Chapter Six
I was being punished for my actions. After I’d dropped my third order of veggie and goat cheese crepes on the floor, I wanted to clock out for the night and be done with this whole mess of a day. Since the diner was bustling to the point of bursting, I didn’t have that option. Or, as Cole would have said it, I did have an option; I just chose not to acknowledge it.
After Logan’s and my hot and heavy make-out session, followed by my speedy retreat, I hadn’t heard from him. Not even a text to make sure I’d made it into work all right. Not even to check if I was all right.
Though I tried to assure myself I was checking my phone all night for Logan’s call, it wasn’t really his name I hoped would pop up. I knew Cole was done with me, I’d seen that guarantee in his eyes, but I didn’t stop hoping for a miracle.
I wasn’t ready to let him go, but what was more, it seemed I couldn’t give him up even if I tried.
When I dropped a fourth order before I’d even made it from the kitchen, I eyed the back door. I even took a couple steps in its direction. Who knows how far I would have made it because by step three, Dani tossed a few paper towels at me before she kneeled down to help me clean up yet another mess I made today.
I had this making a mess of things down.
“Okay, Elle,” she said when I kneeled beside her. Cherry and hazelnut crepes didn’t look anywhere near as pretty on the floor as they did on a plate. “What the hell’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I muttered as I swiped up a heap of whipped cream.
“Oh, yeah?” Dani’s voice had a sarcastic edge to it. “Is that why Liam told me that Cole was in one hell of a mood after he got back from a baseball game this afternoon? Is that why Cole almost tore his head off when Liam asked him if he wanted to come here tonight to grab a bite?”
I suddenly couldn’t get this mess cleaned up fast enough. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, keeping my eyes down. Dani could see through me about as well as Cole could. “And who’s Liam and how do you know him?” Maybe diverting the conversation would get us off the Cole subject matter.
“Three things, Elle,” she said. “First off, you most certainly do know what I’m talking about as those flighty little eyes of yours are a dead giveaway.” I narrowed those “flighty little eyes” at her. “Second, Liam is one of the rookie smokejumpers I’ve been seeing.”
“You’ve been screwing,” I said under my breath, surprising us both. Dani gaped at me in the same way I would have gaped at myself if I could have. I didn’t normally say things like that and knowing how easily it had slipped from my mouth unsettled me.
“Ignoring that last snarky comment and moving on . . .” Dani said as we finished cleaning up the crepe catastrophe. “Third and final point is not how I know Liam”—Dani’s eyebrows danced as she smiled at me—“but how you know Cole. Or, more specifically, how well you know Cole.”
I shot her another glare as I slid the broken plate pieces and soggy mess into a bussing bin.
“Oh my God,” she said, gaping at me again. “There really is something going on between you two.” She couldn’t look more shocked if I’d just told her I was pregnant.
“No,” I snapped, turning and heading back for the dining room. The rush was dying down, but there was never an end to coffee and water needing to be topped off, or extra napkins to be dropped, or bills to be totaled. “There’s absolutely, positively nothing going on between us anymore.” I tried not to imagine, for the thousandth time today, the way Cole’s face had cracked a little when he found out about Logan and me.
“Anymore?” Dani said. “Anymore? Oh my God. Liam was right about you two.”
I flinched at her words. I wanted to flog myself for mine. Who would have known the word “anymore” could give so much away?
I now had a keen understanding of the power of “anymore.”
“No, rookie screw-buddy Liam is not right.” I paused before heading into the dining room. “There never was, is, or will be anything between me and Cole. There’s nothing.” My voice was a whisper by the end.
Dani took a few steps towards me. “Then why does it look like you’re about to cry?”
I couldn’t answer her because if I did, I actually would. “Just leave it alone for now. Please, Dani?”
I didn’t wait for her answer. Dani wasn’t exactly one for sweeping things under the rug, but we were best friends. While I hadn’t openly admitted what happened between Cole and me, I hadn’t eased her suspicions either. I knew I’d have to talk with her soon, like I’d have to talk with so many others, but right now, the promise of the mundane chores of running a diner were ten times more appealing.
By the time I’d refilled the fifth cup of coffee, I’d calmed down and found my waitressing groove. Keeping my mind from drifting onto certain things or people that weren’t of a diner nature took some discipline, but I sucked it up and did my best.
The remainder of the night, Dani delivered food and I poured drinks. We didn’t need to make any more crepe offerings to the tile floor gods. Four was plenty.
A few minutes to closing, I finally got a chance to catch my breath and make my ritual end-of-shift cup of coffee.
“You want a refill, Grandma M?” I held up the coffee pot as I snagged another mug from below the counter.