Page 61 of Bending Under Pressure

“Midnight as usual.” His eyes are still looking on my lips, though.

Anxious, I look up at the canopy of branches above me. Keelan shifts next to me to do the same. He grabs my hand, interlocking our fingers, and rests them on his stomach. I close my eyes to enjoy the entirety of the moment. Is it weird that moments with Keelan always seem perfect? All we’re doing is lying in a hammock, swinging gently, and relaxing.

After a few minutes, I feel Keelan’s forehead pressed against my temple. My heart begins to gallop. His nose brushes my ear and this his lips move against my skin.

“Let’s go to Elsie’s.”

I open my eyes to blink twice. What? His sentence replays in my head. “Why?”

“Because I can’t stop thinking about Cam and Jess and Mrs. Elsie is the cure.”

“You’re that worried?”

He nods. “I know how Cam is and I know Jess can be a little crazy, so yeah, I’m worried. Do you want to go?”

“Me? Turn down Elsie’s?” I laugh. “Let’s go.”

This time, he is the one who kisses me quickly. “You’re the best.”

Ten minutes later, I’m still wearing a goofy grin as we walk into Elsie’s. We take a seat at the counter and are both surprised to see Mrs. Elsie sitting down as well. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her sitting, or so still. She smiles from ear to ear when we sit next to her.

“How are you two doing?”

“We’re doing okay,” Keelan answers.

Mrs. Elsie snaps her fingers twice. “Ash,” she calls out toward the kitchen. “Order for a banana split.” She slides her eyes over to us. “Right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replies. “How are you doing? You never stop working.”

Mrs. Elsie bristles. “Can’t an old lady take a break? It’s a slow afternoon, anyway.” She rests her chin in her hand, looking rather bored. When a girl, who I assume is Ash, brings us a banana split, Mrs. Elsie’s eyes light up as she turns toward us.

“What have you lovebirds been up to today?”

“We came here not to think about it,” Keelan laughs.

Her face falls. “Oh, dear. That doesn’t sound good. Want me to tell you stories from when I was your age?”

“Yes,” I quickly tell her. I can’t imagine what she was like in high school.

“Well, I had quite the scandal going on around town.” I gasp and she laughs. “My two best friends were twin brothers, and I was selfish and foolish. I dated both of them.”

“At the same time?” I ask incredulously.

“No, but I went back and forth quite a bit. I was an attention whore.” I gasp again at hearing her use that term. Sweet Mrs. Elsie saying whore? Who is this woman? “And then, on our last day of senior year, one of them came up to me. He told me they had decided to walk away from me because I was ruining their relationship. He said unless it was a forever kind of thing to choose once and for all or leave them alone.”

“So what happened?” I lean forward, ignoring that Keelan is between us, and I focus on her, waiting for her response.

“They broke my heart.” She gives me a sad smile. “My daddy made me work here that summer. No one agreed with how I treated them, but in their own way, I loved them both. They left for college. It was hard to be without them. However, it also made me realize how much I’d screwed up because I did love one of them in a forever kind of way. It wasn’t until he came home after he graduated that I made my move.

“I loved the diner so much, I never left. I went to the community college to take business classes because I wanted to take over whenever my daddy was ready to hand over the reins. It was so scary because I didn’t know anything about what was going on with them.”

“Well? What happened already?”

Mrs. Elsie laughs. “Don’t rush me, child.” Just then, an elderly man steps out from the kitchen. Mrs. Elsie’s eyes light up. “I eventually married him. Isn’t that right, dear?”

He swipes away sweat as he comes to stand next to her. “Don’t tell the kids about your scandals, Elsie. Are you feeling better now that you’ve rested?”

Keelan perks up at this. “You told us you were taking a break because it’s slow,” he accuses.

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