Chapter 4
CADDO
There was a moment when he pulled his truck into the Lone Star Diner parking lot when he had to wonder if this was the right place to take Seaton for their first...
Uh...
Their first meal together.
He wasn't ready to call it a date because he was pretty sure she didn't consider it one.
They were firmly in the neighbors category.
For the moment.
There was something about her that drew him closer. He'd never felt this way toward other women.
Friends? Absolutely.
He'd never felt the need to get closer like he did with Seaton.
He had every intention to go into his house that morning and transfer her cookies to a new container so he could return hers, but as soon as he got out of his truck, his head turned in the direction of her house.
When he started to walk, he didn't head toward his front door, but hers.
The container?
Well, he figured it might be worth a return visit if the first went well.
If it didn't, he'd find a way to get it back to her.
He pulled into a spot near the back of the lot where his truck wouldn't crowd anyone.
When he put it in park, he turned to look at Seaton.
She was looking out of the window at the diner.
"Lone Star Diner." She read the sign.
He could hear a lightness in her voice. A kind of wonder.
He liked to hear it.
"One of the firefighters on my shift, Lincoln Abe, his dad owns the Lone Star, and is the cook here six days a week."
"That's dedication," she was smiling when she turned to look at him.
"That's being a workaholic."
Sam turned off the truck and got out on his side, when he got around to the other side, Seaton was already out of the truck and closing the door.
She turned and almost collided with him.
"Oh, sorry."
She shuddered a little and stepped back, almost bumping into the door.
Sam was quick, stepping in, he put his hand between the passenger door and her head.
"Oh-"
"It's okay." He kept his voice gentle and as easy as he could. "I just didn't want you to hit your head."
Seaton nodded and he turned to the side to give her room to step away.
He left his hand up so when she turned back, she could see where he'd placed his hand.
"Thank you."
He smiled at her and shook his head. "No thanks needed," he explained, "I wouldn't want to see you hurt."
Sam watched her absorb his words, emotions crossing her face.
He didn't think that she knew how easily he could see her reactions. He felt like she held most of her thoughts and feelings to herself, keeping quiet. She had an introspective look on her face when she was thinking over things.
He'd seen it on the screen of his phone when they'd spoken on the Ring camera, but up close, face to face, it was even more telling.
More enchanting.
Enchanting?
That wasn’t a word he used normally.
He shook his head.
Now he was ruminating over things and using words better suited to a man living a more elegant life than he did.
Putting out fires, opening cars damaged in a crash, fishing and hunting?
All of those things were pursuits where he could get his hands dirty.
He had a feeling that Seaton was different than he was.
She was refined.
He could see that at a glance.
The way she moved was graceful, elegant.
Even in her sleep clothes she looked like a lady.
As they reached the door, he pushed it open and held it for her.
The bells above the door chimed and Seaton smiled at the sound, tilting her chin up to look at the interior walls of the diner.
Sam had been there enough that he knew every picture on the walls, but he'd never taken such an interest in them.
She crossed to the wall next to the entry to the kitchen and got up on the toes of her sneakers to look at the pictures there.
Chloe Daly, one of the waitresses at the Lone Star, walked up to his side. "Morning, Caddo!"
His shoulders shook with silent laughter.
The waitresses all knew the firefighters on his shift.
Since Lincoln was the son of the owner, all of the guys came by the Lone Star often.
At first it was to support Abe's family, but then it became a habit because the food was damn good.
It was even written in a ton of the Yelp reviews for Lone Star. 'The food is damn good!'
"Morning, Chloe. How are things going today?"
Chloe gave him a wink, poked out her hip and used her hand to pat the pocket of her apron. "Tips are good, Caddo. Really good."
"Well, I'll add to that before we leave."
Chloe gave him a suggestive smile, but they both knew that she was playing. Chloe loved to flirt, and outrageously so, but she never took it seriously.
And the women in the lives of the firefighters at Station Seven never saw it as something to be upset about. In fact, they liked to giggle and whisper about it.
The only people in his firehouse family that looked twice at it were the children and that's just because they didn't understand what Chloe was doing.
They did see their mothers laughing at it and joking with the men.
