Picking up the Pieces Read online

  “She’s not a shyster, Van. She’s on a fixed income.”

  Savannah hopped off the barstool and headed around the counter to grab an apron. “Fixed income or not, the old bat could at least tip fifteen percent. I’ve got a mind to spit in her coffee.”

  I chucked a scone at her head and pointed at her. “Do that and I.Will.End.You,” I said between clenched teeth.

  She gave a little chuckle and held her hands up in surrender. “Okay. Easy tiger, no sneezers for Old Lady Murphy.” She walked away from me and quickly started waiting tables. She complained about it every time I asked for help, but I knew she secretly loved it. She’s a flirt with all the male customers and a gossip with the women. The people in our town loved Savannah.

  The rest of the evening progressed the same as it always did. That was one of the good things about living in a small town like Cloverleaf, Texas; you could always count on consistency. Friends Savannah and I had throughout school, came in for good food and good gossip. Mr. Clements from the hardware store stopped by for some of the homemade pie that made the diner so famous. The Robertsons came in with their two sons for our blue-cheese bacon burgers. Business as usual. Virgie May’s had been a staple of our small town for as long as I could remember. My grandmother opened up shop back in the 50’s, and the diner had been going strong ever since.

  When I took over ownership four years ago, it was never my intension of staying on for the long haul. But things changed and life dealt me a hand I never expected. I had to pull up my big girl panties and accept the inevitable. I’d never be a lawyer or a doctor - I was a diner owner. The only thing I’d ever cure was hunger, and I was okay with that. Now. It took me a long time to get to the feeling of contentment that I now have.

  “You feel like heading over to Colt’s for a few beers and some pool?” Savannah asked as she wiped down the counter at the end of the night. I had just flipped the closed sign and locked the front door. The only thing I wanted to do was go home to my cute little house and soak in a nice hot bubble bath. Heading over to Colt 45, the town’s local bar, was the furthest thing from my mind.

  “Van, if it requires me keeping this bra on, I’m gonna have to pass. I have a standing date with my bath tub and a bottle of wine.”

  She rolled her eyes at me, knowing this would be my answer. “Ditching the bra might help in getting you more drinks,” she said with a wag of her eyebrows. “You sure you don’t wanna go and take some more of Brett and Jeremy’s money?”

  “While the idea of wiping the floor with the guys in pool is appealing, the answer is still no.”

  “Fine, worth a shot.” We headed out the back door into the parking lot, and I silently thanked God that my day was over. I was beyond exhausted. “You hear that Sherriff Carlson brought on a new deputy?” Savannah asked as we made our way through the gravel lot.

  This was the first I was hearing of Cloverleaf getting a new deputy. “Nope. Any clue who this guy is?”

  Spinning her keys around her finger, Van answered. “No clue, but I’m hoping he’s a hotty. This town needs some new eye candy.”

  Savannah was a serial dater ever since she and Jeremy called it quits for good. She didn’t necessarily sleep around, but she wasn’t above accepting an invitation for an expensive dinner every now and then. “Only because you’ve worked your way through every eligible bachelor in a twenty mile radius,” I replied with a smirk.

  “Girl’s gotta have her fun somehow.”

  I leaned against my beat up Honda Civic and pulled off my shoes to wiggle my toes and get the circulation back to them. I breathed a sigh of relief for my poor, abused feet before responding. “You know, you could have just married Jeremy.”

  Savannah let out a huff of laughter. “Puh-lease. We were a toxic combination. The only reason we stayed together as long as we did was because the sex was rockin’, and he had a huge…”

  “Enough!” I interrupted before she could finish her sentence. “Jeremy’s like a brother to me. The last thing I need is to know how big his shlong is.” There wasn’t enough brain bleach on the planet to get that imagery out of my head.

  “I was going to say bank account, you dirty-minded slut.” That was so not what she was going to say.

  “Mmh hmm.”

  “Besides, we’re better as friends anyway.”

  I reached behind me and unhooked my bra, sliding the straps through the sleeves of my t-shirt and pulling it out the bottom. “Says you. That boy’s still hopelessly in love with you.”

