Page 28 of The Pieces We've Lost

“All right. I trust you.” He snapped his menu closed and set it down on the table.

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

Lauren came back shortly with our drinks and to take our order. Exactly like he had said he would, Colter ordered the Breakfast of Champions Burger and a chocolate milkshake. The difference between us was he ordered his with onions, tomatoes, and no pickles, and I ordered mine without onions or tomatoes and extra pickles.

“So, how did you find this place? Or, why did you choose to come here?”

I figured he would ask that. I mean, after all, who chooses to meet up for lunch at a place called The Legless Cow? It was a pretty unique place. Kind of a hidden gem.

“This place is pretty significant to me. My parents would always take me here as a little girl. They were prettymuch royalty whenever they stepped through these doors.” I smiled, thinking about those days. We had a lot of happy memories here.

The owners were practically family. They even let me pick up a few shifts here while I was in high school.“Anything for Levi’s girl,”they would say. They respected my privacy, though, and didn’t tell the world who I was. They told me they didn’t feel the need to because it wasn’t their story to tell. And that’s why I loved them.

“That’s really sweet. You mentioned your dad grew up here. What’s he like?”

What seemed to be such an innocent question to most people was one of the hardest ones for me. I debated brushing off the question and changing the subject, but part of me felt like opening up to Colter wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. I’d kept my grief and feelings about my dad buried for so long. There were things my mom and Isa didn’t even know. Maybe if I talked about him, despite my fears of letting people in, a small weight would be lifted off my shoulders.

“It’s kind of a hard subject for me to talk about,” I admitted.

Colter looked like he was about to stop me, to tell me that I didn’t need to say anything, but I took a deep breath and continued. “My dad died when I was young, but he was larger than life. He was my hero.”

This was the part I dreaded the most when I told people about my dad. I waited for the pity to come like it always did. But instead, a glimmer of understanding flickered across Colter’s face.

“I’m sorry to hear about your father.” Even though he was offering his condolences, it didn’t come across as him feeling sorry for me. It felt real, genuine. “I understandwhat it’s like to have people look at you with pity, like you’re broken and in need of fixing.”

It was almost as if he read my mind, and I wanted to get a glimpse of what was going on inside his head, what had happened to him for his reaction to be that way.

I opened my mouth to say something of the like, but before I could ask, Lauren came up to our table with our food.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

colter

Our server dropped off giant plates of food and our two milkshakes, along with the metal containers of leftovers that didn’t fit in the glass. It reminded me of the burger joint we had back in Goldfinch. Reid and I would always go there after practices and college football games.

I took the initial bite of the massive burger and groaned. “This is one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. I’m so glad I trusted you on this.”

She smiled at me before she took a bite of her own.

We ate slowly, making small talk here and there between bites and sips of milkshake. She was the type of person who dipped her fries in the ice cream. She said she got it from a TV show she watched as a kid and it just stuck.

We finished eating, and Lauren brought around our check. I put my credit card down before Ellison could reach for her wallet.

“Let me get this, please.” I didn’t realize I had instinctively put my hand on top of hers, so Ipulled it back quickly.

“Oh, thanks.” She blushed.

Lauren ran my card, and I signed the receipt, giving her a twenty-five-percent tip.

“You ready?” I asked Ellison.

She nodded, and we got up to leave. I opened the door for her but when she got outside she stopped abruptly.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” she blurted.

I gave her a confused look, and she started explaining.

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