Page 36 of Screwed

TEN

Iris

“Who’s ready for girls’night?” Lyla shouts as she comes in the front door of Blast From The Past.

I grin and laugh as she fist-bumps the air. I’m just getting ready to close up the shop but I know that she didn’t have to work today and I’m sure that’s why she’s here half an hour early.

“I didn’t hear anything about what the plan was for tonight. Where are we going tonight?” I ask her as I flip off the lights in the back and make sure that the door there is closed and locked before I head back up front.

“We thought that we would grab dinner and head to my place for a bit. Then we can go to a bar or something.”

She gives me a knowing look and wiggles her eyebrows at me. I laugh, rolling my eyes at her antics.

“So, you heard about me and Arlo then.”

“Yep,” she says with a wide grin.

“Things are going really well between us. We’ve only been out twice, but I really like him.”

I give her a quick rundown, hoping that it appeases her but I have a feeling that I’ll be answering questions about him and our dates all night. Lyla smiles, coming over to my side and wrapping her arm around my shoulder.

“I’m glad that you two finally admitted your feelings for each other,” she says sincerely and I rest my head on her shoulder, wrapping my arm around her waist and squeezing her side.

“Me too. I really like him,” I admit to her in a whisper.

“He really likes you too,” she promises me.

We pull apart a minute later and Lyla tells me about the latest tour at the Mystery Cabin. She tends to overexaggerate things but she’s always hilarious and I laugh as she tells me about some little kid bumping into a shelf and nearly knocking over an entire display of snow globes.

“I thought that Stan was going to have a heart attack!” She says and I laugh.

“Did he kick them out?”

“No, but the family obviously felt bad. I think that they bought like one of each thing and then they left in a hurry before the kid could get his hands on anything else breakable.”

I chuckle and turn off all of the lights as we head out the front door. I set the alarm and then lock it and shove the keys into my purse. When I turn around, I see Madelyn and Sutton heading down the sidewalk toward us.

“Hey, perfect timing, you two!” Sutton says.

“What are you guys hungry for?” Madelyn asks as she shoves her phone into her purse.

“Burgers?” Lyla suggests and we all nod.

“How about the Upside Diner?” I suggest and they nod.

“I’ll drive. You guys can leave your cars here,” Madelyn says and we climb into her car.

The Upside Diner is only a few blocks down the street so it doesn’t take us long to get there. The diner is more of a breakfast and lunch place so we have the place to ourselves as we head inside and take the booth in the back of the place.

Suzie, the owner of the diner, ambles over to us with her notepad in hand.

She has to be close to seventy. She’s been at this place for as long as I can remember and ever since her husband passed a few years ago, she’s been working more here. She says that it keeps her busy but it has to be tiring.

“Hey, girls, how’s it going?” She asks with a tired smile.

“Pretty good,” Madelyn answers for all of us.

“Do you know what you want?”

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