Chapter 5
Chapter Five
“Hey, Cheyenne. How’s it goin’?” Joey Mac gave Cheyenne a wink that made her knees feel like cooked ramen noodles.
She wanted to reply with something witty and confident, but just looking into Joey’s beautiful blue eyes had her cheeks heating and her words jumbling up in her head.
When she just stood there like a speechless idiot, Joey shrugged.
“So what can I get you? The same as usual?”
She came in every Saturday to get lunch for herself, Emma, and Boone. And every Saturday the conversation went the same way. Joey would ask if she wanted the usual and she’d say yes. Then she’d wait for her order and say thank you and leave like the nitwit she was.
Say something different, stupid! Anything.
“I don’t want any cheese!”
Her abrupt response had Joey’s eyebrows lifting beneath the blond strand of hair that always hung over his forehead so perfectly. He laughed. “Okay, then. No cheese on your burger.” He went to tap it into the register and her mouth blurted again.
“Or onions!” She wanted to crawl under the counter and die.
“No onions it is.” He tapped the register, then sent her a sly smile. “So you got a hot date tonight?”
“No!” She shook her head. “I don’t date.” She felt her cheeks burn even hotter. “I mean . . . I do date. If the right boy asked me.”
His smile got bigger and she almost fainted right then and there from its brilliance. “And who’s the right boy?” He leaned closer and spoke in a low voice that sent little shivers through her body. “Come on, you can tell me. Maybe I can give him a little nudge.”
She swallowed hard. Tell him. Just tell him. But all she could do was stand there like a complete idiot until Joey got tired of waiting.
“Okay then. It’s your secret.” He rang up the total and gave it to her. While she was paying him, she tried to think of something else to say. Before she could, he handed her receipt. “Take a seat. I’ll get this right out.” He turned and headed to the soda machine to fill her drink order.
Cheyenne wanted to sit down at the counter and make another effort at conversation, but all the barstools were taken.
It was probably for the best. She’d just end up saying something else stupid and ruin her chances with Joey Mac forever.
Not that she had any chance of getting with him. He was way out of her league.
Feeling completely devastated, she turned and headed to the booths by the window.
She stopped short when she spotted Nathan Riddell sitting with his family at one booth.
He was staring right at her. Since he’d started working for her father, she ran into him often.
It was always awkward. He wasn’t nearly as personable as Joey Mac.
In fact, he was a lot like her father: quiet and kind of brooding.
At times, like now, he seemed to be watching her with disapproval.
Since she didn’t care in the least what he thought of her, she looked away without greeting him and headed to the empty booth in the corner.
Except as she drew closer, she realized the booth wasn’t empty.
Miss Applegate sat there. The woman held an open book in her hand, but she didn’t appear to be reading it.
Instead, she was staring out the window as if lost in thought.
She looked different. The drab clothes and tight bun were the same, but there was something about her face . . .
“You have makeup on!”
Miss Applegate startled and turned away from the window, making Cheyenne realize how abrupt and rude her comment had been.
“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to blurt that out.
My daddy always says I have no impulse control.
It’s just that you look so pretty—not that you don’t always look pretty.
It’s just that you look much prettier than you normally—” She cut off and mentally chastised herself.
Way to compliment someone, Cheyenne. Just shut up before you really hurt her feelings.
But Miss Applegate didn’t seem to be hurt. She smiled. For a woman who didn’t use it a lot, she had a really nice smile—soft and warm and friendly. “Thank you, Cheyenne. I was terrified that I looked like a clown.”
“You don’t.” Cheyenne leaned closer. “Although you might want to blend your blush some more. You look a little flushed.” Miss Applegate brushed at her cheeks, and when she took her hands away, she still looked flushed.
Cheyenne figured it was just her natural skin tone, so she lied. “That’s much better, Miss Applegate.”
“Please call me Jolene. I feel like we’re friends after spending Thanksgiving together.” Jolene nervously played with the strand of pearls around her neck. “Is your father with you?”
“No. I’m just waiting on my to-go order. How’s the book?”
Jolene glanced down at the book as if she’d forgotten it was in her hands. “Oh. I just started it so I can’t really say.” She closed the book and set it down. “Do you want to join me while you wait?”
Since all the other booths were taken, Cheyenne nodded and slid into the other side. “Did you get the book at To the Moon?”
“As a matter of fact, I did.”
“It’s a great store, isn’t it? I helped out Emma on Black Friday weekend. We did a bang up business. Of course, I’d much rather work at the hardware store. I like tools more than books. Although my daddy only lets me work there on the weekends. He wants me studying after school.”
“School is important.”
“Yeah, but I can work at the hardware store after school and still get my homework done. Daddy just doesn’t listen to reason. It’s his way or the highway.”
Jolene laughed. “That sounds like my father.”
“So I guess daddies don’t get better as they get older?”
“Not mine, but that doesn’t mean that yours won’t. Your father seems much more flexable than mine.”