  “He’ll get over it,” she deadpanned. Jeremy was a sore topic for Savannah. She loved him, but for some reason, it just wasn’t enough. They tried to make their relationship work, but sometimes loving someone doesn’t mean they’re who you’re supposed to end up with. I hurt for both of them. Seeing two people who care so much about one another, but can’t make a relationship work, was hard enough. Both of those people being my best friends made it ten times worse.

  “Anyway…” I knew she was cutting off that line of conversation and I let it slide. I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable no matter how much I wanted her to confide in me about Jeremy. “I’ll let you get to that bath and wine before you get completely naked out here in the parking lot. Love ya, doll face.”

  “Smartass.”

  Flipping me the bird, she headed off to her brand new Lexus coupe, flipping her shiny blonde hair in her wake. Even though Savannah’s education gave her more options than I had, she insisted on moving back to Cloverleaf after college in order to stay close to me. She claimed that we were soul sisters and separating would be like removing the other woman’s better half… I totally agreed. I hated that she gave up so much for me, and it took a while to get over the guilt, but I held an immense amount of love for that girl for all she had done for me. I couldn’t have asked for a better friend than I had in Savannah. I might have been an only child, but the minute I met Savannah, I gained a sister for life.

  After climbing into bed later that night, I laid there staring up at my ceiling, thinking about the direction my life had gone in. There had been so much bad, but I managed to get through it and make it to the other side relatively unscathed. It wasn’t lost on me that I did that alone. My rock, the one person I’d always depended on, hadn’t been there for me for the past eight years. Luke might have been the person to help me through some dark times growing up, but I’d managed to pull myself through some even darker ones without him.

  I repeated the mantra I’d had in my head since the day he’d destroyed my heart so long ago. I didn’t need Luke Allen. He was no one to me.

  With that, I drifted off to sleep.

  ***

  I was in the middle of refilling Tracey McCreedy’s coffee the next morning when Savannah came barreling through the front door of Virgie May’s with Jeremy, Brett, Gavin and Gavin’s girlfriend, Stacia, in tow. Stacia and Jeremy had been in the same grade as me and Savannah while Brett and Gavin had been in Luke’s. After Luke took off for parts unknown, we all remained tightknit. Including all those people, and a few others, I had a pretty awesome circle of friends that I was beyond thankful for.

  If it had been anyone else storming through the door, I might have been aware of the shift in the air of the diner, but Savannah always did have a flare for the dramatics.

  “Emmy, we gotta talk,” she said as she barged up to Tracey’s table.

  “In a sec, Van. Kinda in the middle of something here.” I ignored her theatrics and continued to serve my customers.

  “Seriously, Emerson. You need to come with me, right now.” She hardly ever used my full name, so that caught my attention and caused goose bumps to spread over my skin.

  “What is it, Savannah?” Staring at her now, I saw her worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. Her eyes cut to Jeremy, who was busy looking at his shoes like he’d never seen work boots before. The rest of the gang refused to make eye contact. “What’s going on? You guys look like someone just set fire to the animal shelter, and yo
u have to break the news that the puppies didn’t make it out.” My humor was lost on my friends. The hair on the back of my neck stood straight at their lack of reaction to my joke.

  “Can you please just come with me?” Savannah grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the kitchen. “Like right now. I need to talk to you in the kitchen. Right. Now.” Allowing Savannah to drag me to the back, coffee pot still in hand, I started to really freak out. It had been a long time since I’d seen my friends this distressed. I knew something was really wrong. I just didn’t know what.

  Glancing around the diner, I noticed that we had the attention of all the customers. Some looked intrigued by the show in front of them, others had looks of pity on their faces. What the hell is going on? I thought as the bell above the front door chimed, alerting me of another customer. “Take a seat anywhere,” I said, my eyes still on Savannah. “Someone will be with you in just a sec.” It wasn’t lost on me that Van’s face had turned an unhealthy shade of white, and her eyes were the size of salad plates. I heard Gavin mumble curse words from behind me and a soft “oh no” from Stacia. The five of them automatically closed ranks around me as I turned to look at the person walking through the door of diner.

