Page 5 of Hazel and Elijah Find Out: First They F*cked Around

The teenager returned with our drinks, then left so we could look over the menu.

“She’s pretty,” Mom said, scanning her open menu.

I nodded. “Yeah, she’s really pretty.”

“Did you meet her when you came up last year?”

“Yup.”

“You didn’t mention her.”

“I was preoccupied with Dad being a dick,” I mostly lied.

Yes, my dad had been an asshat, and I’d cut my trip short because of it. His main asshattery consisted of lording control over me by threatening Hazel’s takeover of the veterinary clinic if she and I spent time together. In the end, she stayed in my rickety cabin rental for one night—a night I couldn’t stop thinking about. Craving.

Mom patted my fisted hands on the table between us. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. You don’t deserve that.”

“It wasn’t all bad.” I closed the menu and set it on the edge of the table. “I reconnected with Ransom, and we’re gonna get together while you and I visit. I mean, I’m the one who convinced you to take this trip, so I must not be too traumatized.”

A trip I was hoping to get to know Hazel better, but I’d find something else to do with my time.

“I guess not,” she said.

“How do you feel about running into Dad? The town is so small, and it’s kinda inevitable.”

“Uneasy. There are a couple of people here I’m nervous to run into.”

She held my questioning gaze for a moment, knowing I didn’t actually have to speak for her to understand.

Lifting one shoulder and letting it fall again, she explained, “I wouldn’t have come back if I didn’t feel like it was the right choice. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I retired or getting older, but I just wanna put the nonsense behind me.”

I opened my mouth to reply when a woman with short white hair approached our table, staring down at a pad of paper in her hand. “Are we ready to order?”

“Ginny?” Mom said apprehensively.

The waitress glanced up, her eyebrows pulled together before her eyes widened and her jaw dropped open. “Susan? Susan March?”

“I thought that was you! Ginny, how are you?” Mom stood, pulling the slightly smaller woman into a hug.

“Well, I’m just great! How are you?” Ginny didn’t wait for a reply before she continued, “You lookgorgeous!”

“You, too!”

She flicked a dismissive hand. “Oh, I don’t know. Every time I look in the mirror, I ask myself, ‘Who is that old lady?’”

Mom leaned on one leg and rested her hands on her hips. “I completely understand that. In my mind, I’m trapped at thirty-five, and that wassolong ago!” She flipped a hand in my general direction. “My goodness, my son will be twenty-nine this year.”

“Oh my! You are Elijah March, aren’t you?”

“I am.” I twisted in the booth to speak directly to Ginny.

“Look at how handsome you are.” To Mom she gushed, “He is sohandsome.”

Laughing, Mom nodded. “He is.”

“He looks just like his dad!”

“He does.”

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