Page 61 of First Love, Second Draft

“Well...” Okay. It wasn’t the cheeriest of places. But still. He shouldn’t be eating his meals locked up in his room. “They’re still getting you up into your wheelchair throughout the day, right? Do I need to come up there and talk to someone?”

“Honey, I’m fine. Sometimes Shorty and I just prefer keeping our own company in the morning.”

“All right. But remember you’ve still got to get out and about. You can’t just stare at those same four walls all day, every day.”

“I know, I know. Don’t you worry about me. You just focus on Noah for now. I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up before she could respond.

Focus on Noah. Right.She turned off the burner and stared at her eggs. This new project stole her appetite worse than her previous deadline.

35

Noah was starving. He dug into the Western omelet Lyla had just delivered. His left elbow banged into Matt’s right elbow as they both attempted to lift a forkful of food to their mouths. “Tell me again why we’re all sitting on the same side of the booth.”

Abe, smashed between Noah’s right shoulder and the wall, spoke around a mouthful of biscuits and gravy as The Everly Brothers belted out “Wake Up Little Susie” from a speaker system above their booth. “Yeah, kind of wondering that too.”

“Because I don’t want anyone overhearing what I say,” Matt whispered.

“What did he say?” Abe said.

“He doesn’t want anyone overhearing,” Noah repeated.

“Shhh. Keep your voice down,” Matt whispered. “Plus sitting like this keeps our backs to the entrance.”

“What did he say?” Abe said.

“Oh shoot, I meant to ask for ketchup,” Noah said.

“He wants ketchup?” Abe said. “I thought he ordered pancakes.”

Noah lifted a finger to grab Lyla’s attention. “Ketchup,” he mouthed to her across the diner. “Okay, but why did we have to wait until our food arrived to talk about whatever it is you need to talk about?”

“Because I wanted to act natural,” Matt said. “Like we had nothing more important to talk about than the weather.”

“What? Weather? I already told you it’s supposed to be sunny all week.” A glob of gravy slid off Abe’s fork and landed on his tie. “Aw, nuts. I promised Lizzy I’d keep this one clean.”

“So what’s this top secret conversation then?” Noah thanked Lyla for the ketchup and squeezed the bottle over his hash browns.

“Do you think water will get the stain out or just make it worse?” Abe dabbed a wet napkin at his tie.

“I’m scared Rachel’s sister’s ex-boyfriend is going to come after her.”

“I should’ve worn a bib.”

“Why?” Noah dug back into his omelet.

“She dumped a glass of beer over his head.”

Abe leaned over his plate to look at Matt. “What’s that about beer? Does it get rid of gravy stains?”

“Okay. Enough.” Noah shooed Matt out of the booth. “I don’t think anybody’s going to hear us over The Everly Brothers, and I’ll take my chances against any assassins attacking my back at Lyla’s Diner.”

Noah slid into the other side of the booth and tugged his plate in front of him. “There. Much better. Now what’s going on with Rachel? Why’d she dump beer on some guy’s head?”

“Because he stole money from her, and she was mad.”

Noah shrugged. “As good a reason as any.”

“I kind of wish Lizzy would just dump beer on my head whenever she was mad,” Abe said, scrubbing his tie. “That way I’d know, you know? No guesswork. No silent treatment. Just lick the beer off my chin, say sorry, and try again with a clean tie.”

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