“Ah, don’t listen to anything this boy says, pretty lady.” Johnny winked at me. “He’s just jealous and wishes he could cook like me. Two orders, kid?” Johnny nudged Ryder in the shoulder. What did Johnny mean—cook like him?
“Thanks, man.” Ryder tilted his chin in acknowledgement.
“Sure, sure. You going to introduce me to your friend here, or should I introduce myself?”
“Johnny, this is Bailey, a…a…uhm…” Ryder looked at me with wide eyes. He didn’t know what to introduce me as. A friend? A girlfriend? A fake girlfriend?
“A friend from school.” I smiled and answered for him. It was the simplest explanation.
“Uh-huh…Bailey? I’ve heard—” Johnny started to say something, but Ryder cut him off.
“Bailey, this is Johnny. He’s the cook here most days. And my very busy boss who should be back there behind the grill and not out here annoying the customers.” Ryder stared at Johnny. I looked between them both and tried to work out what was going on. Johnny had a small smirk on his face as if he was hiding something. Ryder was glaring at him with a clenched jaw.
“Well, it was great to meet you, pretty Bailey, but you heard the kid. I got burgers to fry.” He smiled and walked off back toward the kitchen, whistling the tune from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to work I go.
I turned to Ryder, and he winced slightly. “Sorry about him. He can be a real fu—”
“It’s okay. I liked him. So you work here, huh?” I didn’t even know he had a job.
“Yeah, I started here a few years ago as a way of paying for the damage I caused. But then drama happened and the cash came in handy, so I stayed. It’s a good place. Johnny is the greatest,” he said, somewhat cryptically.
“Damage?” I asked, but I was more interested in knowing about the drama.
“Yeah, here.” He moved the napkin holder and the small tray holding the sugar jar and salt and pepper out of the way. He lifted the ketchup and mustard bottles and pointed at the table. I leant in closer to see what he was showing me, and that was when I saw Ryder’s name carved into the green Formica tabletop.
It was rough and jagged, like he’d been using a blunt knife, but it was there. And so was the heart directly under his name. I didn’t know if the heart was from him or if someone had added to it later. It wasn’t carved as deep as his name.
“Ryder loves?” I smirked at him, waiting for him to respond.
“Ah, no one. It was a long time ago. I was a stupid kid with a stupid crush.” If I wasn’t mistaken, his cheeks turned a soft shade of pink. Oh my God. I made Ryder Jones blush.
“Okay. But I thought you had to fix the damage. It’s still there.”
“No, I said I had to pay for the damage, not fix it. Johnny decided to leave it there as a reminder to me of…of…” He trailed off, not wanting to discuss it further. It was obviously a touchy subject, so I decided not to push it.
“And you make the best burgers in the state, huh?”
“Hell yeah, I do. You’ll see one day. I’ll cook for you.” He smiled widely. I had no choice but to smile back. When he smiled that big and that brightly, it was like a force of nature. You couldn’t help but feel happy, too.
“I like to see you smile, Bailey. You should do it more.”
“I don’t have a lot to smile about these days, Ryder. Except you,” I told him honestly.
“Well then, I’m just going to have to work harder to get you to smile more then.” He stared at me for a moment while I tried to figure out what he was thinking—why he would care if I smiled or not. I was no one to him. We hadn’t spoken in years until that day in the parking lot last year.
“Ryder, sweetie, it’s good to see you.” A voice interrupted our staring match. I jerked back in surprise, not even noticing I had been staring straight back at him.
“Hi, Julie. This is—” Ryder sat back and smiled at the waitress, who was carrying two plates, each loaded with a burger and fries.
“Bailey. I know. I heard.” She smiled and set a plate down in front of me before doing the same for Ryder. I didn’t miss the sneaky wink she gave him as she turned to the table behind us. Ryder blushed. Ew! She was old enough to be his mother.
“So she’s…?” I started to ask him, but I didn’t know what I wanted to ask. I knew Ryder had a reputation with the girls at school, but did it go beyond that? Did it extend to older women as well? Surely not!
“She’s Johnny’s wife. They own this place,” he said, taking a bite out of his burger.
“Oh right. What was with the wink?” I decided just to throw it out there and ask, hoping that it meant nothing.
“You saw that, huh?”
I nodded and placed a fry in my mouth while I waited for him to explain.
“That was, uhm…nothing. Johnny’s got a big mouth. He would have run straight out the back to Julie and told her I was here with a cute girl, that’s all.” Ryder shrugged and continued eating his burger. Johnny’s eyes did light up when Ryder introduced me. Like he was shocked that Ryder had brought a girl or something.
Ryder thought I was cute?
“Try your burger, Bailey,” Ryder said as I picked up another fry. I dropped the fry and rolled my eyes at him before grabbing the burger and taking a huge bite. I almost moaned, it was so good. No, scratch that. I did moan.
“Oh my God.” My eyes rolled back into my head as I chewed slowly, savouring the taste of the juicy burger.
“Good?” Ryder asked with a cheeky smile on his face.
“So good,” I mumbled through another bite.
“Damn, I can’t wait for you to try mine then.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“Shut up.” I laughed and threw a fry at him, which he somehow managed to catch in his mouth.
After we’d finished eating and said goodbye to Johnny and Julie, Ryder grabbed my hand and dragged me outside.
“I want to show you something.” He started running, pulling me along behind him. We ran down the side of the Roadhouse and around the back to a field.
“Ryder, where are we going?” I asked, pulling him to a stop. It was dark out, and the smell of grass was tickling my nose. As I looked around the open area, there was nothing but a water tower.
“There.” Ryder pointed to the tower and pulled on my arm again. We ran through the grass into the quiet night. The only sounds I could hear was our heavy breathing and the crickets chirping in the distance. When we reached the tower, I turned to look at Ryder. He was smiling like a kid at Christmas.
“Come on.” He started climbing the ladder that led to the top of the water tower. Uh…no, I don’t think so. I wasn’t afraid of heights or anything. I was scared of falling to my death. “Bailey, come on. It’s safe. You’ll be okay,” he called down to me when he realised I wasn’t climbing after him. I stared up at him, and he stared down at me. I heard him sigh before starting to climb back down.
“I’m sorry, but it’s dark, and what if I fall?” I said as he jumped off the ladder to land in front of me.