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There was no response from her that night, and it took all my willpower not to send another text. Beg if I needed to. However, the next morning, just as I was arriving in Athens city limits, I got an alert that she’d sent a text, and it wasn’t to me.
Pulling over, I picked up my phone and read it. She had texted someone named Anya.
Are you working today? If so, would you mind bagging me up all the leftovers?
I read that twice, confused.What leftovers?
A response came through.
Not today! I’m sorry. Dareen is working, and she wouldn’t mind doing it if it wasn’t for Alice being on shift. She’s terrified of the old hag.
I wasn’t getting something here. Was she talking about food? Getting leftovers from a restaurant?
She sent another text.
That’s okay. Thanks anyway! I understand. Grams was wanting the Rise and Dine cheese grits. LOL.
The bag from the back door of the diner. She was getting their leftovers for food. Fucking hell. I should have been relieved that it hadn’t been the laced drugs, but my chest felt so damn tight that I couldn’t take a deep breath.
Does she not like the ones at the cafeteria? You know Ethel loves you there and will bag you up whatever you ask for.
So, she wasn’t just getting food from Rise and Dine. The little charmer didn’t just use her skills to keep her family’s bills paid, but she also had places that would give her the food that they’d otherwise toss out.
I’m heading to classes today. I’ll stop and see her. Thanks! Enjoy your day off!
Was Ethel at the Howison cafeteria? Not that it mattered. Grams was getting her cheese grits from the diner. I’d make sure they got a delivery of everything on the buffet.
•Seventeen •
Amory Blaine in a cowboy hat was porn-worthy.
Royal
Grams was beaming at the food on her plate.
“You say we have strawberry cheesecake and pecan pie too?” she asked me, her eyes lit with the excitement of a child.
I nodded. “Yep.”
I hadn’t even known the Rise and Dine had strawberry shortcake and pecan pie. The only desserts we’d ever gotten there were stale cookies and soupy lemon meringue that had sat out too long.
The fried fish was also something we’d never gotten before, as well as the soft, flaky butter rolls with honey or the twice-baked potatoes. Those all had to be items that were eaten up by customers.
I looked back at the four large bags sitting on our kitchen counter. It had been delivered an hour ago. Not only was it warm and fresh, but the delivery boy had said that it was everything they had on the menu today, just like requested.
I had been so flabbergasted by it all that I stood there, speechless, then remembered he needed a tip. When he said he had already been tipped two hundred dollars, I knew exactly who had sent this. I hadn’t thought it could be him because how would he know about the Rise and Dine?
Once I closed the door and had a moment to think, I realized he’d seen me go get the leftovers that day he followed me. Anger, frustration, and embarrassment hit me all at once. That was, until Grams saw all the food from the bags. There had to be at least two pounds of the cheese grits. She had giggled like a little girl, holding the container tight to her chest.
Score one for Amory.
Between this and the text he’d sent last night, which I had read more times than I could count today, the resolve to stay away from him was slipping. In the light of day, it looked a bit different in my head. I had been tired and upset last night, then made it a much bigger deal. My dad wasn’t in bed when I walked into the house. He had been waiting on me.
I touched the long sleeves I’d worn today to cover the handprint bruises on my arms.
After he’d finished his tossing me around and cursing me, I’d sat on the floor of the living room, where he’d had thrown me. All the anger from outside had started to fade away even then.
Amory had been defending me. Something my father had never done.
