Eleven
B y the time Lauren called out that they would be closing soon and began the painfully slow process of cleaning and sanitizing the kitchen and counter area. She glanced over at the table with Scott, Jake, Olivia, and Elizabeth and expected Scott to still be sitting across from Jake, but he was gone.
Lauren wondered when he left and why he didn’t say goodbye to her. Not that she cared he didn’t say goodbye, or so she told herself.
She cleaned the counter before taking the tray of cookies into the kitchen to store in plastic containers. In the morning, she’d bag them up by the dozen and sell them as day-old cookies. She’d only made them available on Saturdays and only because she didn’t want to have a teenager try to bake a batch of cookies, in case they ran out. While she cleaned the kitchen, Melody swept the floor behind the counter and cleaned the espresso maker. When everything was done, Lauren grabbed the tip jar and headed to the register where she’d exchange all the coins and singles for larger bills.
Starting with the bills first, she counted out the singles when she spotted a bill that wasn’t like any of the others.
A hundred-dollar bill.
What the…
None of the usual customers would have left a tip that big. Scott must have dropped into the tip jar before he left.
Lauren stared at Ben Franklin’s face.
She wasn’t a charity case. Crumpling the bill in her hand, she walked as calmly as possible over to Jake, and stared at him until he looked up at her.
“Where’d he go?”
“Who?” Jake grinned. He knew exactly who she was talking about.
She fisted her hands on her hips and leaned forward. Narrowing her eyes at him, Lauren attempted a glare that had worked occasionally in the past with him.
Jake raised his hands up in mock surrender. He knew she’d never threaten him with more than cutting him off from his cookies, and even that wasn’t likely to be followed through with. “I don’t know, Lauren, honest. He just said he’d catch up with me later.”
“Put it toward the Smoked Meat Fest if you don’t want it.” Olivia didn’t look up from her phone.
How had everyone known that Scott left a huge tip, but her?
“Fine.” Lauren spun away from them, shoving the bill into her pocket. She’d give it back to him. She knew what hotel he was staying at. It wouldn’t be too hard to find him. Or so she hoped.
“So that was the famous Scott Brandonson?” Melody looked over at Lauren. “You should definitely go out to lunch or dinner with him.”
“No, thank you.” Too bad her tone wasn’t as convincing as her words.
“Come on. He’s cute, and he seemed into you. Why not go out with him?
“He’s not staying. You heard him. He’s leaving on Sunday.”
A soft harrumph of disbelief came from Olivia, who had been busy scrolling through her phone.
“What?” Lauren fisted her hands on her hips and glared at her not-quite friend.
“Oh, come on, he might not be staying, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be coming back.”
“He didn’t come back after leaving for college,”
Olivia carefully set her phone on the table and leveled an exasperated stare at Lauren. “You can’t be that oblivious. His dad wasn’t going to win any father of the year awards and his mom wasn’t here. He didn’t come back because he didn’t want to see his dad, not because he didn’t want to see any of us.”
Elizabeth made a sound of agreement and Melody leaned in, sensing she was about to learn some ancient bit of gossip about the town.
“Why do you think I made your life miserable in high school?”
“Cause you were a mean girl?”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “Besides that. Come on, I was meaner to you than anyone else.”
Elizabeth nodded. “That’s true.”
“But you’re friends now, right? What happened?” Melody asked.
“Scott left. And slow your roll on the friends thing. Friendly acquaintances is a better description.”
“He never liked me. Not in that way.”
“Yes, he did. He was always wondering if you’d show up at a party of who was taking you to a dance. He didn’t ask me to paint the trestle, he asked you. It’s always been you.”
Melody raised her hand, pausing the conversation. “As much as I hate to admit it, Olivia’s right. Just because he’s not staying doesn’t mean he’s not coming back.”
“Well, I don’t have time for a relationship. Between my dad, the bakery, and keeping the town on life support, I don’t have time for anything casual, much less something serious. Long distance or not.”
Except no one believed her words. Not even Lauren.