When I pull into the diner, I look over at Avery and she smiles. “Bucket list,” I say, and she laughs.
“Technicality. We’ve had breakfast here before.”
“You’re right, we have. What we haven’t done is wake up in the same bed together and have breakfast for breakfast. Bucket list,” I say again.
Avery shakes her head before climbing out of the truck. I catch up with her just before she reaches the door and I open it for her. One hand on the small of her back, we enter the diner. It’s not busy yet, since most people are still at church.
I lead us to a booth in the back.
“I’m starving. It smells so good,” she says, picking up a menu.
“Order one of everything,” I tell her.
“Right. I’m hungry but no way can I eat all of that.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
She studies her menu. “I’m thinking the farmer’s breakfast. Although the French toast looks good too.”
“I’ll get that so you can have some of both.” I don’t bother looking at the menu.
“Dylan, get what you want.”
“I’m trying to do just that.”
Her head lifts and she studies me. “We said slow.”
“We did. However, that doesn’t change how I want things to go. You’re what I want, Avery.”
“Welcome, can I start you off with coffee or orange juice?” the waitress asks.
“Just water for me, and I think we’re ready to order.” She looks over at me for confirmation and I nod. “I would like the farmer’s breakfast. Eggs scrambled, with wheat toast.”
“I’ll have a large order of French toast with strawberries on the side and water to drink.”
The waitress rushes off to put our order in.
“You don’t eat strawberries on your French toast.”
“I know, but you do.”
She shakes her head as if she can’t believe that I would still know something like that about her. I’ve never forgotten a minute of my time with her.
“So, you’re working at the shop with your dad?”
“Yeah, we pretty much run the place together these days. I’ve learned a lot about running the business. Of course, college helped.”
“College?” she asks, surprised.
“Yeah, I went to community. Took me three and a half years to get my associate’s in business, but I wanted to…”
“Wanted to what, Dylan?”
I guess I need to start filling her in slowly. “I never thought I was good enough for you, Avery. I’m a small-town mechanic, not smart enough for college. I wanted to do it to have an education, to help Dad run the business. It’s going to be mine someday, and I wanted to make sure I knew what the hell I was doing. I can fix cars all day, but the other stuff, payroll and taxes, I had no clue. I wanted to make sure I could provide for you, for our family, if one day I was ever lucky enough for you to be mine again. I wanted to be ready.”
She’s quiet. I don’t know what she’s thinking because she’s looking at her hands that are folded in front of her on the table.
“Hey,” I say, reaching out to lift her chin. What I find takes my breath. There are tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Aves. I’m not trying to hurt you. Shit!” I start to climb out of the booth so I can comfort her.
“Dylan.” I stop and look at her. “I’m fine. I’m just processing. You have to give me a minute.” She grabs a napkin and wipes her eyes while I scoot back in the booth. “I never saw you like that, Dylan. Not once did I not see a guy who was loving and attentive. You made me happy, Dylan. That’s all that matters. It’s not your job to support me. It’s our job to support each other. I want someone I can lean on through life, so when I fall I know without a doubt that person is there to catch me. That’s what I always saw in you, in us.”
“I thought maybe you felt like you had to give up your scholarship because I didn’t get one.” I hang my head at my admission. It’s not one I’ve spoken until now.
“Dylan, I loved you so much that the thought of not seeing you every day killed me inside. You were my heart. It had nothing to do with your education and everything to do with the fact that I loved you too much to move away from you.”
“Yeah, but look at you. You’re graduated with a job already lined up. You’re kicking ass and taking names.”
“I could’ve done that staying local too. Only difference is that I would’ve had you by my side every step of the way. Instead I mourned what we had. I dated, but I compared them all to you. No one ever lived up to the way you were with me, to me.”
“I feel like I should apologize for that, but I’d be lying.”
She smiles. “I’m proud of you, Dylan.”
“Here you go,” the waitress interrupts as she delivers our food.
I add syrup to only half of the plate; I know she likes the flavor from the strawberries better without it. I spoon a little of the strawberries onto the corner of one piece and cut off the French toast. “Taste,” I say, holding my hand under the fork and offering it to her for a bite. She hesitates for only seconds before she leans in and wraps those soft lips around my fork. I could watch her eat all day.
“Yum.” She smiles. “Try mine.” She scoops up some eggs and hash brown and offers it to me.” I take my time letting the fork slide past my lips, watching as she swallows hard. Good to know she’s just as affected as I am.
“How’s your dad?”
“He’s Dad, you know. Staying busy at the shop. I’ve learned a lot from him. We’re actually restructuring a few things. He’s taking my input to heart, which is a good thing.”
