Booths filled the windows and a row of stools lined a long counter.
“Seat yourself!” a lady with a puff of cotton candy gray hair told us, a coffeepot in one hand and a plate in the other. The waitresses here all wore pink-striped uniforms. The youngest couldn’t have been a day under sixty.
We slid into opposite sides of a booth. “A place like this would be super trendy in LA,” I said. “You’d probably find the most high-dollar actors in it.”
“Actually, I went to one while I was there, the morning after the party. With Dylan Wolf.”
“Seriously? Dylan Wolf?” I couldn’t hold back my surprise.
“Yeah, apparently he’s the one who got the Sonic Kings that gig. I guess I owe him one.”
I guessed we both did.
One of the waitresses dropped two coffee cups on the table and filled them without asking a single question. I looked at the mug, frowning.
“What, no coffee for the kid?” he asked, a lazy smile breaking across his face.
“I honestly have no idea,” I said. “But I have a feeling it’s out.”
Chance waved the waitress back over. “We got a pregnant lady over here,” he said, and grinned when the woman looked me over with a motherly gesture. “Bring her something good for the baby.”
“You still feeling sick, honey?” she asked. “You don’t look like you have an extra ounce on you.”
“Pretty much,” I said. “Just the smell of bacon is making me never want to eat again.”
“Poor little mite,” she said, and patted my shoulder. “I’ll bring you some plain toast and jelly, a soft-scrambled egg, and some juice.”
She took off without even asking Chance what he wanted.
“I see where I stand in the picture,” he said.
I relaxed again. This roller coaster was making me crazy, but I would hold on to the good moments with both hands.
“So tell me about your family,” Chance said. “Sounds like your mother is close by.”
I nodded. “I was born in San Diego, and she still lives there. My dad moved to Florida. They divorced when I was fairly young.” I, too, hesitated on the hard part. “After my little brother died.”
Chance’s eyes snapped to meet mine. “What happened?”
“He had seizures all his life. They couldn’t control them. It was pretty scary as a kid, watching him have them all the time. Then when he was eight, he had a big one, a bad one. They got him breathing and all again, but his brain was shot. Mom and Dad had to take him off life support. I think that’s what got to them. It’s not an easy thing to recover from.”
Chance pulled one of the mugs of coffee close to him and stared into the steam. “How old were you?”
“About ten.” I took in a deep breath. “I don’t really talk about this; not even my friends know about Bryan. It’s not easy for me to talk about.”
“Were you close to him?”
“When we were little. Then I got scared a lot. It wasn’t easy to see him struggle.” I picked up the napkin rolled around the silverware and fiddled with the paper band.
“Must have been hard.”
“It was. And I have a lot of regrets. So I don’t talk about him.”
Chance looked up again then and met my gaze. “Why would you have any regrets?”
“My parents wanted me to be there when they…when they turned off the machines. They thought it would be good for me to say good-bye when it was time. For closure. But I wouldn’t do it. I threw a tantrum. I refused.”
“You were just a kid.”
“I know.” I plucked the paper ribbon off the silverware, no longer able to hold Chance’s intense gaze. “But I should have been there. I should have been more brave.”
The waitress returned and slid a plate in front of me. “Take it slow,” she said. “Let me know if you need anything else.” She took off again, still not taking Chance’s order.
We both gave a nervous laugh. “I can spare a triangle of toast,” I said.
“Stealing food from my own baby,” he said. “Now what kind of man would I be?”
I picked up a piece, simultaneously starving and queasy, and took a timid bite. When it seemed okay, I added a sip of juice.
“I guess I could bring her back and order a full breakfast and just turn it over to you,” I said.
He shrugged. “She’ll figure it out.” Then his face got serious. He looked out the window, watching people walk by.
My heart squeezed. Something was going on with him. I wasn’t sure if it was about the baby, or my brother, or his sister.
His voice was scratchy when he spoke again. “I think maybe I left town so that I wouldn’t have to be here when it happened.”
My appetite fled. I knew he meant Hannah. I reached across the table for his hand. “It’s okay. I get it.”
He shook his head. “It’s not okay. I’m a grown man. I should be able to deal with this.”