Page 5 of Return to Us
He gives me a wink and then heads back in.
“I’ll give you my best table. Come on, girls.” Jennie grabs two menus and walks us over to the only open table.
“This place hasn’t changed,” I muse as I look around.
There are still the same deep-red booths with black-lacquer tables, checkered black-and-white floors, and football jerseys hung on the wall.
Jennie smiles. “No need to fix things that aren’t broken. This town hasn’t changed because we don’t need it to.”
I smile at her, taking the menu from her hand. “It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too, honey.”
“Table three!” Vernon yells from the kitchen.
“I’ll be back with your food in a few. I’ll just get you your usual.” Jennie rushes off before I could give her another option.
It shouldn’t surprise me that she would think I still ate pancakes, but when we pulled up, it was all I wanted.
After Grayson’s games, we would all pile into his truck and head here, craving carbs and sweets. He and I would sit in the corner booth, his arm around me while I wore his letterman jacket. If I had been a cheerleader, we would’ve been that all-American couple everyone talked about. I couldn’t afford to play sports, and there wasn’t any way around it. I didn’t get to sit in the stands each Friday because I was usually working, but Grayson was always there at the end of my shift.
I didn’t have to be embarrassed, he just loved me. The poor, sad, and angry parts were held together by him.
It just wasn’t enough in the end.
Delia looks at me, a smile on her lips. “Thinking of something?”
My hands are folded in front of me, resting on the menu. “The past.”
“It’s in every crevice of this place.”
“That it is.”
Her past is still the present, unfortunately. She’s been in love with Joshua Parkerson since we were kids. The oldest and most elusive of the Parkerson brothers. She has watched, wondered, dreamed of a time when he would see her as more. Joshua has always pushed her away, except for one night when he kissed her in the hallway by the payphone in the diner. A moment she’s clung to for years.
I watch as her gaze moves there, almost as though the memory calls to both of us.
“How is Josh?” I ask.
“I wouldn’t know.”
“He’s gone too?”
Her eyes narrow, and she shifts. “Too?”
I nod. “Well, yeah. Aren’t the Parkersons all scattered now? You don’t need an entire family to work at the same location. Their parents always had the grand plan of having their own chain. Last time my mother said they opened another location in Wyoming and Oliver went to run it.”
Delia shakes her head subtly. “Yeah, but . . . I mean, they’re not all gone.”
“I’m sure Stella stayed here.” She was the baby, even if only by six minutes of her twin, Oliver, and spoiled beyond belief. I can’t imagine their father allowed her to leave his side. “She and Winnie still hang out.”
She bites her lower lip. “Well, Stella is here, yes, but . . .”
“Did Alex stay?” I ask.
“No, Alex went to their Savannah location,” she says.
I can picture him loving that. Alex is our age and he used to love to party. Savannah would be the perfect mix of fun and seriousness for him. “How is he?”
