Page 7 of Sail Away with Me

He thought she was.

The urge to clear his throat was there, but he ignored it. “I’ll take the club sandwich with no tomato, please.”

“Would you like fries or tots?”

“Tots?” As soon as he said tots, he wished he hadn’t.

Galvin held her thumb and index finger about an inch and a half apart. “Cylinder shaped, deep-fried potato.”

Sail deserved this. He nodded. “Yes, tots. Not sure why I forgot what they were.” He winked, hoping to show her he was joking with her. “I’ll take tots.”

“What kind of dipping sauce would you like?”

When did the diner start serving tots and dipping sauce? What happened to just regular fries and ketchup? And the occasional person asking for ranch dressing? What else had his parents changed?

Sail didn’t want to look like an idiot. At least not a bigger one. “What’s your favorite?”

“I love the lemon garlic aioli.”

“Me too,” he lied.

Galvin turned away from him and went to the prep table, wrote out his ticket and set it on the board. Her recent order was up, and Sail watched her every move as she put the rightcondiments on each plate. He forced himself to not follow her out of fear she’d see him staring and find him creepy.

He chanced a look through the pass-through window and wondered if he still knew the cook. Chances were, he did. Unless people moved away, most of the Carter’s employees stuck around. The door opened. Sail held his breath, looked, and groaned.

“What are you doing here?” Penny asked as she came toward him.

“Hi to you, too.”

Penny held her wrist up and pointed to her watch. “Long weekend already?”

“Something like that,” Sail muttered as he picked up his straw and started peeling the paper back.

“Did you tell Jack and Pearl you were coming up?”

“Nah, I thought I’d surprise them.”

Penny huffed. “Great surprise. They’re not even in town.”

On the inside, Sail rejoiced. He had more time to figure things out before Jack laid down the law.

“Where are they?”

“New York. They went to meet Caroline’s parents.”

“Who?”

Penny rolled her eyes. “It’s like you don’t talk to your brother.”

He had three. Penny needed to be more specific.

Sail shook his head slightly. “Which brother?”

Penny sighed heavily and adjusted her shoulder bag. “Dune,” she said, as if exasperated by Sail already. “Caroline is Dune’s girlfriend?”

Now that she mentioned it, he faintly remembered Dune saying something about a girlfriend. Sail hadn’t paid much mind to it though, because Dune had a thing for tourists and usually bailed at the end of the season.

“This one stuck around?”

---