Chapter 6

Elle

The four boys didn’t shut up until their mouths were full. It was a relief to Elle when they finally brought out the orders and the boys could divert their attention to their food instead of to the waitresses.

“Ketchup,” one of the boys demanded through a mouthful of hamburger.

“Certainly,” Elle said, keeping a fake smile on her face as she went to get it.

As she returned, a new customer arrived. Kelly made a face. It had already been a long shift and the two girls still had a few more hours of dinner to get through before they could flip the sign and knock off for the night. Elle knew that every new customer was going to get that same grimace from Kelly and she considered sending her friend home and trying to take the dinner rush on her own. She had no doubt it had been a while since Kelly’s last night off, but she wasn’t sure she could handle the whole dinner on her own. They only had the five customers right now, but it might get a lot busier later.

She looked outside and already could see traffic picking up on the street as people clocked off work. It would be dark in half an hour too.

“Sit anywhere you like,” she said to the new customer, and then, looking up, got a proper look at him for the first time.

He was the exact opposite of the four boys she and Kelly had been dealing with for the last half hour. He was tall and broad, with dark stubble and a mess of hair. He seemed about thirty, and while the four at the table were definitely boys, this guy was all man. His arms were thick and muscular, each muscle perfectly defined as if it had been chiseled. His skin was tanned as if he lived near the beach. His eyes were deep, with just a hint of fine lines around the corners, showing that he smiled a lot. He seemed thoughtful too. Elle was good at reading people, and in this man she saw a depth that was rarely apparent on the face of a man his age. He looked back at Elle and without saying a word, took her cue and found himself a seat in her section.

He walked slowly but purposefully. He was a man who knew where he was going, even when he was unfamiliar with the place. And he was new to this place. Elle was sure of that much. The way he looked around, taking in all the salient details of the diner as if he might need them later. He was the kind of guy who liked to know where all the exits in a room were before he let himself get comfortable.

Takes one to know one, Elle thought to herself.

She suddenly felt as if the diner was empty, as if the four troublemakers were no longer there, as if Kelly and Grace were no longer there, and the only people in the room were her and the new guy. Forgetting to be subtle, she allowed her gaze to follow him to his seat. Then she almost tripped up, hurrying to grab him a menu before Kelly took him.

Kelly stopped her at the counter.

“Who’s that?” Elle hissed.

Kelly shrugged. “I’ve never seen him before.”

“He’s not a regular?”

“He’s new.”

Elle looked to Grace. “I don’t know either, but he’s caught your eye, hasn’t he?” Grace said.

“No he hasn’t,” Elle protested.

Grace smiled knowingly. “Sure he hasn’t.”

“I was just wondering if you knew him.”

Gracie looked over and squinted. Something inside her recognized something about the man, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. “I’m not sure,” she said at last.

Elle grabbed a menu and some cutlery.

“Just be careful,” Kelly whispered.

“Careful?”

“He looks, dangerous.”

“He does not look dangerous,” Elle responded, but as she walked over to the man’s table, she could feel her heart thumping in her chest. There was definitely something about him. Danger was one word. Smoldering was another. Knee-weakening might be another, if that was a word.

She cleared her throat as she reached his table. “How are you tonight?” she said, placing the menu in front of him.

He was sitting still, looking at a crumpled letter in his hands. He looked up at her as if she’d startled him out of his thoughts.

“Oh,” he said.

There was a moment’s awkward silence as Elle waited for him to answer the question before realizing that he hadn’t really heard it.

“You want something to drink? Coffee, beer, soda?”

“Coffee would be fine,” he said.

“Yeah,” Elle said. “Warm you up on a night like this.”

He smiled. She turned and ran, escaping from her own idiotic chit chat as much as from his presence. As she poured his coffee and got the cream and sugar she noticed that the diner had grown silent. At first she thought it was just in her head, but then she looked around her and realized. Kelly was standing behind the counter, surreptitiously watching the new guy as she pretended to roll cutlery in napkins. Gracie was letting onions burn as she watched him through the order window. Even the four troublemakers had shut up.

The place was silent, and the man was completely oblivious to the effect he’d had on the room.

Elle returned and put his mug down in front of him, followed by a spoon, some sugar packets, and a small jug of cream.

“You just get into town?” she said.

He nodded. She was holding the coffee pot in her hand and should have been pouring but something stopped her. She knew that as soon as she poured his coffee, she’d have no reason to stand there, next to him, and she wanted to stand there. She wanted to talk to him. She couldn’t have explained why.

“First time here?”

He let out a little laugh. “Actually, no,” he said. “This was home once.”

“You lived here?”

“I was born here.”

“So you’re back for a visit?”

“I guess so.”

“Family?”

He looked up into her eyes, and his gaze transfixed her. She felt like a deer caught in the gaze of a wolf. Something about the intensity of his stare, the power of it, robbed her of her ability to think. Her mind went blank.

“I guess that depends on how you define family.”

His face was like something out of a magazine, his jawline defined, his cheekbones high, his eyes deep and intense.

“What do you mean?” she faltered.

“Well, if by family you mean the people who love you and take care of you, then no, I’m not here to visit family.”

“I see,” she said, thinking about what he was trying to say. “And if by family I simply mean the people who brought you into the world?”

He smiled. “In that case, I suppose, yes. That’s who I’m here for.”

The man’s gaze dropped down to the letter, and Elle realized she was still holding the coffee pot. She began to pour the hot liquid into his mug. As she was pouring, without saying a word, the man reached out and touched her hand. It was a strange moment, an unusually tentative and affectionate gesture to show a stranger. It surprised Elle so much that she forgot to stop pouring, and the coffee overflowed the cup and spilled over the table and onto the man’s lap, burning him.

“Holy crap,” Elle said, snapping back to attention. “What am I doing?”

The coffee flowed over the edge of the table, onto the man’s jeans, and he had to stand up to stop it from burning him further.

“I’m so sorry,” Elle gasped.

The man shook his head. “No, it’s me. I don’t know what I was thinking. I shouldn’t have touched your hand. I wasn’t myself.”

He stuffed his hand into his pocket and pulled out a five dollar bill, which he threw on the table.

“No, it’s all right,” Elle said. “I don’t mind.”

But he was already gone, striding across the diner and out the door. It took Elle a moment to gather her wits, then she hurried back over to the counter for a cloth to wipe up the mess.

“What was that all about?” Kelly said.

Elle stopped. She looked at Kelly for a moment. “You know what?” she said. “I have no idea.”