Page 1 of Hard To Leave

Chapter 1

Chloe

“Sweetie, table five is up,”Ree called from across the counter. My manager and her husband Dave owned the Seaside Café in Folly Beach, where I currently worked waiting tables. While we weren’t exactly right next to the sea as the name implied, the place was full of local character and served great food.

I had stumbled across this little-hidden gem seven months ago when I strolled through town on a random little trip meandering down the coastline. The second I walked through the doors of this charming, small-town diner, I knew it was exactly what I was looking for.

If you were to tell me ten years ago that this would be my life, I would never have believed you. I had goals and dreams just like every other teenage girl. I was going to attend college, become a nurse, and save the world. But getting knocked up at age twenty by my college sweetheart forced me to change direction. The idea of being a single mom and working as a waitress in a small town was never a part of my plan. But things happened that were beyond my control, and here I was, slinging hash and waiting tables. This may not have been what I set out to do, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I had my son, and that’s all that mattered.

The bells chimed over the café door as a couple more customers passed through. The lunch crowd was growing, and I couldn’t wait for this day to be over because my feet were already killing me.

I grabbed Mr. Johnson’s meal that just came out of the kitchen and delivered it to his table. He was one of our many regulars who came in every Wednesday at the same time. He sat at the same booth and ordered the same thing—bacon double cheeseburger, cooked well-done, with fries and a large Coke.

“Here you go, Mr. Johnson.” I smiled, placing the plate in front of him.

He set his newspaper down and reached up to remove his reading glasses. “Please, Chloe, call me Kevin. Mr. Johnson is my father, and I’d like to think I’m much better looking than him.” He had a deep southern drawl that I loved and a wedding band on his left finger that he liked to ignore. He was a columnist for a local newspaper who thought he was much more attractive than he actually was.

His lingering stare and obvious flirtation every time I waited on him suggested that he would like to do more than chat about his menu options. But there was nothing about his sweater vests or offers for weekly newspaper subscriptions that were only read by people over the age of sixty-five in this town that had me taking him seriously. Not to mention he was married.

“I’m sorry, Mr. John…I mean, Kevin,” I said, correcting my mistake and giving him a tip-worthy smile. I still had bills to pay and an extra mouth to feed. “Can I get you anything else?”

He broke out with a smile that was so wide, I could see the fillings on the bottom left side of his mouth. “No, that’s all for now. Thank you, beautiful.”

I gave him a polite grin, then made my way back over to the counter.

Kristen, the other waitress on duty, poked me on the side. “Holy shit…don’t be obvious,” she whispered into my ear. “There’s a hottie alert at table ten by the window.” I lifted my head, pretending to scan the restaurant for any customers needing a coffee refill. My eyes landed on a man about my age with dark blond hair that was practically hidden under a baseball cap. The lid was down so low that it was hard to see his face.

He was wearing a pair of gray sweatpants with a simple worn blue Oakley T-shirt, which was a dead giveaway that he was from up north. It was the end of February, still very much winter in South Carolina, and the weather called for a high of fifty degrees today. Anyone who was a local was wearing a long sleeve or a light jacket.

I peeled my eyes from the table and swung them back to Kristen. “Don’t get too excited; he’s probably just passing through town. The hot ones never stay for very long.”

We were only five miles off the main highway and halfway between Charleston and Hilton Head. The Seaside got a lot of travelers who would stop, especially during peak season, which was a couple months away.

“Nope. Not passing through.” She swung her head sideways. “He owns a house here. His daddy just passed away last week. Poor thing.”

“How do you know all this, detective?”

“It’s a small town, and unlike you, I keep up on all the gossip. It’s good for tips. Plus, have you seen that man? He’s hot.”

I looked over again and squinted my eyes, trying to see his face, but his ball cap was pulled too low, making it impossible to get a good look.

“I guess I’ll take your word for it.”

Kristen reached into her purse behind the counter and pulled out a tube of red lipstick. Just as she was about to apply it to her full bottom lip, her cell phone buzzed, alerting her to an incoming text. “Shit, I gotta take this. Looks like today is your lucky day,” she said with a tone of disappointment and shoved me toward Mr. Hottie’s table. “I’m taking my break. Be back in fifteen.”

She slid past me and rushed toward the exit.

I ran my hand down my apron as I approached the back booth. The stranger didn’t even look up. His nose was buried deep in his phone, and he was oblivious to the world around him.

“Hi, my name is Chloe,” I introduced myself loudly enough to get his attention. “I’ll be your server today. Can I start you off with something to drink while you look through the menu?”

His fingers continued to fly across his phone, feverishly texting without giving me an upward glance. “I’ll take a black coffee.”

His voice dipped in a way that I felt it all the way to my stomach.

Maybe it was because he lacked a smile; maybe it was because he looked so lost, or maybe I just felt sorry for him because I knew his father just passed away, but it was enough for me to take notice. I could almost feel his pain. His jaw clenched and moved in a way that further confirmed my suspicion.

I was obviously giving this way too much thought and probably making him feel uncomfortable, so I forced myself to walk away and retrieve his coffee.

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