Chapter 2
He was joking when he mentioned the curly-haired girl to Lucy, never imagining Elizabeth Dorsey would be at Ella’s Diner.
Seeing her erased the tension from his confrontation with Travis.
First, the man accused him of hiring the loggers without a contract.
Ryder knew nothing of it. Then of ordering a hundred and seventy-five feet of cherrywood to restore the old fire tower.
Was he crazy? His initial order for the tower was pine.
But sure enough, his name was on the invoice. He had no recourse but to deny it.
“Are you back in Hearts Bend?” Elizabeth said. “I thought you worked out west.”
“I was…out west. I came back.” He remembered Elizabeth as brilliant and ambitious with a clear view of her future. And beautiful. Always beautiful. Even under that Ella’s hat. “So, what are you doing here?”
“Another summer gig, if you can believe it. Working at Dorsey during the day, and Ella’s at night. I’m heading to the Wharton School in the fall.”
“Wharton? Good for you. I knew you’d get what you wanted.”
“Never doubt.” Her smile lacked a bit of light, which made him curious.
But wow, it was good to see her. How many Saturday nights did he sit at this very counter waiting for her to get off work?
Then go to her grandparents’ basement to watch a movie, eating Ella’s burgers and falling asleep on either end of the sofa.
Summer after summer, they stayed in the friend zone.
Then the year she headed to college, the Dorseys threw her a going-away party, and when he danced with her under the outdoor lights, his pulse was a runaway train. All he wanted to do was to kiss her.
“Lucy said you wanted to see me?”
“Right, I did. Yes.” He pulled out of the past into the present. “An order I placed last week was canceled.” He showed her the receipt. “I’d like to place it again. It seems that the TWRA can’t afford a few chicken baskets with kids’ toys.”
Elizabeth’s fingers brushed his when she reached for the order form. “Does the TWRA need a few chicken baskets with kids’ toys?”
“I teach fire and wildlife safety at the Kids Theater. Food is a great enticement.”
“And our tax dollars won’t pay for it?”
Ryder tapped the order form. “Apparently not. Tina even gives us a huge discount.”
“This sounds like politics.”
She had no idea. “I’d like to reorder these, please. Pay out of pocket.”
“Ah, the riches of the humble park ranger.” She laughed softly, a slight blush on her cheeks. “I’ll put this in for you.”
“Here you go, Beth.” Ryder turned to see Jeff Simmons, Elizabeth’s cousin, walking toward them from the front door, jiggling a set of keys. “Four new tires with a spare in the trunk. You got the Tina Danner discount.”
“More than a discount.” Elizabeth reached for her keys. “She’s paying for them.”
“Yeah, well, Marty’s still trying to marry her, so my guess is she’ll never see that bill. Hey, Ryder, what’s up?” Jeff slapped hands with Ryder, the WMA officer, who actually had more authority in this town than Jeff.
“Ordering food for the kids tomorrow.” He glanced at Elizabeth and tripped into her sky-colored eyes. “Catching up with your cousin here.”
“Don’t get too close. She’s leaving in the fall.”
“Yeah, she said her plans were in play,” Ryder said. “Headed to the Wharton School.”
“Don’t be jealous, boys. I’ll remember you all when I’m sitting in my executive boardroom, running a Fortune 100 company.”
“I’m sure Granny won’t let you forget,” Jeff said. “Hey, Beth, can I get a burger plate to go?” He pulled out a money clip and handed over a twenty.
As she waved Lucy over to take the order, Ryder looked and listened in as she chatted with Jeff about her new tires, shades of his younger, more carefree days, cooling his ire with Travis.
“Did I need four new ones? I’ve only had the car a couple of months.”
“Your parents got ripped off with whatever tires they bought. You needed them.”
“Is Tina now obligated to marry Marty?” The best mechanic in Hearts Bend had been after Tina Danner for as long as Elizabeth could remember.
Jeff laughed. “Tina’s not marrying anyone she doesn’t want to marry.”
Ryder half listened and half drifted down memory lane to the summer nights they played volleyball or dodgeball on the Dorsey property, Pops Dorsey grilling out, hosting guitar pulls with Buck Mathews before he got super famous. It was the only time in Ryder’s life he felt loved. Accepted.
The Dorseys were very different from his family. Ryder spent far too many lonely nights at the Donovan house, eating frozen dinners and playing video games.
“Hey, man, tell her.” Jeff slapped Ryder’s shoulder. “Tell her family helps family.”
