Page 55 of Callahan

“Does she know I’m coming?”

“Yeah.”

“And she was okay with that?”

He cocked his head and drew out, “Yeeaah. Why?” as he stared at me suspiciously.

“She was upset earlier,” I quickly added, “you know, because of the letter.”

“And what about the letter would make her not wantyouto come over?”

“I didn’t say she didn’t want me to come over.”

“You kind of implied it.”

My voice went up an octave, and I let out a nervous laugh. “No, I didn’t!”

“Yeah, you did.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re acting weird. Did something happen between you two?”

“What? No! Of course not!”

He stared at me a beat before flatly stating, “I don’t believe you.”

Get it together, man!

With a shrug, I replied, “That’s your prerogative. So, what’s good at the Golden Dragon?”

~~~~

Brian pulled his Northsky Blue Metallic Chevy Silverado onto a side street off Main, and a red neon sign that read, “Golden Dragon” quickly came into view.

After he shut the truck off, I debated about staying in the cab, self-conscious about my appearance. I worried what the restaurant employees might think about my two black eyes.

Brian opened his door and noticed I hadn’t moved my hand toward the passenger handle.

“You comin’?”

I pointed to my face. “I think I should stay here.”

“Oh you can’t do that. Everyone in town knows about what happened to you. You’re like a celebrity now; you have to go inside and make an appearance.”

I wasn’t sure I believed him, but I hopped out of the Silverado anyway.

Everything Brian said was confirmed when we walked into the Chinese restaurant and werebothimmediately greeted by name by the lady behind the counter whose nametag read “Pam”.

“Brian! Adam! Good to see you! Let me go check on your order.”

I murmured under my breath, “I can’t believe she knows my name without having ever met me.”

Brian responded with a loud laugh.

“You said you grew up in a small town, dude.”

“Maybe Lancastle isn’t as small as I thought. Damn.”

“Wait ‘til you order next time and it’s different from what you get tonight. You’ll be quizzed about what was wrong with the lo mein and why you didn’t order it again.”

“Okay, that’s just weird. The waitress at the diner this morning remembered what I orderedthe first timeI was there, the morning I met you. And how will these guys know which order from tonight is mine?”

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