Page 24 of Along Comes Trouble

TESSA

F orty-five minutes later,Colton and I are seated at a tiny diner that specializes in breakfast. The outside of the building is dilapidated, the inside is outdated, the menus are a little sticky, but damn, the place smells good .

“Everything sounds equally wonderful and unappetizing at the same time,” I say as I scan the menu. I look up, realizing what I said. “Unappetizing because of the monster in my stomach, not because of the food itself .”

“It doesn’t matter what you get, it’ll be good.” Colton slides his menu back in place between the salt and pepper shakers. “Don’t even worry about being healthy right now. In fact, in my experience, the less healthy the food, the faster the hangover goes away .”

“Is this another pro-tip ?”

“It would be, except I’ve retired from giving that kind of advice after last night. How can I call myself a professional when I promised you’d be in good hands and then let you get so drunk ?”

Our waitress sidles up to the table, two empty mugs and an industrial-sized carafe on her tray. She sets the mugs on the table, fills them with steaming coffee, and then asks for our orders. I take Colton’s advice and order biscuits and gravy. “Oh, and could I have a side of bacon with that?” I ask. “And an orange juice? And a Coke ?”

The waitress gives me a funny look, but doesn’t say a word as she jots down my order. If Colton’s right and this place is hangover central, she’s probably used to all manner of strange food combinations coming from people who look as awful as I do right now. Colton orders a triple stack of cinnamon pancakes and drops her a wink before she heads back to the kitchen .

“Good call on all the fluids.” He places his hat and sunglasses on the table and I take a second to appreciate his good manners .

I tear open a couple creamers and empty them into my coffee before stirring in several packs of sugar. “I’m really thirsty and couldn’t decide what sounded better. My brain hurts too much to think that hard.” I glance up to find him staring in shock at what I’m doing. “I like my coffee best when it doesn’t taste like coffee,” I say .

“So I gathered.” Colton shudders before taking a long swig from his own mug .

For all my complaints this morning about not wanting to hang out with him anymore, his company sure is pleasant. I alternate between my coffee and my water while he babbles away, filling in the lost parts of last night .

I drop my head in my hands after learning that I sang karaoke in the middle of Smitty’s, even though they don’t own a karaoke machine. According to Colton, I stood in the middle of the bar and belted out the song playing over the speakers while pretending his beer bottle was a microphone. “I am so embarrassed .”

“Why? You told me you had never sung karaoke but you thought that was a bad decision on your part, although you lost me a little when you tried to explain why. Something about broadening your horizons and the danger zone being important. So you took the necessary steps to fix it.” Colton cups his mug between both hands and leans his forearms on the table .

“But I can’t sing. And now the entire town of Brookside knows it .”

“Yeah, but they also know exactly how adorable you are when you try. And, we all learned that you are extremely proactive when it comes to fixing things you deem as deficiencies.” He smiles and I groan .

“I think it’s better if I keep on not remembering last night .”

“I don’t know why you’d think that. Like I said, drunk you is fun .”

Our waitress arrives with our food, carefully placing each plate in front of us. The scent of cinnamon and maple syrup twists with sausage and bacon and butter. My mouth waters as I crumble my biscuits into my gravy and I moan when I shovel a bite past my lips .

“Ohmygod,” I murmur, the sentence blending into one word. “This is so good .”

Colton drenches his pancakes in syrup and nods. “I told you .”

“I’ve probably driven past this place a million times since I moved to Brookside and never once, not once , would I have considered eating here .”

“Why?” Colton cuts into his pancake and shoves a massive bite into his mouth, bobbing his head as he chews around a massive smile .

“The outside is just so…” I fumble for a word to describe the bland exterior. “Grimy?” I scoop up another bite of biscuit and gravy. “I wouldn’t expect the food to taste so good .”

“Shows what you know .”

“Right? Maybe it’s time I stop being so damn judgmental .”

“I wasn’t going to say anything, but now that you mention it …”

I pick up a strip of bacon and aim it at him. “Watch it, mister. It’s one thing for me to admit my faults. It’s a different thing entirely for you to agree with me .”

Colton chuckles and we eat in silence, the hum of waitresses and customers, of cooking and eating, buzzing around us. The food soothes the lurching monster in my belly and my headache recedes .

“I have to ask,” I say after I finish the last of my Coke. “The other night, at the football game, were you there alone ?”

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