Page 26 of Love Like Lightning

“Welcome to Ever Lake, Gianna. First time?” Denise leans her hip against Henry’s side of the booth so she faces me. She’s smiling and has her pen poised against her notepad.

“Uh, no actually, second.” My eyes move to Henry’s again, and I can see that he’s remembering the last time I was in town. I shut down the memories that try to force their way to the forefront of my mind, feeling my cheeks burn under Denise’s stare.

“Well, welcome back. Can’t say I see Hammer bringing too many girls out for dinner dates.” She laughs softly. “What can I get you, honey?”

“Oh, I’ll take the club sandwich, please. With the seasoned fries, thank you.” Smiling up at her, I slide my menu to the side.

“Waters?” She looks at the two of us, and we both nod. “Alrighty, I’ll be back in a sec. Let me know if there’s anything else.” Shooting a wink my way, she disappears to go put our orders in.

Once she’s gone, I realize she didn’t call him by his name. “What’s Hammer about?” He winces when I say the name, and I immediately regret asking. “Never mind, that’s none of my business.”

“No, no. It’s fine. It’s just a nickname. I’ve had it since I was a kid.” His explanation is quick and to the point.

“Oh, okay.”

“Pretty much everyone in town calls me that. I don’t hear my real name all that much.” He says it with a smile, but there’s a stark sadness evident in his words, and I hate the way hearing it makes me feel.

“Well, I, for one, love the name Henry, so I’m glad you introduced yourself that way when we met,” I tell him and watch in real time as some of that sadness seeps away.

“I’m glad. So, talk to me, back in town for business?”

“I am. It should be a pretty big project. I’ll be pretty busy.” I make a point to say that. Creating a barrier of sorts. We can’t spend time together if I’m up to my eyeballs with work. “How’s work going for you?”

I remember him talking passionately about his business, and I honestly would rather talk about him.

“Oh!” He looks surprised that I bothered to ask. “It’s been great, actually. I’m in the middle of trying to bring on someone else to help out. Business has been growing a lot. I’ve expanded to two more towns in the last few weeks, and I’m starting to have to turn appointments down.”

“That’s great.” I smile, genuinely happy to hear he’s doing so well.

“It’s great that I’m having to turn away customers?”

“It’s great that you’re so busy and that so many people want to work with you that you have to. But I agree that if you can, you should bring someone into your operation.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He nods his head, looking thoughtful. “Honestly, I’ve been thinking about it for the last year, but I didn’t want to start looking into it until I was sure I would be able to pay someone well enough. I already feel bad that I can’t offer benefits, so I want to make sure I offset that as well as I can. I just know how rough it can be. I’m only a year and a half away from getting kicked off my parents’ insurance.”

“That’s…admirable. It sounds like you’ve been working really hard and planning for this expansion.”

“I have. It’s been a long time coming.” His pride is clear as day, and it looks like he’s about to say something else, but Denise chooses that moment to bring our food by.

We lapse into a comfortable silence while we eat. More than a couple of people wave and say hello to Henry as they come and go from the diner. By the time we’ve finished, he looks more tired than I felt earlier.

True to his word, he covers the bill, even after I try to fight him on it.

“I said it’s on me, Gia, so it’s on me,” he admonishes me before pulling out enough cash to cover our meals and a pretty nice tip. “Can I walk you home?”

We both stand and pull our jackets on, and my first instinct is to say no. My next isn’t so much an instinct as it is a reaction to Simone’s voice whispering in my head.

There’s nothing wrong with having a little fun.

The thought makes me cringe because it’s incredibly presumptuous. He’s just offering to walk me home, probably because it’s dark now. And cold. And he might think I need some help finding my way back. Whatever it is, it’s not because he wants to have fun with me.

Before I let my thoughts run away, I give him an answer. “Sure, thank you.”

We step out into the chill, but even the cutting wind doesn’t cool down the thoughts that race through my mind despite my best efforts.

Maybe I’m the one who wants a repeat with Henry. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I do.

11

---