“Then you don’t know him very well,” Cheyenne grumbled. “Daddy doesn’t give on hardly anything and he’s gotten even more stubborn since my mama left. It’s like he thinks single parents need to be meaner than double ones.”
Jolene hesitated a moment before she spoke. “I guess your mother isn’t in the picture.”
Cheyenne looked away from Jolene’s compassionate eyes and shrugged.
“She wants to be. But I figure if she wanted to be a part of my life so badly, she shouldn’t have left.
And she certainly shouldn’t have married some guy with two kids.
” Just thinking about her mom and her new family made Cheyenne want to hit something .
. . or cry. Jolene must’ve read her conflicting emotions because she reached across the table and covered Cheyenne’s hand.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not a big deal. I don’t care what my mom does.
” But if the knot in her stomach was any indication, that was a lie.
“She actually wanted me to be in the wedding. Can you believe that? After she deserted me and Dad and didn’t contact us for years, now she suddenly wants us to be best friends.
As if I would ever agree to be her maid of honor when she didn’t honor her wedding vows to my dad.
How do you think that would’ve made my dad feel if I’d run off to celebrate her getting married to some other guy? ”
“Is he upset about your mother remarrying?”
“He’s hard to read. He acts like he’s not, but I bet he is.
I mean if I feel so hurt about her becoming a mom to two other kids when she didn’t even want to stay and be a mom to me, then I can only imagine how Daddy feels about her choosing someone else to love.
” She hadn’t meant for the truth to come out—especially to a woman she barely knew—but there was no way to backpedal now.
Jolene didn’t seem shocked by her confession.
“I understand why you would be hurt,” Jolene said as she gently squeezed her hand. “I would be hurt too.” She hesitated. “But people make mistakes, Cheyenne. Maybe your mother feels bad about leaving you and wants a chance to try to fix things.”
“She doesn’t deserve a chance.”
Jolene smiled sadly. “Everyone deserves a second chance.”
“My mom doesn’t. She not only left us. She also ran up all the credit card bills. If not for her, Daddy wouldn’t have to work so hard. And he wouldn’t distrust all women. He won’t even date because of her. I don’t think he’s had sex in years.”
Jolene’s cheeks grew even redder, and Cheyenne realized she had given the poor woman way too much information.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have run off at the mouth like that.
I can’t seem to shut up with you, but with Joey Mac, I can’t say a word.
” She sighed and slumped back in the booth. “I’m one hot mess.”
Jolene laughed. “Join the club. I’ve been a real hot mess lately too.”
“You have? You always seem so calm. Like nothing bothers you.”
“I’m just good at hiding my feelings. It’s much better to be like you and get them out.” Jolene glanced over at the soda fountain. “So you like Joey Mac?”
Cheyenne nodded. “Yeah, but he doesn’t like me.”
“How do you know?”
“Because why would he? We’re completely different. He’s popular and good looking and has lots of girls chasing after him. I’m unpopular and average looking and have no boys chasing after me.”
Jolene nodded. “I used to think that having a lot in common was what mattered most with attraction. But, recently, I’ve discovered that attraction doesn’t always make sense. It’s just something that happens. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Joey liked you.”
Hope filled Cheyenne. “You think?”
“I think it’s extremely possible. You’re a beautiful, smart young woman. Why wouldn’t he?”
Jolene’s praise gave Cheyenne a boost of confidence.
Why wouldn’t Joey like her? She was nice and pretty and smart.
All she had to do was show him. But when Joey arrived a few minutes later with her takeout order, all her confidence evaporated and all she could do was sit there like a bump on a log.
“Here you go, Cheyenne. Two cheeseburgers with everything. And one hamburger with no onions.” When she didn’t say anything, he turned to Jolene. “Can I get you another coffee, Miss Applegate? Or maybe something to eat?”
“No, thank you. So how’s school, Joey? I bet you’re looking forward to winter break.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Do you have any plans?”
“I have to work a lot so I’ll probably just hang around here. But me and a group of my friends were thinking about having a Christmas party—adult supervised, of course.”
“That sounds like fun.” Jolene glanced at Cheyenne. “Are you going, Cheyenne?”
Cheyenne blushed and was about to say she hadn’t been invited when Joey spoke.
“You’re more than welcome to come if you want.”
It was hard to talk around her thumping heart. Joey Mac had asked her to go to a party with him! But before she could say that she would love to, her father’s voice cut in.
“Cheyenne’s not going to any wild teenage party.” Her father strode up to the table and glare at Joey. “Do you understand me?”
Joey swallowed hard. “Umm . . . it’s not going to be wild, sir.”
“Sure it’s not. I wasn’t born yesterday. I’ve been to my share of teenage parties.”
“Yes, sir.” Joey backed away. “I better get back to the counter.”
When he was gone, Cheyenne wanted to scream at her father for totally ruining her life. But she refused to cause another scene in front of Joey. With tears brimming in her eyes, she slid out of the booth and grabbed the bag and tray of drinks. As she passed her father, she said only three words.
“I hate you.”