Page 126 of Come Back to Me

Valerie rushes back over to us with our appetizer in one hand. She drops it in front of us, and I get a whiff of the soft and warm pretzel along with the beer cheese sauce and whole grain mustard.

“Are you guys ready to order lunch?”

Violet nods. “Can I have the Southwest Chicken Salad?”

Valerie types on her portable machine, sending Violet’s order to the kitchen. “What dressing do you want with it?”

“Ranch on the side please.”

“And for you, sir?” Valerie asks me with a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

“The traditional wing basket with barbecue sauce.”

“Do you want ranch or blue cheese?”

“I’ll do ranch.”

Valerie gives us a thumbs up. “So, what brings you two back to town?”

“We went to visit my mom,” I say.

“How is she doing?” Valerie focuses on my face.

“She’s good. I found out that she’s moving into Laura’s house until she can find an apartment. I think it’s more of a safety net for her more than anything, but I’m excited for her.”

“Well, I’m happy to hear that. Your mom is about to start a new chapter in her life story. It’s exciting.” Valerie glances over at some of the tables behind us. “I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll try to chat more with you guys when there’s a lull of some kind.” She walks away from us to help her other customers.

I gesture to Violet to take a piece of the pretzel, but she puts her hand in front of my face. “No, you can take the first piece.”

“You do realize there might be nothing left after this, right?” I smirk.

“Haha, you’re so funny.”

When we were dating, Violet would let me taste a lot of her meals when we’d go out to eat, and she’d give me shit for it because sometimes I’d eat too much of it.

I rip off a decent piece of the pretzel, and the steam from it makes its way up to the ceiling. I dip it into the beer cheese sauce and stick it into my mouth.

Fuck, that’s so good.

“It must be pretty good if it made you roll your eyes back that hard.”

Man, I wish I could say what I’m thinking to her right now, but it would be very inappropriate. Noah’s rubbing off on me too much.

I grab a smaller piece, dipping it in the cheese and handing it over to her. Violet takes a bite, and a soft moan comes out of her mouth.

“Food always tastes better when you’re hangry.”

“Mm-hm,” she says.

It takes us less than seven minutes to eat the entire pretzel and suck up the beer cheese sauce and most of the whole grain mustard.

Valerie appears right before our very eyes. “It appears you guys never got your pretzel.”

Violet giggles quickly turn into a laugh that causes her to cough.

“Drink some water.” I gently rub her back with my hand in a circular motion.

Violet picks up her glass and puts her lips in between the straw, drinking slowly.