Chapter 14
Christian
Iopen the door of Katherine’s Diner and allow her to step in first. The lights are low but it’s easy for me to find our usual booth in the back corner of the diner with the candles and table cloth.
Katherine’s Diner is upscale—always has been for us. A special place to laugh and sit for hours. A place we came to do homework on a day off or grab comfort food whenever Lana got her period. A place we came to occasionally celebrate birthdays and Valentines Day.
It was our place for the biggest parts of our lives. Other than anywhere with her, this is my second favorite place.
“Christian,” she breathes. She turns to face me and slings her arms around my neck. “Did you…”
“I might have paid to have the diner to ourselves,” I say, my hands on her hips.
“Christian.” Her eyes well with tears.
I smile and kiss her cheek. “It wasn’t a big deal. Katherine was very supportive of it. I’m pretty sure she overcharged but—”
Lana snorts. “Christian.”
“It’s worth it,” I say. “Everything for you is worth it. Look.”
I turn her with my hands on her hips and pull her back into my chest. I know she sees our usual booth with the candles and a singular sunflower in a glass.
“That’s…” Lana turns in my arms again. “That’s our booth.”
I nod and cradle her face, pushing her straightened hair behind her ears. She smiles, tears overflowing at the corners of her eyes, and I press my thumbs into her dimples. “It is.”
“Christian, this is…” She takes a shaky breath.
I wipe away tears with my thumb. “Come, let’s eat.”
I take her hand and lead her to the corner of the diner. Lana slides into her regular side of the booth, removing her small, crossbody purse with leather that is cracked and faded, before I slip in across from her.
“So,” she says, “is this a fixed menu situation?”
“It is,” I tell her. “I was sure to pick everything you like.”
Lana’s eyes brighten as she grins. “Even mozzarella sticks?”
I smile back at her. “Especially mozzarella sticks.”
Crystal, one of Katherine’s employees, comes to the table with the mozzarella sticks in hand while holding the bottle of wine I bought for Lana with a glass.
“You’re appetizers,” Crystal says, smiling. Then she sets down the bottle of wine and the glass. Lana stammers and blinks as Crystal pops out the cork.
“Oh, um.” Lana shakes her hand and her head. “No, no. No, it’s fine. No al— No wine. It’s fine—”
“Baby,” I breathe, reaching for her hand. “It’s okay. I got it for you. I know you like that one.”
“But—”
“It’s okay,” I assure her again, squeezing her hand for emphasis. “I’m fine.”
Chewing on her lip, she nods, and Crystal pours the white wine into the glass. She sets it down in front of Lana with the bottle beside her. On her side of the table. I have no room to be offended or read into it. I trust myself, Lana trusts me—but the distance means something, right?
The distance between me and that bottle of wine. The bridge grows in miles every day and it’s one I don’t ever want to cross again. Tonight, I feel in control. Before Lana takes a sip, she grabs the bottle and sets it at the other end of the table, against the window.
“I see your thoughts, Christian,” she says. “I trust you.”
“I… Thank you,” I murmur. “The distance is better.”
“The distance is metaphorical,” Lana emphasizes. “You hold the power. It doesn’t hold power over you.”
I nod and bring her knuckles to my lips. Against her hand, I mutter, “Thank you.”
Lana twists her hand and puts it against my cheek with the most precious smile on her face, giving me those dimples. “I love this.”
“I knew you would.”
“I never needed you to give me money or spend it on me, you know,” Lana says. “But this…”
I arch a brow, the corner of my lips lifting. “This you’ll allow?”
“This I’ll allow,” she chuckles. “But seriously, Christian. I loved you without the car and money and the stupid company. And if we had had only a penny to our names, I would have loved you still.”
“You loved me while I was bleeding,” I barely whisper, my throat tight and dry. “You held me together for so long, Lana. I don’t deserve you.”
“Stop,” she says. “Yes, you do, baby. You deserve a lot more than you think.”
I lean into her palm and turn to kiss it, my lips lingering in its center. I grab her other hand, and kiss its palm too. I press her palms into my cheeks. The two very hands that have held my heart since the day I met her on the sidewalk.
“So what’s for dinner?”
I smile.
“Oh no,” she says. “If it’s a lobster, three course meal thing, so help you—”
“And your dinner,” Crystal interrupts at the perfect time. She sets a plate in front of Lana who is now gaping at her meal, and then my plate. “I’ll be right back with your sodas.”
Lana, still gaping, flicks her eyes up to mine. “Chicken fingers and French fries?”
