Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Ever
The lull between lunch and dinner at the Dairy Bar always dragged.
Five customers were scattered around the place, each tucked into their own little corner like they’d settled in and decided not to move anytime soon.
An older man sat at the counter with a cup of coffee he’d been nursing for the last half hour.
A mom and her little kid were in one of the booths by the window, sharing fries and arguing over ketchup.
Two teenagers were at the far table, heads bent close together over a phone, whispering and laughing like the rest of the world didn’t exist.
I stood behind the counter, running a rag in slow circles over a spot that didn’t need cleaning, just to have something to do. The hum of the machines filled the air, steady and familiar, and the faint smell of fryer oil and sugar clung to everything like it always did.
Lark wouldn’t be in for another hour, which meant it was just me again.
I didn’t mind it. Not really. I’d gotten used to it over the years—working shifts alone, handling orders, cleaning, and keeping things moving. It was easier in some ways. No one to talk to. No one to distract me. No one to watch me think too much.
I switched the rag to my other hand, glancing toward the door out of habit even though I knew no one was coming in right now. The open sign glowed in the window, but the heat outside had driven most people somewhere cooler for the afternoon.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket and I froze for half a second.
Technically, I wasn’t supposed to have it on me. My parents had always been strict about that—no phones out while working. It had been one of those rules that stuck, even now when they weren’t here to enforce it.
I glanced around quickly. The customers were all occupied. No one was paying attention to me. I pulled the phone out and flipped it over. Jesse.
A small, unexpected flicker hit my chest.
I answered before I could overthink it. “Hello?”
“What are you up to?” he asked. His voice was easy, like it always was. Like he hadn’t just caught me off guard in the middle of a shift.
“Just working,” I said, leaning one hip against the counter. “Like always.”
He chuckled softly. “Yeah, figured.”
I twisted the rag in my hand, suddenly aware of the way my heart had picked up just a little. Not racing. Not fluttering.
Just… there.
“I’m headed out of town for the weekend,” he said.
I blinked, shifting my weight.
That wasn’t something he’d mentioned yesterday. We weren’t… anything official, not really. We’d gone out a couple times, talked, kissed a little.
That didn’t mean he owed me his schedule.
“Oh,” I said. “That sounds like fun.”
“Just meeting up with some old friends,” he said. “Nothing crazy.”
“Nice,” I said, nodding even though he couldn’t see me.
There was a brief pause, like he was about to say something else. “I’m about to pull up,” he added.
I straightened. “Pull up?”
Before he could answer, the low, unmistakable roar of a motorcycle cut through the air.
My head snapped toward the open door. The sound got louder, closer, until a bike rolled into view and slowed right in front of the Dairy Bar.
Jesse.
“Here,” he said through the phone.
I huffed out a small breath, already moving toward the door. “Okay.”
I ended the call and stepped outside, the heat hitting me immediately as I crossed the short distance toward him.
He was already off the bike, helmet in one hand, hair slightly messed from it in a way that somehow worked for him. He smiled when he saw me, easy and relaxed like he hadn’t just shown up out of nowhere.
I lifted my hand to shield my eyes from the sun. “Need a vanilla cone before leaving?” I teased.
He laughed, shaking his head. “Kind of hard to eat on the bike.”
“Fair,” I said. I shifted my weight, glancing at the bike and then back at him. A thought flickered through my head. What the hell was he doing here? “You could’ve just called,” I said.
He stepped a little closer. “Wanted to see you before I left.”
My heart stuttered. It wasn’t dramatic. Not like in movies or books where everything slowed down and music started playing. Just a small, sharp hitch in my chest. “Oh,” I said, the word coming out softer than I meant it to. “Well… hello.”
He laughed under his breath and closed the distance between us; his hand came to my waist.
It caught me off guard.
Not because it was wrong. Just because we hadn’t done much of that yet.
We’d kissed. Held hands. Kept things light.
This felt… closer.
I placed my hand against his chest without thinking, keeping a small space between us even as he pulled me in.
He didn’t push it.
Just held me there, easy, like he was waiting to see what I’d do.
The sound of another motorcycle cut through the moment.
My head turned automatically toward the road.
Two bikes slowed at the stop sign just down from the Dairy Bar, engines rumbling low as they paused. I didn’t need long to recognize them.
Oliver.
And Jude.
The world narrowed for half a second.
He was wearing sunglasses, but I didn’t need to see his eyes to know where he was looking.
Right at me.
My stomach dropped.
Jesse’s hand tightened slightly at my waist, pulling my attention back. I turned toward him, and he leaned in and kissed me.
And I kissed him back because that’s what I was supposed to do.
Because I’d said I was done with Jude.
Because Jesse, this moment, and this choice were what moving forward looked like.
The roar of the motorcycles filled the air again as they pulled away from the stop sign. I pulled back from Jesse just a fraction, breath catching slightly as I glanced over his shoulder.
Jude and Oliver were already moving, bikes heading down the road without slowing again.
Gone, like nothing had happened. Like it didn’t matter.
“Hey,” Jesse said softly, drawing my focus back to him.
I blinked, trying to clear my head. “Yeah?”
“I’ll be gone a few days, Ever.”
Right. That.
I nodded, a little too quickly. “Um, okay. I’ll be here.” Of course I would be. Where else would I go?
He smiled, like that answer made sense to him, and leaned in for one more quick kiss, then he let me go.
I took a step back, my arms dropping to my sides as he turned toward his bike.
He swung his leg over it, settling into place with practiced ease before starting it up again. The engine roared to life beneath him, loud and steady. He backed it out, then headed down the road in the opposite direction from where Jude and Oliver had gone.
I stood there for a second longer than I should have, staring after him as the sound faded into the distance.
Then I turned and walked back inside.
The Dairy Bar looked the same as it had five minutes ago.
Same customers.
Same hum.
Same everything.
I moved behind the counter, grabbing the rag again without really thinking about it.
My hand moved automatically, wiping down a clean surface like it needed it.
My mind wasn’t in it.
Not even close.
Jude had just seen me with Jesse, and the world hadn’t stopped turning.
Nothing had exploded.
No confrontation. No tension. No anything.
He’d looked, and then he’d left.
Like it didn’t matter.
Like I didn’t matter.
I pressed the rag a little harder against the counter, dragging it across the surface in a slow line.
This was what moving on looked like.
Jesse had come to see me.
That should’ve been enough.
It wasn’t.
My grip tightened on the rag. Not the way Jude had looked at me from across the street or how easily he’d just ridden away.
I exhaled slowly, forcing my shoulders to relax as I tossed the rag aside and reached for a clean one.
“Get it together,” I muttered under my breath.
I leaned my hands on the counter, staring down at the surface for a second before pushing off and grabbing the spray bottle again.
Work.
I had work to do.
That was something I understood, something I could control.
So I wiped.
And wiped.
And wiped. And tried not to think about the fact that Jude had just seen me with someone else and it hadn’t meant a damn thing.