Page 10 of Nothing At All

Chuck bailed on me

Poor baby, having to eat all alone

Smiling, I shook my head. I wasn’t much for teasing people, but she made an art out of it. Not mean teasing, just . . . humorous. Affectionate.

I ran my thumb around the edge of my phone. Would it be okay to tell her I wished she was here? Was that clingy?

“Hey!” Nicole’s bright voice interrupted my reverie. I glanced up to meet her wide smile. “Eating by yourself?”

I stretched my feet out under the table, resting my phone on my thigh. “Chuck cancelled.”

“Oh, poo.” Nicole poked out her bottom lip in an expression far too sad for the situation. My brows dipped. Her reaction made no sense. She wrapped her hand around the chair opposite me, tugging it back from the table. “I’ll join you so you’re not by yourself.”

My frown deepened. I was fine by myself. I spent the entire day in a squad car, alone, so lunch wasn’t–

“Y’all ready to order?” Mrs. Gail stopped by the table, pad in hand, avid gaze darting between us. What was that look about?

“I want the chicken salad and sweet tea.” Fingers of both hands pressed to the edge of the table, Nicole leaned forward with breathless eagerness. The chicken salad couldn’t be that good, right? “What about you, Danny?”

Danny? Why the hell did she keep calling me that? Nobody called me anything but Dan. Well, Mama called me Daniel when she was peeved, but it had been months–

“What are you having, hon?” Mrs. Gail’s pen hovered over her order pad.

“A pulled pork sandwich with fries.” My regular order, a spot of consistency in a situation growing weirder by the second. I tucked my phone under the edge of my campaign hat. “And water, please.”

“We’ll get it right out.” With one last look between us and a smug smile, Mrs. Gail sauntered away.

“So.” Nicole flicked her hair over her shoulder and slanted a wide smile at me. “Layla seems nice.”

Layla. Layla? I cast about for who the heck that was. I didn’t know a Layla . . . wait, was that Chuck’s little sister’s friend she brought to church sometimes? Maybe the hostess at Old Mexico? No, that was Lola.

I shrugged. “I guess.”

“You guess?” Nicole laughed again, a shrill note in the sound grating over my nerves, like my radio squelched too loud. Her knee nudged mine. “Silly, she’s your girlfriend.”

What? She meant Lila?

“Her name is Lila.” I pulled my legs back, tucking my feet under my chair. “She’s great.”

Amazing. Perfect. A wonder.

And she wanted me.

That was a wonder in itself.

Nicole’s mouth flexed, lips sucking like she tasted something sour. “I didn’t even know you were dating.”

I shook my head. “Why would you?”

She blinked, taken aback. “Well, we’re friends–”

“No. We’re not.” Friends? We lived next door to one another, and I gave her a ride when she needed one because it was logical if we were headed in the same direction and I tried to be decent. Chuck was my friend. And Josh. Maybe EmmaLee.

Nicole was kinda . . . maybe on the same level as Chuck’s brothers. I’d speak to Tick or Del, help ‘em change a tire or offer a ride if needed, but we weren’t friends.

“Oh.” Nicole shrank into her chair, biting her lip. Yeah, that reaction was completely out of proportion to the conversation. Was she that needy?

Hell, is that what my reaction looked like when Lila didn’t have time for me? My chest locked up. I’d read about that, too, how a romantic partner shouldn’t be too needy or clingy, how a certain amount of distance was healthy, and I tried because I wanted to be where she was, all the time–