutrejecting me in the most romantic setting possible. It could have been a pity kiss.

Though it certainly didn’t feel like a pity kiss.

Scarlet assured me it wasn’t a pity kiss either whenever she asked for updates on Derek. Which wasn’t often since I stopped having updates for her. I think she could tell it was a sore subject because instead of asking about Derek every day, she made it clear how proud of me she was that I’d stuck with my plan to run the diner.

For once in my life I’d found something that I hadn’t gotten sick of in a matter of weeks. Two months was officially my record, especially for something as demanding as running a diner. It kind of felt like one of those games I played as a kid where you open your own business and have to keep growing it to unlock new cool perks. I used to call them capitalism propaganda. Now I was just a cog in the machine.

And I was loving it.

“Please tell me you have a funny story for me. I am having the worst day ever,” Scarlet said grumpily through the speaker in my car.

“Oh, boy do I. You first though, what’s wrong?” I asked.

Scarlet was silent. I looked at my phone screen to make sure we hadn’t disconnected. The service out here wasn’t the best. “Scarlet?”

“Yeah, it’s nothing really,” she sighed.

“Out with it, woman.”

“Okay, so I found an engagement ring in Chad’s socks,” she said apathetically.

“What? A ring?” If I’d been drinking water I would have done a spit take. Scarlet and Chad had dated for years, but I honestly couldn’t tell you a single thing about the guy other than he wore a lot of dress shirts with his initials on them.

That wasn’t for lack of paying attention, either. I paid very close attention to my best friend. The guy was kind of just invisible. He would blend into a wall if you got distracted enough. He wasn’t particularly nice or mean oranything. He was… Chad.

Needless to say, despite Scarlet dating him for years, I never expected her to marry him. Chad was like grocery bags that you kept under your kitchen sink for years without ever using them but refused to throw them out in case you ever needed them.

“Yeah,” she breathed. It seemed like she was having similar thoughts.

“And you’re not excited?”

“No, I am.” Another long pause. “It’s just, it’s not even gold. I only ever wear gold jewelry and he bought me a silver ring.”

“Oh.”

“I know it’s stupid, I just—”

“It’s definitely not stupid. He should know you better than that.”

“But it could be like a family heirloom or something. I don’t know. It sort of sent me into a spiral. I don’t really want to talk about it, I want to hear your silly story. Shoot.”

“Okay, we will definitely be following up on this later though,” I said. “Alright, you remember the toupee guy from a couple weeks ago?”

“Oh do I? Of course! Did you ever figure out if he’s married or not?” Scarlet asked.

“The wife herself came in to eat with him today.”

“What? So he’s cheating on her? And he has the audacity to take his wife and mistress to the same restaurant?”

“Which is especially crazy because he doesn’t even live in Honeyfield. They live in some other small town half an hour from here. So he went out of his way to bring both of them in.”

“Nothing goes with infidelity like a diner sandwich on your beautifully fresh baked bread.”

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