Page 21 of Say I'm Yours, Firecracker

He smiled, eyes crinkling and teeth on full display. “So what makes this the best place to get a burger?”

I nodded to where Billy was sitting in a chair talking loudly with his grandson. Josh came into town for Christmas and hadn’t left yet. I didn’t know if he was planning to, since Billy was getting older and missed his family.

“That man, right there.”

As if he’d heard me, Billy’s head turned in our direction and I led Eli to a booth near the counter. His smile was contagious, and I was convinced he was the only person in the world no one could ever be mad at.

“Ronnie! Came for another milkshake?” He bellowed.

“Nah, Pop. Came to show this out of towner some good food.”

“Well, I guess I can help y’all.” His arms wrapped around my shoulders as he pulled me into a hug that smelled like grease and aftershave. A combination that should have made my pregnancy stomach sick, but no. Like I said, Billy could do no wrong.

“What’ll you have, young man?” Billy said, handing only Eli a menu because he knew I didn’t need one.

After giving it a quick look Eli said, “I’ll take the fried chicken, okra, and corn.”

“Ronnie?”

“I guess I will have that shake then.” I sing-songed. “Oh! And some fries.”

My stomach made an awful gurgling noise, and we all laughed. I loved the shakes because Billy refused to use syrup and vanilla ice cream base like most restaurants. He used actual strawberry ice cream blended up with local freshly grown strawberries and milk.

“Coming right up.”

Eli turned to face me, eyes searching over me. His posture was laid back, as if he’d been here many times and fit in with the regulars. I had a feeling he was like that everywhere he went. His hair was still styled messily, curls falling onto his forehead.

“Thought you said you wanted a greasy burger?” I ribbed.

“Changed my mind.” He inhaled like he wanted to continue but blew out his breath and shook his head instead.

Then he leaned in, like we were about to share a secret. “Can I ask you a personal, probably not my business, most definitely intrusive question?”

I laughed, actually snorted because that was a whole lot of words in one breath. “Sure.” I said, waving my hand over the table.

“You’re pregnant, but I don’t see a ring.”

“That was a question?”

He smiled and shook his head, curls bouncing from one corner of his head to the other. “It was, in a roundabout way.” His eyes bounced over my face, as if he were watching my every facial muscle to determine if he’d just fucked up or not. “What I meant is, are you seeing anyone?”

My face flushed with heat, though I wasn’t sure if he wanted to know because he was interested, or if he was simply curious because of the little bean in my uterus.Fuck it.

“No, I’m not seeing anyone.”

He didn’t say anything, just nodded and leaned back into the booth. I couldn’t tell if he thought that news was good or bad. He gave nothing away. We both avoided each other’s eye contact until Marcie came around with Eli’s food.

“You should eat.” I finally broke the weird silence, because he hadn’t touched his food and I was fairly certain he was waiting for my milkshake to get to the table. His eyes lifted from where he’s been staring and one side of his mouth lifted. “Wouldn’t want Billy thinking his food isn’t up to snuff.”

“That would be rude.” He agreed, slowly lifting his hand to where a spoon rested in the buttered corn.

“Plus, it’s so much better when it’s hot.” I added, willing him to just take a damn bite of food.

He made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat, but didn’t lift the spoon. I sighed and reached across the table for a piece of his fried okra. Popping it into my mouth I tilted my head toward the plate.

Laughter erupted from him and he finally started in on his plate. He cut into the fried chicken with a fork and a knife. Which…okay. I’d only ever seen a few people do that here, and they weren’t my favorite people.

“Extra cream,” Billy said, sliding the pink goodness in front of me. “Just the way baby likes.” He also came bearing extra crispy fries. That must have been why Eli got his food first.

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