“Well, I’ll be damned.” Mr. Lewis comes out of the back in his usual brown pants and white shirt. His white apron is folded and tied around his waist. His white hat is on his head. “If it isn’t Miss Kallie.”

“In the flesh,” I say to him, and he smiles. “How’ve you been?”

“Never better,” he says. “You grab a seat, and I’ll send out Delores.”

I walk over to an empty table in the middle of the room. “Are those jukeboxes?” Olivia asks, pointing at one of the booths with the classic jukeboxes on the table.

“Yeah,” Casey says, holding the chair for her to sit in. “Some work and some don’t.”

“That is so cool,” she says, looking around at the old pictures that line the wall.

When Delores comes over, I order a root beer float and a cheeseburger with the works. Olivia looks at the menu, asking for the same and then looks at me. “There is no salad on that menu.”

“I think there is a piece of lettuce in the burger,” I say, throwing my head back and laughing. When the door opens and the bell rings, my heart stops in my chest.

“You did not.” I hear Beau say when Savannah laughs and looks over her shoulder at Jacob who just smiles at her walking in.

“This should be interesting,” Olivia says from beside me, but she isn’t the only one thinking that.

Chapter Thirteen

Jacob

The door closes behind them, and I think it’s only then that I breathe for the first time since I walked in.

I tried to keep my cool in the meeting, tried to ignore that she was so close to me. When Grady asked her if she was dating anyone, I wanted to slam my hand on the table. The meeting in my office didn’t go any better when she stepped out with him. I counted to seven hundred, and he wasn’t back yet, so I made an excuse of needing water. I wasn’t ready to catch him with his hand on her arm. I wanted to rip his arm out of his socket.

I kept my calm, but when she walked out of the room and had a panic attack in front of me, I snapped. I lost my cool, and I did everything I shouldn’t do like take her in my arms and hold her without thinking or telling myself not to. Having her in my arms shifted things in me. I set her down and want to hold her hand, but instead, I watch Olivia talk to her. My chest feels like it’s being crushed seeing her hurt. I shouldn’t fucking care, yet nothing will stop it. I’ve loved her my whole life. I still love her.