“It was,” he said, sighing. Regret was all over his face.
I fished out my keys and unlocked the front door under the lights of Taylor’s truck. Once I was inside and the door was locked, Taylor backed into the street and drove away.
I stood in the dim dining area, alone and confused. Eakins had other secrets, more than just mine.
Six days.
Taylor or anyone from his crew, including the now mysterious Trex, hadn’t been to The Bucksaw Café in six days. I had gone over what I’d said until my thoughts were sick of themselves.
I tapped on the counter with what little nails I had while chewing on a cuticle on my other hand. Most of the time, not having a phone was liberating, but now that I wanted to Google something, I felt an impulsive need to go out and buy one.
“I thought you were going to quit that,” Phaedra said, walking by with a tubful of dirty dishes.
I pulled my finger out of my mouth, the skin around my nail white and torn. “Damn it.”
Kirby stood by the drink station, picking up clean cloths for wiping down tables even though she hadn’t seated anyone in twenty minutes. Only the loyal regulars were in their seats, ignoring the pouring rain outside.
“Do you have your phone?” I asked Kirby.
She pulled it from her apron. “Yeah. Why?”
“I want to look something up. Can I use it?”
Kirby granted my request. The hot-pink case meant to protect her phone felt bulky in my hand. The days when I’d had a cell phone were so far behind me that it felt like a former life, but the screen looked the same. The icon for the Internet was easy to find.
I clicked on it and proceeded to type in the words, Fire in Eakins, Illinois.
The first page was full of links to articles about the local college. I clicked on the first one, reading about dozens of college kids who had been killed while trapped in a basement of one of the campus buildings. I shuddered at images of sooty faces, looking just like Taylor’s the first day I’d met him. The name Travis Maddox came up more than a dozen times. He was being investigated for being present at the fight. I wondered why, out of all the students present, Travis and one other man were the only two mentioned to be facing charges.
“What is it?” Kirby asked, sensing my unease.
“I don’t know yet,” I said, looking up to scan my tables.
“Falyn! Order up!” Chuck called.
I set down the phone and breezed by the food window. I had perfected fitting plates onto a tray years ago. Only a few seconds were spent loading entrees before continuing to the dining area.
“Ta-da,” I said, standing over my favorite regular, Don.
Don sat up tall, setting his tea down and giving me plenty of room to situate his meal.
“Do me a favor, and cut into that steak, handsome.”
He nodded, his shaking hands carving into the thick meat. He hummed a, “Yes,” and then brought the fork to his mouth.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “How is it?”
He hummed again, chewing. “You’re my favorite, Falyn.”
“You’re mine, but you knew that.” I winked at him and then walked over to the drink station.
The sky was dark outside, and the sidewalks were wet with the intermittent rain that had been falling since mid-morning. Crap weather meant less butts in the seats and less tips in our pockets.
Phaedra brought in a stack of freshly sanitized menus from the back before setting them in a rectangular wicker basket. She crossed her tan arms, her skin leathered from years in the sun. “I’m not going to curse the rain. We needed the rain.”
“Yes, we did,” I said.
“Maybe that will help your boy with those fires.”
“We’re going to need a lot more rain than this. And he’s not my boy. I haven’t seen him in a week.”
“He’ll be back.”
I shook my head, breathing out a laugh. “I don’t think so.”
“Did you get into a fuss?”
“No. Not really. Kind of. We ran into my parents. Eakins was brought up. There was a misunderstanding.”
A knowing smile lit up Phaedra’s face. “He figured out you were using him?”
“What? No. I’m not using him,” I said, guilt washing over me.
“You’re not, huh?”
“I’m … renting him. He doesn’t have to take me if he doesn’t want to. I’m not being fake. I’m being pretty damn mean actually.”
Phaedra watched me try to talk my way out of the hole my words were digging. “So, why did he quit coming around?”
“I think he thinks I’m somehow involved in an investigation of his little brother.”
“What in the Sam Hades? Where did that come from?”
I blew my bangs from my face. “It’s a long story.”
“They always are.”
I felt her watching me as I made my way out to the main dining area.
“More soda?” I asked the woman at table twelve.
She shook her head, waved me away, and I moved on to the next patron.
The sky opened up, and huge drops began dive-bombing the street and sidewalk. They were bouncing off so hard that they scattered after impact, appearing like steam hovering over the concrete.
“It’s getting ugly out there,” I said to Don. “Want me to call Michelle to have her pick you up?”
Don shook his head. “Don’t want her getting the grandbabies out in this. They’re my great-grands, you know. They call me Papa.”
“I know,” I said with a warm smile. “They’re lucky ducks. I would have loved to have you as my papa.”
He chuckled. “You do. Why in heaven’s name do you think I come to visit you every day?”
I gently touched his back with my fingers. “Well, maybe just eat your cheesecake a little slower. Hopefully, the rain will ease up.”
I bent down to kiss his cheek, his jowl sinking under my lips. The smell of his aftershave and his scratchy stubble were two of a hundred things I loved about this man.