The Memory Keeper: A Heartwarming, Feel-Good Romance(14)
Liam pulled out a chair for Hannah.
“Thanks,” she said, sitting down next to him.
“All right, y’all. It’s getting late and we need to have a game plan,” Georgia said, slipping a rubber band off her wrist and onto her newly piled ponytail in one fluid motion, copper-brown tendrils falling around her face. “Are we driving all the way through, or are we gonna stop for the night?”
A waitress clunked three plastic cups of tap water and a pile of menus onto the table beside them, as she eyed and then dismissed the bag of dog treats next to Georgia. Liam had been busy catching up with missed messages on his phone when he finally turned his attention to the waitress, only then becoming aware of what Hannah was already taking in: the waitress, a tall woman with a generally bored expression and wiry ringlets that fell in frizzy bundles to each shoulder, was wearing a sweater with the words Yep, this is my life! embroidered on the front.
Liam and Hannah shot a quick glance at one another, and Hannah hid behind her menu so as not to burst into laughter at the sight of his face when he’d seen the woman’s sweater. They both must have been loopy from exhaustion because the two of them were biting back their amusement. Hannah looked away so as not to make a scene, but when she turned back to Liam, she caught him gazing at her curiously.
“Back in a sec for your orders,” the woman said. “I’m Rose. Just call over if you need me. I’ll be behind the bar.”
Hannah scanned the appetizer options: loaded onion rings, chili-cheese fries, two-alarm jalape?o nachos… None of the choices hitting the mark, she looked up from her menu. “How far into the trip have we gotten?” she asked. Despite the lighter atmosphere, her head was still aching from stress, and she had a pinch in her shoulder that was making it difficult to sit. She maneuvered around awkwardly to have space at the small table.
“We’re not even halfway yet,” Liam replied, scooting his chair into the aisle a bit to give Hannah more room between him and the wall. “We’ve got about nine more hours to go, so I can’t imagine pushing through. Are we all on board with staying the night somewhere?”
“I’m definitely up for finding a hotel,” Georgia said, unzipping the bag of dog biscuits and discreetly dropping one into her handbag.
Although Hannah wanted to get to Gran as quickly as humanly possible, she needed to climb into a warm shower, lather herself up, stand in the stream of water until the heat of it soaked through to her bones, and then crawl into bed. She nodded. “Me too.”
“While we eat, I’ll see if I can book something a few hours from here.” He tapped on his phone screen. “That’ll get us to the midpoint.”
Hannah texted her mom to let her know where she was, and to tell her about Gran’s delivery tomorrow at ten o’clock. When her mom didn’t respond, the niggling worry that things wouldn’t get done at The Memory Keeper bothered her. The last thing Gran needed right now was to pay for inventory she couldn’t sell because it had all frozen outside the door. Hannah put her phone down and looked at her menu again while Liam scrolled through hotels on his cell.
The waitress materialized. “Are you all ready to order?” she asked, her fountain pen poised above a pad of paper.
Hannah tried to scan the options quickly, none of them sounding at all appealing. Everything was fried, and given the events of the day, it would all settle like a cinder block in her stomach if she tried to eat any of it. “I’ll just have your side salad,” she said, unable to find a suitable meal option.
The waitress observed her inquisitively for a second before she offered an indifferent shrug and scratched the note down on her pad of paper. The lights of the stage at the end of the restaurant came on, and a man set up a microphone. “What dressing?” the woman asked. “We’ve got ranch, blue cheese, and Italian.”
Hannah deliberated. “I’ll take ranch, please. Is he going to sing?” she asked, waggling her finger at the man.
“No, that’s the manager. Our singer is late. He’d better hurry or he’ll let down all the fans,” she said dryly, while waving her arm around the near-empty restaurant.
Amusement floated its way back into Liam’s face, and he tipped his head down to make his dinner selection. “I’ll have the same,” he said, offering Hannah a grin of solidarity from behind his menu.
“Ranch dressing okay?” the waitress asked, unaffected.
“Ranch is fine,” Liam answered.
Georgia tapped her finger on the menu under one of the entrees. “I’ll have the double cheeseburger with the works, an order of fries, the cheese stick and marinara appetizer, and the loaded potato skins.” She closed the menu and handed it to the waitress.
Liam and Hannah peered over at Georgia in unison. How could Georgia even fit that much food into her waif-like body?
“What?” Georgia said, as the woman collected the menus. “I’m starving. I’ll share my appetizer with y’all if you want.”
“That’s okay,” Hannah said, smiling at her, laughing inside again as Liam caught her eye. She liked how they kept doing that, and she realized this was the first time she could remember all day when she was actually enjoying herself.
A loud squeal from the microphone pierced Hannah’s ears, sending her gaze over to the stage. “Sorry, folks,” the manager said, his voice echoing through the amplifiers. “Our singer tonight is… late. We’re trying to find a replacement.”