“Well, that’s the general idea,” Ryder said, his gaze crossing Elizabeth’s. She knew a little bit about his teenage home situation, where family didn’t always help family.
“Tina’s not family,” she said. “She’s a friend. A good friend, but still—”
“Close enough,” Jeff said, then responded to a call on his shoulder radio just as Lucy brought out his order. As he headed for the door, he pointed to Ryder. “Beth, have him tell you about the time he saved my life.”
Ryder made a face. “He’s exaggerating. I did not save his life. Back to my chicken basket order, I think I’d like to add a dozen boxes.”
“Let me get Tina’s iPad.” Elizabeth disappeared through the kitchen doors, returning a few moments later with the tablet.
“When do you need this?” He told her Thursday around four o’clock. She tapped on the screen, then handed him an Apple Pencil to sign on the bottom line.
“You’re lucky, you know. To have a family who cares.”
“I know,” she said. “It’s just odd. My dad was the only Dorsey to move away. I sometimes feel like I don’t deserve all this familial affection. Then there were two years where I—” She smiled. “I should be more grateful. So, how are you?”
“Living the dream.”
“Nice cliché.”
He laughed. “I am. I always wanted to be a ranger.”
“I remember. I think of you every time I see Smokey Bear.”
“So, once, twice in the last seven years?”
“Actually, I went hiking six years ago in Colorado. I saw Smokey every day.”
“So, what made you decide to leave the big Yankee city for luxurious Hearts Bend?”
“Getting some experience before Wharton working in Dorsey’s financial office and moonlighting as a diner night manager. It’ll give me some good stuff for my pre-exercise work going into my first term.”
“Always the achiever.”
“Yep, that’s me.” But her voice was strangely low and unconvincing.
“Dad suggested Dorsey Furniture. ‘It’s a Fortune 10,000 company,’ he said.
” Elizabeth glanced toward the kitchen. “I should get back to work, but it was good to see you. I’ll make sure Tina has those chicken baskets ready for you tomorrow. ”
Ryder reached for her hand. “It was good to see you too.”
As he exited the diner into Buck’s country sounds, the warmth of her hand lingering in his, he tightened the strings around his heart.
Beth’s presence had loosened them. Still.
After all these years. He’d have to be careful this summer, or he’d do something stupid and fall in love.
As he made his way across the street toward the music-filled Gardenia Park, he couldn’t help but glance back at the diner and, for one inhale and one exhale, imagine a future with the lovely curly-headed brunette.
Of all her plans for the summer, running into Ryder Donovan was not one of them. His presence lingered with her the rest of the night.
Around nine thirty, as business began to wane, Elizabeth set aside thoughts of the handsome WMA agent and plopped down at Tina’s desk with a large, icy tea, a plate of piping-hot fries, and a burger with no bun.
In between bites, she worked through the receipts and tallied the tips.
She counted the cash and punched the evening numbers into QuickBooks.
Her eyes burned from lack of sleep combined with the greasy kitchen air.
Tina ran the best vent system in the business, but on nights like tonight, some of the hiss and sizzle lingered.
She relished the idea of sleeping in tomorrow, but Tuesday morning was the all-hands meeting at Dorsey and a big day for the accounting department.
In spare moments, she worked with the small marketing team Will had recently put together.
She’d gain all the experience she could before grad school.
At ten, she locked the diner’s front door, rolled up her sleeves, and broke down the kitchen with the rest of the crew, volunteering to finish mopping so Cade could clock out.
“Elizabeth, we’re going over to the park. You should join us.” Lucy paused by the fry vat, waiting for her boyfriend, D’Angelo, to finish cleaning up. He was the strong, silent type and a bull in the kitchen. “Buck’s set is over, but some other folks play until midnight.”
“I wish I could, but I have an early day tomorrow,” Elizabeth said. “Good job tonight.”
At her locker, she pulled out her backpack, checking her phone for messages. Granny had texted “Don’t work too hard!” three hours ago.
She’d checked her Wharton application—just to see. No movement toward acceptance. She’d been to the campus, had a tour, sat in a class, joked with the admissions team. She felt sure she should have an acceptance letter by now.
Drained from the length of her day, she shut off the lights, locked the diner, and walked through the warm Tennessee evening toward her car—and its shiny new tires—with sounds of music rolling over the top of the diner.
Ten years ago, the town had still worn its old-fashioned ways with the downtown sidewalks rolling up at the proverbial five o’clock. Only the diner remained open. And a stroll down any Hearts Bend street had folks waving at you from their front porch.