“That’s great. He knows you’re his ace.” I raise my eyebrows in question and she continues. “He knows what he has with you. Sure, you’re his son, but you’re smart and you care about the business. I’m sure with your degree you’re now a double threat, and he’s taking full advantage of that.”
“I’ve missed you, Avery.”
She takes a sip of water. “Me too.”
We spend the rest of our meal dealing in small talk. I pay the bill even though she tries to argue. “Let’s get you home.” I walk her to the truck and open the door for her. The ride to her parents’ place is filled with more small talk, but I’m okay with that. She’s nervous and, to be honest, so am I. This is my one shot to win her back, after all.
“I always loved that house.” She points at a two-story with a wraparound porch.
“I know.” I smile over at her.
“Mom said it was only on the market for a day before it sold. I wonder who’s going to be living there.”
I wasn’t going to tell her yet, but I refuse to lose her from keeping something as small as this from her. Hell, I have a laundry list of things to confess; I don’t need to add another. “I am,” I finally say.
She turns to look at me. “You? You bought the old Hampton place?”
“I did,” I say cautiously. I can’t tell if she’s mad or not.
“Why?”
“You love that house.”
“Dylan,” she breathes.
“That was last July, almost a year ago.”
I can hear the wheels turning in her head while she tries to work this out.
“You said you still lived with your dad.”
“I do.”
“So it’s a rental?”
“No.”
“Why are you not living there?” she asks.
I pull into her driveway and turn to face her. “I know you love that house, Avery. You used to talk about it all the time. I bought it for the chance that one day you and I might be able to live there together, as a family.”
“What happens if this”—she points between us—“doesn’t work? Then what, Dylan? You can’t just buy a house for the off chance that we might get back together.”
“I did. We’re going to work out, Aves.”
“Dylan! You don’t know that. I’m being serious.”
“Then we can sell it, burn it, you can live there, I don’t care. I’m not going to live there without you.”
“You know that sounds crazy, right? I mean, you pay a mortgage and don’t even live there.”
“I put a lot of money down, so the mortgage payment isn’t even enough to call it that. More like a car payment.”
“But you don’t live there,” she says again.
“Not without you.”
“That was almost a year ago.”
“It was.”
“What if I was with someone?”
“It was a chance I was willing to take.”
She’s quiet for several minutes. “I don’t know what to say, Dylan.”
“Don’t say anything. You know why I bought it, you know what I want. You take your time getting there with me.”
“Dylan—”
I hold my hand up to cut her off. “I’ll fight for you, Aves. Until you can look me in the eye and tell me you don’t want me, that you don’t love me anymore, I will fight for you. I don’t care if it takes six days, six months, or six years.”
She nods, then reaches for the door handle.
“Aves, do you have the same cell number?”
“No. I changed it when I left for Western.”
“Can I have your number?”
She holds her hand out for my phone. I hand it over. “I need your passcode.” She tries to hand it back.
“It’s your birthday.”
She stops, closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath. When she opens them again, her hands shake as she types in the digits to her birthday. When the phone unlocks, she looks up and shakes her head. Looking back at the screen, she freezes. I know what she sees. It’s a picture of us at the cabin—my favorite. She’s smiling so wide her whole face lights up. I’m staring at her, a look of wonder on my face.
She taps on my contacts and enters her contact information.
“Send yourself a text,” I tell her.
“I don’t want to get into your messages.”
“I have nothing to hide from you, Avery. There are a few more things I need to tell you, but none of them are bad.” Her fingers fly across the screen and I hear her phone beep in her pocket. “I’ll help with your bag,” I say once she hands me back my phone. I quickly hop out of the truck and grab her bag from the back seat, then follow her up the sidewalk and onto the front porch. “Thank you.”
“For? You’re the one who bought breakfast. I should be thanking you. Thank you,” she says with a hint of a smile.
“For last night, for letting me stay and hold you. For today, letting me take you to breakfast. For agreeing to give me a shot, no matter how slow we have to go.”
“There have been a lot of revelations in the last twenty-four hours.”
I chuckle. “That there has. I’ll be in touch. I’d like to take you out.”
“We agreed to go slow, Dylan.”
“I know, but we have to date, right? In the meantime, you need me, you call, text, carrier pigeon—whatever you have to do. I’m there.”
“Goodbye, Dylan.”
“Bye, Aves.” I wait until she’s in the house, just like I always used to, before turning to leave.
I drive home in a daze. It almost feels like I’ve been living a dream. I can only hope that dreams really do come true.