  “Hey there, baby girl.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Hey there, baby girl. The words that had haunted me for so many years. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. I thought if I just kept repeating that in my head, I’d wake up from this horrible nightmare. It had to be a dream because there was no way on God’s green earth he could be standing right in front of me. Life couldn’t possibly be that cruel… could it? My entire body had gone numb the minute I heard those words; all of the air had whooshed out of my lungs. I was frozen solid. That was, until I dropped the scalding hot pot of coffee I was holding, causing it to splatter all over my legs, burning the shit out of myself in the process.

  “Shitfucksonofabitch!” I hollered, dancing from foot to foot. I knew I looked like a complete idiot, but I couldn’t help it. That really freaking hurt. Jeremy and Brett immediately jumped into action, grabbing paper towels from the counter and wiping down my legs. I felt tears prickling the back of my eyes as I looked at the red splotches now covering me from knee to ankle.

  Fucking Texas weather! I thought. If it hadn’t been a million degrees outside, with a thousand percent humidity, I could have worn jeans instead of shorts and prevented second degree burns on my shins. But noooo. Texas weather sucked, which meant it was hotter than the devil’s butthole outside. Hence the shorts and burned legs.

  I was immediately pulled out of my weather-bashing trance when I felt Savannah’s fingers gripping my forearm. “Holy shit. Do you need to go to the hospital?” I couldn’t process all of the emotions raging through me at that very moment. I felt anger, fear, anxiety, and a little bit of giddiness, which just pissed me the hell off.

  “No, Van.” I clipped out. “It felt fucking awesome… Of course it hurt!” I knew I was being a total bitch, but it was taking everything in me to keep from falling to my knees and bursting into tears like a baby, or scream at the top of my lungs. I was a mess! Luke was standing right behind me. What the hell was Luke doing standing right behind me?”

  Spinning around, I narrowed my eyes at the culprit that caused the coffee pot massacre. It had been eight years since I’d last laid eyes on Lucas Allen, and in all those years, he’d managed to get even more attractive than he already was. Those deep, emerald green eyes, surrounded by dark, black lashes that would make any girl envious, bored right into my soul as he looked back at me. I might have been in meltdown mode, but it wasn’t lost on me that all six feet four inches of him was looking dangerously hot in a deputy uniform. So this was the new deputy that Sherriff Carlson had hired. Perfect.

  “Shit, baby girl. You okay?” Luke came rushing over to me and hunkered down to inspect the welts forming on my legs. The shock caused by his touch had me jumping back. “Don’t move, Emmy. Let me take a look.”

  Who the hell does this guy think he is? “Don’t touch me,” I whispered through clenched teeth.

  “Emmy, please. Just let me take a look, okay? I was a field medic in the Corps. I know what I’m doing.” As he reached for my leg again, it took every ounce of my energy to resist the urge to haul off and kick him square in the face.

  “I said, Don’t. Touch. Me.” The heart-clenching pain that took me so long to get rid of was coming back full force. I was struggling to breathe and control my tears all at the same time. I felt like I was fighting a losing battle to control my own body.

  “Emmy,” he started, but was interrupted when Savannah pushed between us, all five feet three inches of her radiating so much anger she was practically vibrating. This was not going to be good.

  “Look here, Special Officer Doofy. I don’t give a shit if you’re the goddamned Surgeon General himself. She said don’t touch her, so you don’t touch her!” Each word out of her mouth got louder and louder until she was yelling in his face. If I wasn’t in the throes of a full blown anxiety attack, I might have been impressed with Savannah’s attempt to bow up to a guy that was over a foot taller than her and at least ninety pounds of solid muscle heavier.

  Luke slowly rose to his full height and glowered down at my friend with sheer intensity. I had to hand it to her, she didn’t even blink.

  Grabbing her arm, Jeremy tried to intervene and calm Savannah down. “Easy there,” he whispered into her ear, eyes locked on Luke the whole time like he was afraid Luke would make a move at any moment. “Stand down, killer.”

