Draw (Gentry Boys #1)(44)

By the time I dressed and coaxed the Civic the mile to Cluck This, I was beginning to sense the tedium of the long hours which stretched between now and the time I would see Cord again. Customers streamed through steadily, as they always did, and I found myself looking to the door with hope every time it opened, thinking Cord might casually drop by.

Another waitress, a girl named Truly, poked me in the side as I stumbled lazily through my shift.

“Look lively, new girl,” she teased, shaking her head. Her hair was jet black and partially shaved on one side. “You get laid or something last night? That why you’re ambling along in this dreamy fugue?”

I made a face. “I guess I’m more transparent than I thought.”

“Nah,” she shrugged. “I’m just more perceptive than everyone else.” Her dark eyes looked me over merrily. “So he was good, huh? I guess that’s why you’re all walkin’ funny and shit.” I must have appeared a little shocked because she was quick to laugh. “Don’t worry, no one else will be able to tell, sugar. I warned you I’m awful observant.”

I laughed and tried to energetically proceed with my job but checking the time every ninety seconds kept interfering. Around five o’clock I realized I was starving so I took a break and grabbed a chicken sandwich from Martin, the chef, before settling into the staff table in the rear. When my phone buzzed in my back pocket I smiled, hoping it was Cord. No such luck.

“Hey, Mom.”

My mother’s voice was raspy and irritable, just the way I remembered. “Saylor. How come I had to find out from your * father that you’re back in the state?”

I didn’t feel like apologizing. “Yeah,” I said coolly, “I am. I left you a voicemail two weeks ago. You never called me back.”

“Well,” she huffed. “You didn’t say it was important. What happened? John said you took off on your boyfriend or something.”

“Or something,” I said flatly. I didn’t want to talk about Devin.

She sighed on the other end. I tried to picture her; skinny, crabby and with a perpetually showing bra strap. My father had been her high school boyfriend. She’d had a scholarship to ASU which went to waste when she got pregnant and stayed in Emblem instead. Amy McCann was one of those mothers who seemed befuddled by the role. When I was younger it used to hurt that even getting her attention was such a chore.

The only honest conversation we’d ever had was when I was thirteen. She’d been drinking all afternoon in the kitchen and when I rolled through the door after school, she looked at me clearly and asked if I wanted to be like her. I’d stared at my mother, taking in her over processed hair, garish fingernails and the remnants of the prison guard uniform she had halfway removed. And I told her no. No, I did not. My mother nodded as if she approved and told me to work my ass off to make sure things went differently.

I had hoped that maybe when she exited her miserable marriage and I left home, we’d find our way to some sort of mutual affection. So far that hadn’t really happened.

“I don’t have any money to give you,” she said huffily and I heard the click of a lighter.

“Oh. Well, don’t worry. Streetwalking pays pretty well.”

“What?”

“Nothing. So how are you, Ma?”

Her mood immediately brightened. “Oh, baby. Everything is fantastic. I’m sorry we haven’t had a chance to talk about it. I’m getting married, Say!”

“Huh?”

“Saturday, at Rooster’s Roast.”

“Wait, what?”

“Ceremony is at 4pm. You think you could pick me up a floral bouquet? Something with gerbera daisies?”

“MOM!”

She paused. “What’s wrong?”

I rubbed my temples and stared down at my chicken sandwich. “Let’s start at the beginning. Who the hell are you marrying?”

“Gary Chavez. You’ve got to remember Gary.”

I blinked in disbelief. “Gary the Gnome?” Gary Chavez was the mayor of Emblem when I was teenager. He earned his nickname for obvious reasons. I tried to picture The Gnome with his hands on my mother. Then I tried to picture him as my stepfather. Both attempts were miserable fails.

“That’s nice,” I managed to say. “But you’re getting married this Saturday to Gary Chavez and the Rooster’s Roast and you’re only telling me now?”

I heard my mother blow smoke out of her mouth in a hiss. “I just said so, didn’t I?”

It was pointless to argue. “Yes, you did. Gerbera daisies? I think I can handle that. Is it okay if I wear black?”

She was confused. “All right. You’ll be hot though. The ceremony is going to be out on the back patio.”

“Okay. I’ll show up naked then. With my boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend. What boyfriend? You don’t have a boyfriend anymore. That’s what John said.”

“Dad doesn’t know. I just found about it myself. His name is Cord.”

“Cord,” she repeated, but I could tell she was losing interest. “Terrific. Well, I’m actually up to my eyeballs in wedding prep so I need to skate here. But I can’t wait to see you on Saturday.”

“Me too. Hey, congratulations to you and Gary.”