I smile. “Your favorite diner food.”
“Oh my god,” she chuckles. “And your double bacon burger.”
I hitch a shoulder. “Guilty pleasure.”
“And here I thought you banned greasy food when you got jacked.”
I laugh. “I’m not jacked.”
“You’re more jacked than you used to be,” she says, dipping a bundle of fries in ketchup. “Not that I’m complaining. It’s very… Hot.”
“Hey, you got a little—” I point at the corner of my mouth “—you got a little something there.”
With her fingers, she wipes at her lip. “What?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Just a bit of drool.”
Lana glares. “Ha ha.”
I snicker and bite into my very deliciously greasy burger. For the night, I ordered everything we used to eat here. After this, it’ll be an extravagant, over the top banana split that she’ll eat most of and then to top it off, I’ll order her a milkshake to take home.
For now, it’s us stuffing our faces with our favorite diner meals. It’s just us laughing and talking. And I’m drowning in all of it, letting it flow right into my lungs so all I ever breathe again is this—the sound of her voice and her laugh and the beauty of her existence.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Lana wipes her lips with a napkin and takes a long drink of her Coke through the straw.
I tilt my head to the side. “Because you’re pretty.”
Lana snorts, finishing off her plate by dipping the last three fires in ketchup. “So,” she says, “what next?”
I gape at her with a smile. “You just finished eating.”
She shrugs. “I just really want to take you home. And you bought me dinner so…”
“Lana,” I warn, but not stern enough to be taken seriously by either of us.
“You’re full of shit, Calloway,” Lana chuckles.
“You’re very hard to resist, Gomez.”
“Hmm.” She hums with a closed lipped smile and reaches over the table.
I instinctively do the same. There will never be a time that I won’t reach for her when she’s reaching for me. I will always reach for her—I always did.
“Thank you,” she whispers, grazing the tip of my nose with hers. She kisses the corner of my mouth. “You know, after the diner, we used to sit and make out in the car.”
I swallow and clear my throat, wiping my hand on the napkin on my lap. I scurry to get out of the booth and tug on her hand. “Come, we’re done here.”
Lana laughs. “You’re so easy.”
I roll my eyes and she holds my hand tightly as she scoots out the booth.
“Oh! Wait!”
“What?”
Lana releases my hand and reaches over the table. She grabs the bottle of wine, putting the cork back in, and I arch a brow. She shrugs innocently. “What? You said you bought it for me, I’m not just going to leave here. You probably overpaid.”
I laugh and take her hand. “Come on.”
The bell jingles above us as we exit and I nearly trip over myself before I know what’s happening.
Lana is pulling me by my shirt to where she’s leaning back against the glass outside of the diner and reaching up.
I crash my lips to hers, pinning her back with my hips, my forearm planted beside her head.
My other hand grips her hip tightly and she lifts the same leg around my hip, and all I can do is groan into her mouth as she parts her lips for my tongue.
“Christian,” she breathes just before she giggles.
I giggle with her. “What?”
I pull back enough to see her eyes, the lights from the diner’s sign illuminating half of her face in purple, blue, and yellow. “You’re so beautiful, Lana.”
“You should see yourself,” she whispers.
The lights inside the diner flick on and I peer inside to see Crystal and Katherine cleaning up after us. And I feel like shit for pulling Lana out without warning. “Shit,” I hiss. “Wait here.”
I move to the entrance and she calls out, “Christian!”
“Just…give me a minute!”
Lana’s laugh fades as I rush back into the diner. Crystal is finishing up, and Katherine is closing for the night I paid her off for. “Hey,” I exhale. “Can I get a vanilla milkshake if it’s not too late?”
Katherine chuckles. “Might cost you extra.”
“I’ll pay whatever you need me to.”
She laughs, grabbing a large to-go cup for the milkshake before she begins making it. “So? Did she like it?”
I smile and pull out my wallet. “She loved it, Katherine. Thank you. Really.”
Katherine huffs with a tiny smile, spraying the whip cream on top in a circular motion. She puts a thick purple straw through the whipped cream and slides it toward me. “You better keep that girl happy or I’ll run you out of town, boy.”
I chuckle and slide over a hundred dollar bill. “Thank you, Katherine.”
“Hey—No! Take this shit back, I don’t need this.” She slides the bill back toward me.
“Keep it. It’s for the milkshake.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. Lil’ baby Calloway got money comin’ out his ass.”
I laugh and push open the door to go back to my girl. “Have a good night, Katherine.”
“You kids have a good night too.”