Page 164 of Seasons of Love
25
ELLIS
“Okay, you were right. Those were the best crab rolls I’ve ever had,” I say, wiping my mouth with a napkin and finishing my drink.
“Told you so.”
We’re sitting outside the small dive. There’s a bench with a view of the valley below, which is filled with rows upon rows of purple.
“This place is stunning,” I say.
“I used to bring my mom here. We’d spend hours looking at the view. That’s Reed Knox’s lavender farm down below.”
“Really? I know Reed. He helped out in the spring with the fair. I didn’t realize his farm was this huge.”
“Yeah, and apparently, Aiden Lawton and his husband live around here too.”
“No way, the A. Lawton? The author?”
“Yup.”
“Can’t say I blame them. Can you imagine waking up every morning to a view like this?”
Milo smiles. “It’s a nice dream to have.”
“Come on, let’s get back to town before we’re late and Tyler fires us,” I joke.
Milo calls Florrie to check on Sara while I drive us back. I find my usual parking spot by the church and we walk into the hall together.
Tyler looks at me and then at Milo.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“Sure. Milo, Emy, is sick today. She picked up some bug her kid brought home from kindergarten. I’m going to need you out front if that’s okay.”
Milo tenses. “Um…are you sure?”
Tyler comes over to Milo and puts a hand on his shoulder. “I need you there. If there are any issues, we’ll deal with it, okay?”
Milo nods.
We prepare the hall together while the others work on the food.
“What did Tyler mean?”
“Nothing, it’s not important.”
We’re carrying a table over to the center of the hall.
“Milo, I saw your reaction to Tyler’s request. It’s not nothing.”
He ignores me and lines up the table with the others, then goes back to the stack of chairs.
“Milo—”
“Just leave it, okay? It’s really nothing.”
He clearly doesn’t want to talk about it, and I doubt Tyler will say anything, but it doesn’t mean I’ll take my eyes off Milo until the end of the shift.
