"I'm here to take the overspill. There's enough of this town for both of us."
"More than enough." He looks tired in the way people look when they've been carrying too much for too long. "To be honest with you, Savannah, I've been hoping someone would come for years. I'm getting old. My knees are shot and this town has tripled since I started here." He leans forward. "I'm delighted you're opening. Truly."
I like him even more for saying it straight.
We chat for a while and then Dad and I leave and cross the road to Ruby's Diner and my stomach lifts a little because Ruby's is the one thing in this town that has never in my memory been anything other than exactly what it is.
Ruby herself is at the door before we're through it. "Oh my god. Savannah." She comes at me with her arms out and hugs me the way small women who are mostly personality hug, which is completely and without reservation. "Welcome home, sweetheart."
"I couldn't not come in on my first day back. I've been thinking about your pecan pie for about six months."
She beams and shows us to a table by the window. "Now what are we having?"
"Coffee and apple pie," Dad says, without looking at the menu.
"Strawberry milkshake and the pecan pie."
Ruby points at me. "I could have guessed that. It was always your favourite when you came in with Austin." She smiles the smile of someone who knows exactly what they're doing and walks away before I can respond.
Dad laughs.
"Don't," I say.
"I didn't say a word."
"You laughed."
"I smiled. There's a difference." He folds his hands on the table. "Aren't you going to ask about him?"
"No." I straighten my napkin. "I'll run into him at some point. There's no need to go looking for information."
"He asks about you, you know."
I look up. "What? When do you talk to him?"
"I take the car to the garage. He's there sometimes. He used to come over for dinner for a while, years ago, but that stopped."
Something moves through my chest that I don't examine. "He probably found someone else to occupy his time."
"Savannah."
"I'm just saying."
Ruby arrives back with our order and saves me from having to say anything else. My milkshake tastes exactly like my memories. Cold, sweet and specific to this place. I wrap both hands around the glass and I don't think about Austin.
I'm thinking about Austin.
Ruby hovers.
This is what Ruby does, she orbits tables she's interested in, and I've known her long enough to know she has something she's working up to. I let her get there in her own time.
"So," she says, leaning her hip against the booth. "You'll be seeing a lot of those boys now you're back."
She nods toward the window. As if on cue, I hear it before I see it, the low rumble of engines, and I look up to see four bikes are rolling slowly down the main street. My heart jumps before I tell it not to.
"Is one of them? " I start, and then I stop, because I don't want to finish that sentence.
"Oh, look at those handsome men," Ruby says, watching them go. "They're here most days. Take it in turns to pick up lunch and bring it back. Regular as clockwork."