Page 55 of Noel I Won’t
“Damn, that place had the best shepherd’s pie.”
“I know.” He chuckled. “We haven’t gotten another place like it.”
“It’s so tough to find places with character.” An awful thought occurred to me. “Please tell me Zacos isn’t gone!”
“Nah, it’s still there. A hole-in-the-wall like that will never die. The world could end tomorrow, and I think it’d somehow still be standing.”
“Well, that’s something. Now I wish I’d asked to eat there,” I said. “I’d forgotten all about it.”
“Well, I think you’re going to like where we’re headed, but if not, we can turn around.” He gestured out the window as he slowed and turned into a parking lot.
“It’s the old Jerkers building. Did they get something new in or…” Wait. The sign still said Jerkers Soda Shoppe. It couldn’t be. “This place closed down when I was a freshman!”
“It reopened a few years ago with the help of some historic grants and loans. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s close. The owners are locals and have tried to stay as true to the original as they could.”
“Just tell me one thing,” I said, practically trembling with excitement. “Does it have MoonShakes?”
He grinned. “Do you want it to have MoonShakes?”
I slapped his arm. “Don’t tease me!”
“Yes, it has?—”
I launched forward and gave him a big smack on the lips. “I have to have one. Right now.”
He laughed, eyes sparkling. “You look like it’s Christmas morning.”
“You don’t understand how devastated I was when this place closed down. I was full-on addicted to those shakes.”
“Half the town was,” he said. “Probably be better for us all if they hadn’t reopened.”
“Shut your blaspheming mouth!”
He mimed zipping his lips, and we went inside. The scents of grease, grilled onions, and deep-fried everything hit me all at once. Just like that, I was fifteen years old, sitting at the counter, watchingHopperthe jock sit with a group of guys that made my life hell most days.
I’d been mooning over him, not so subtly, when Mr. Carver—the gray-haired grandfather who ran the place—placed a shake in front of me. “Drown your sorrows with this, Noel. It’ll be ten times sweeter to you, anyway.”
I’d already known that, of course, although I thought maybe Mr. Carver was wrong about Hopper. He’d always tried to be kind to me, even if most of his friends weren’t. And it wasn’t like he stood by and watched them harass me either. If he saw anyone messing with me, he put a stop to it.
But Hopper was too popular. If I had let him become my friend, it would have gotten everyone’s attention. The assholes would probably have come at me even harder. So I kept my distance from him and that whole crowd.
“Noel?” Hopper put his hand on my back, jolting me out of my memories. “Do you know what you want?”
I stepped away from his hand, surreptitiously glancing around to see if anyone had noticed him touching me. Granville had become surprisingly tolerant, but that didn’t mean the same was true in Riverton.
“Yeah, let’s order.”
Hopper and I stepped up to the counter, where Brenda was waiting to take our order. I knew it was Brenda because she wore an old-fashioned name tag that bore her name, along with a striped vest, bow tie, and cute little soda jerk hat.
“What can I get you? We have a MoonShake for two on special this week.” She pointed up toward the menu, where an illustrated picture of a large shake with two straws was displayed. “Perfect for date night.”
“Oh, this isn’t a date,” I said quickly.
Hopper frowned, looking a little taken aback by my declaration. Wait.Wasit a date?
“Okay,” Brenda said, smiling easily. “We’ve also got a holiday special going. A peppermint-mocha MoonShake with candy-cane shavings instead of Oreo.”
“Oh, that sounds good,” I said. “I’d love one of those, along with a cheeseburger and fried pickles. Please tell me you have fried pickles?”
