Page 23 of Up All Night
“Land, Denver. Land. Property values.” Tammy shook her head, making me feel every hour of the GED classes I’d managed a few years back. “This place is worth far more as developable land than this old building with a too-big parking lot. They could likely get six townhomes or more here. If the kids opt to fold, we’ll all be out on our ears.”
“I doubt it will come to that.” I pitched my voice low and soothing. “They threatened to sell six months ago, remember? And that went nowhere.”
“True.” Tammy’s lips stayed pursed and her forehead crinkled. Despite her agreement, she was sadder than a piece of old aluminum foil. Luckily, we were nearly empty, only a pair of older truckers nursing the last of their coffees over empty platters. I fetched Tammy a piece of her favorite cheesecake from the dessert cooler.
“Here. Eat this. You’ll feel better.”
“You’re a sweet one.” Her face finally relaxed into her usual smile, but I was careful not to mention the fate of Honey’s again. Sunday nights were almost always slow, and this one was more painful than most. I was nursing yet another cup of coffee and counting down the hour or so until I could put my feet up when the door jangled.
“My favorite fellows!” Tammy was first to greet Sean and Caleb, who were both fresh-faced and in street clothes. Instead of heading right to the counter like always, they grabbed a booth near the door.
Shit. Was this a date? Had I missed my chance by not being more direct? Or maybe Sean was more ready to sow some of those wild oats than he’d thought. Whatever it was, I didn’t like it one bit. I scraped the already-clean grill with a vengeance as Tammy brought them their coffee and menus.
“What’ll it be, bright eyes?” Tammy asked Sean. He didn’t look especially bright to me though. His shoulders had a pronounced slump, and his mouth was bracketed by deep lines. He was undoubtedly short on sleep but seemed more weary than usual.
“Just a cheese omelet with a side of hash browns, extra crispy.” No cheerful request for a surprise. He didn’t even glance in my direction. Damn. Cold. Either this was a date, or he was that exhausted, and either way, my hand flexed with the urge to touch him.
“You got it, love.” Tammy did what I couldn’t and briefly patted Sean’s shoulder before turning to Caleb. “And, Mr. Meat?”
“Hey, what can I say? I like my life spicy…and meaty.” He winked, whether at Tammy or Sean, I wasn’t sure. His usual flirty antics grated like sand on a sunburn. “My usual plus a cinnamon roll. Damn hungry after that shift.”
“Yeah.” Nodding, Sean stared off into space. If this was a date, it wasn’t a very cheerful one, a fact that brought me unwarranted relief. I wasn’t a petty or possessive dude. As long as Sean played safe, I had no reason to stake a claim, but hell if I didn’t want to hang a bigHands Offsign around his neck.
And the more he sat and sighed and stewed, the more I simply wanted to hold him like I had after the sex Friday morning. Falling asleep with him in my arms had been unexpectedly wonderful, and I wanted that bliss again, wanted to see him that relaxed and happy, wanted to give him whatever it would take to get his cheerful self back.
“Here, sugar. You look like you need a refill.” Tammy brought Sean a fresh cup of coffee as I worked on their orders. I tried to keep from staring, but when Caleb touched Sean’s hand and murmured something, I damn near saw red.
Hell. This was a date. And maybe Sean felt guilty to be having it in my presence. A better guy than me would undoubtedly smile at him, give the ol’ thumbs-up, let him know it was no biggie.
But it was, and I damn near torched my first effort at his hash browns. Extra crispy went to extra burned went to the garbage as I fought the urge to march over there. As I was redoing the hash browns, the door jangled again, and the younger dark-haired EMT who’d patched me up the other day strode in, going right to the booth and sliding in next to Sean.
“Hey, I’m late. Sorry.”
Not a date.The EMT had been in a couple of times with his long-haired hippie lawyer boyfriend. No way was he signing up for a three-way with Sean and Caleb. My hand finally relaxed on the spatula, and my movements became free and easy again. No more feeling like I was cutting through concrete and making stupid mistakes.
“Drinking anything other than black coffee? How about some water? Gotta keep hydrated after your night.” The EMT motioned Tammy over. She handed out water glasses to all three guys as my gut churned. I’d been so busy being jealous that I’d forgotten who Sean was.
He was many things, but he was a firefighter first, down to his DNA. He could have seen any number of tragedies on his shift, and his exhaustion was likely emotional as well as physical, but me being a dumbass, I hadn’t let myself see it. I put extra care into plating his food as the EMT rubbed Sean’s tense shoulder.
“You did everything you could.”
“Yeah.” Sean shook his head, clearly not in agreement but without the energy to argue. I’d been there. He stretched away from the EMT guy before asking, “Any updates?”
“Yep.” The EMT nodded. No smile. I braced for Sean to get some sort of bad news. “Lifeflight landed in Portland. The trauma team and burn team both met the chopper, and the dude is in surgery now. It’s the best news we can hope for, really.”
“Young guy.” Even the usually jokey Caleb was somber.
“Yeah.” Sean stared off into space. “About the same age as Declan.”
Oh.That had to be the kid he’d mentioned a couple of times. Twenty-something and some kind of motocross racer. Damn. Bad night on duty and likely a bad night to be a dad. My feet twitched as I watched Tammy bring Sean and Caleb their plates. I wanted to go to him, a strange but undeniable need.
However, I managed to bide my time until Tate disappeared to the restroom right as Caleb’s phone rang.
“I better take this.” Caleb stepped outside the diner.
The sun was barely peeking over the horizon. The day shift would be here soon, and I couldn’t waste this chance. Tammy was busy taking orders from a trio of construction workers, so I scooped up the coffee pot and headed to the booth on the slimmest of pretexts.
“Hey.” I slowly refilled all three coffee cups.