"There's a nice seat over by the counter," she lifted her chin in that direction, "close to one of the photo walls. You could sit there when you're ready to eat."
Sam's smile grew at her suggestion.
Seaton probably hadn't even seen Chloe yet, but Chloe...
Well, Chloe was a great waitress for the very reason that she saw everything.
She was incredibly perceptive. So was Margo.
Together, they were a formidable front of house in the diner, leaving Yun Abe, Lincoln's father, to spend his time where he preferred to spend it, in the kitchen.
"Is Margo in?"
Chloe nodded. "She stepped out to see the hot guy at the UPS store down the street. She'll be back after she ogles him from head to toe a few times." Chloe raised her eyebrows a few times. "You'll see her soon."
A bell dinged in the kitchen and Chloe gave him a grin. "Gotta go get the food. Shall we start with water?"
"Yeah, please."
The bell dinged again and Yun called out from the kitchen. "Chloe!!"
"On my way!"
Sam touched Chloe's arm, wanting to help.
That and needing to keep his hands busy. "Can I get the waters?"
She half-swooned at his words. "Go for it, Hotstuff!"
Sam moved over to the counter where he knew that they kept pitchers of ice-cold water, just out of sight.
He picked up a pitcher in one hand and a couple of glasses in the other.
Glasses, he mused to himself.
They were actually plastic and faceted in a way that made them easy to stack and store. The same kind of glasses could be seen in every roadside diner that opened in the fifties or sixties.
He twisted that hand and saw that the bottom edges had three openings. He remembered those from his time working in a pizza place during college. You could stack the glasses on top of each other so that a server could carry a whole shit load of drinks on a tray and not drop a single one.
Smiling at the memory, he moved to the empty table that Chloe had indicated and put one of the glasses down, filling the other with ice cold water and the ice cubes that were mixed into the pitcher.
He filled the second glass and set it down before casting a look at the next table over.
Sam took the few steps over to the table and gestured at their water glasses. "May I fill your water glasses?"
SEATON
The couple at the table looked up at him with confused smiles.
She was smiling, too, as she walked up to the table.
Sam saw her walk up and he grinned at her. "I'm volunteering while Margo's on her break and Chloe is getting food in the kitchen."
Seaton felt a giddy little laugh welling up inside of her.
"When you say you come here often, you really mean it."
She watched as he filled the glasses on the table.
She admired the way he did it. He didn't spill a drop or lose hold of the glass when he did it.
It sounded simple to most people, but she'd worked at a diner before when she was a teenager, hoping to make enough money to pay for college.
After hours of being on your feet, lifting and bending, it would be a great feat to do what he was doing. He’d just finished a shift that lasted for more than twenty-four hours. He didn’t look as exhausted as she was sure she’d feel.
She could also tell by the ease of his movements that he'd done something similar for work in the past as she had.
She held out her hands to Sam. "You want me to help? I've worked in food service before."
The front door of the diner swung open and the bell jangled again.
Seaton turned to look as a tall, brunette walked in, her curls managed to be both tight and blown out at the same time.
She sighed dramatically as she walked in, just far enough that the door didn't smack her in the butt.
"Goodness!" She scanned the room and Seaton found her fascinating to watch. "Where did all of these people come from?"
The blonde waitress that Sam had been talking to stepped out of the kitchen with a piled tray on each arm.
It had to be a record of some sort. Like a Guinness World Record record.
"Margo! Thank God you're back!"
Seaton knew that the blonde waitress had to have been an employee there for quite some time the way she walked between tables and didn't bump into a single chair, arm, or head.
She was just about to applaud the waitress' balance and poise when the woman stopped at a table and looked between the two trays that she was balancing.
There was a look of disappointment that Seaton had felt before.
The expression on her face said that the two stacked trays had been a good idea when she'd loaded them and lifted them up from a counter, but now, she was questioning the logic or wisdom of stacking it as high as she had.
Seaton stepped forward and gestured at the tray on the waitress' left. "Can I help?"
She'd intended to hold the tray, but the blonde waitress lifted her chin and pointed at the top plate. "Could you give that burger to the handsome man in the green shirt?"