Page 44 of Dallas

Hard to believe that I’m here now with Sarah.

Yeah. It’s all pretty damned hard to believe.

I order us two cheeseburgers, two orders of sweet potato fries, and two chocolate milkshakes, and I’m going to leave Gloria a tip that totals the cost of the whole meal, she can’t stop me.

Sarah takes a bite of the burger, her eyes rolling back in her head. “This is delicious,” she says.

“Yeah. Best in town. There are some fancier places, but to me, nothing beats this.”

It might be the nostalgia. There’s so much tied up in this place. It’s where we ate after Dad and I decided to become a real family. It’s where my name was written after graduation. Where I sat with friends who became even better friends, and went on my first date in town. Showing this to her is pretty much the best I can do as far as sharing the life that I’ve been living since we lost each other.

“I just have a lot of memories here.”

“It’s great.” She takes a bite of one of her sweet potato fries and chews thoughtfully. “I had a good day at work. Thanks for asking.”

“Sorry. I had an overprotective older brother moment.”

The words feel a little bit… off. Like I might be lying, but I don’t mean to lie. And I can’t think what else I would mean. What else it is.

I don’t think about it too deeply. I just take another bite of my hamburger.

“Tell me about it,” I say.

“You decided to be weird and controlling instead of asking me how my day at work went, you were rude to Colt?—”

“That’s not what I mean. And I think you know that. I mean, how was work?”

“Oh. It was good. Sammy makes all the jewelry in her store, which is really cool. And she does this permanently installed jewelry, and that’s something she’s going to teach me how to do. I got to watch her do a bracelet for someone today. It was interesting. It’s definitely different than working at an auto parts store.”

“That’s great.”

“I think so,” she says.

But I’m still going over my reaction to Colt talking to her. It was me being overprotective. Because I do know her. And I think that’s reasonable.

I’mtotallyreasonable.

We finish dinner, and I leave a stack of cash on the table. “This is the opposite of a dine and dash,” I say. “We’ve got to get out of here before she realizes we paid.”

I jump up from the table quickly, and Sarah follows me. She does an exaggerated sneak once we get out the door and onto the sidewalk, and I smile at her ridiculousness. I pretty much forget everything that happened with Colt after that.

Because it doesn’t really matter anyway. She’s fine. That’s what’s important.

It’s the only thing that matters.

Chapter Eleven

Sarah

I hear Dallas come in and decide it’s time to tell him we have plans for the evening.

“I think you’re legally obligated to watch The Hobbit with me tonight.”

“I think I’m not.”

I look up from the kitchen table, where I’ve been working on some homework for one of my classes. It’s been a week of working at Sammy’s, of being with Dallas, I’m feeling like my nervous system might actually be settling down.

Nothing has been weird since that incident with Colt, when Dallas was acting like my angry older brother.

---