Page 257 of Where We Stay

His mom shakes her head, but she’s smiling. “What happened afterward?”

Jerry answers before I can. “She stood there looking at me like she expected to be fired. I told her if she was going to break customers, she needed to do it off the clock.”

Everyone laughs while I roll my eyes.

“You left out the part where you made me apologize,” I remind him.

“You did apologize.”

“I said, ‘Sorry you grabbed the wrong girl.’”

Rory claps her hands. “Oh, I love you.”

“Careful, Aurora,” Knox says from across the table. “I thought I was your favorite.”

Rory gives him a flat look. “You’re not even in the top ten.”

Knox presses a hand to his chest. “That hurts.”

“You’ll live.”

Dean slides his arm across the back of my chair. “I’m starting to understand why Jerry calls you a menace.”

“I was delightful,” I tell him.

Jerry scoffs. “You once threw a drink over a man for insulting my haircut.”

“That was justified.” I take a sip of my drink. “Although, it was a really bad haircut.”

Jerry points at me. “Careful.”

He tells them a few more stories from the bar. Nothing important—crossword puzzles with regulars, flooded floors and all the fries I stole from his plate because free food tastes better.

And somehow, all of it matters.

Every time I glance at Dean, he’s listening like he’s collecting pieces of the person I was before Hartwell. Before him.

Dean’s mom reaches across the table and touches my hand. “You must have been very special to him.”

I look at Jerry, and his expression softens.

“She still is,” he says.

My throat tightens. “Alright. Enough feelings.”

Jerry smiles. “Still terrible at those too.”

“Consistent queen.”

Rory raises her glass. “To consistency.”

We all laugh, and the conversation moves on.

By the time dessert is cleared, I feel warm in a way that has nothing to do with the fire. Dean’s hand slips into mine beneath the table, and when I look over, he gives me the smallest nod.

My stomach flips.

Across the table, Aspen notices. Her entire face changes.