  She spun around and leveled Jeremy with a death glare so intense, I fully expected him to burst into flames. “Fuck that!” she screeched. “He can’t just walk in here after eight years and act like he didn’t do a damn thing wrong!” She spun back around to face Luke again. “You call her baby girl one more time, and I’m gonna punch you so hard, you’ll be shitting teeth for a week! You don’t get to call her that. You aren’t even worthy of breathing her air.”

  The scene in front of me had escalated to epic proportions. I was finally able to suck in enough air to kick start my brain back into action. “Enough!” I yelled. “This is a public restaurant, not a goddamned boxing ring. We are not doing this here.” I addressed Savannah first. “Honey, I know what you’re doing and I love ya to pieces for it, but I got this, okay? You can retract the claws, Tiger.” I jerked my attention over to Luke, wishing I had laser beams in my eyes. “You need to leave. Now.”

  “Emmy—” he started, but I cut him off.

  “No! For eight years, I wasn’t important enough to get so much as a letter from you. You don’t get to roll back in to town and show up at my diner acting like nothin’ happened. You haven’t had a thing to say to me in eight years, and I’ve got nothin’ to say to you now. Get the hell out, Luke.”

  I turned my back on him, not even watching him walk out the door and turned my attention to the patrons of Virgie May’s. “And all of you,” I addressed the crowd collectively. “Drink your damn coffee, and eat your damn breakfast. Don’t act like this is the first time y’all ever seen drama here. This is Cloverleaf, for Christ sake.” With that, I turned and headed to the office in the back of the diner. That little rant just expended all the energy I had in my body.

  I had just collapsed into my office chair and begun to massage my temples when the door creaked open. I didn’t open my eyes to see who it was until I heard something being placed on my desk. Looking up, I saw Brett pouring bourbon into two shot glasses. Once full, he slid one in front of me and took the other for himself. “Brett, it’s eight thirty in the morning. Not really the time to be pullin’ out the hard stuff.” I said that mainly because it was how a respectable person would react to having hard liquor for breakfast. I fully intended to get sauced.

  “After the shit that just went down, Emmy Lou… I’d say now’s the perfect time.” Brett was another one that I’d known for forever. Even though he’d always been closer to Luke when we w
ere teens, he and I managed to form a tight bond after Luke disappeared. I guess the mutual feeling of betrayal was a good catalyst. After all, I wasn’t the only one that Luke left behind.

  Picking up the shot glass, I downed the amber liquid in one gulp, reveling in the burn as it slid down my throat and settled in my stomach. “Set up another,” I said as I slid my glass back in front of him. We both downed them at the same time.

  We sat in amicable silence for what seemed like forever until Brett finally broke it with the question I never wanted to have to answer. “What are you gonna do, Emmy? It’s a small town. Someone’s bound to let it slip.”

  I knew what he was talking about, but there was no way I would consider talking about it again. It had been so long ago and set my life on a path that I wasn’t proud of. It had taken everything in me to pull myself out of the downward spiral that loss caused me. “Let ‘em talk. It’s not like I didn’t try to get a hold of him, Brett, you know that. He’s the one that refused to respond to any of my messages.” I poured another shot and drank. I was starting to feel the effects of the bourbon. My breathing had slowed and my shoulders were starting to feel nice and relaxed. “I’ve finally got my shit together. I’m not going to let him come back and ruin everything I’ve worked for.”

  I could feel the burn of tears in the back of my throat trying to make their way out. I wasn’t going to let that happen. I’d cried too many times over what Luke had done to me. I wasn’t going to cry over it anymore. Seeing me struggle to keep my emotions in check, Brett stood and walked around the desk and wrapped me in his arms. “I know, Emmy Lou. I know. You’re one tough bitch, that’s for damn sure, and I’ve got your back no matter what.”

  I squeezed him back as tight as I could. “I know, Brett. And I love you… but call me a bitch again and I’ll shank your ass.”

  We both laughed and squeezed each other one more time before Brett pulled away and left the office. It wasn’t long before I remembered the burns on my legs. The drama from earlier and the alcohol had helped me to forget they were there, but when I accidentally slammed my shin against the desk drawer I was quickly reminded. “Motherfucker!”