Relapse

“Sprite for me,” Tanner says and Aiden repeats the same drink.

I’m unsurprised when Jamille requests a coke.

The waitress leaves us with our menus to look over and I glance at options for Lilly first, deciding on the mac and cheese for her. When I look at my own menu, my mouth starts to water slightly at all the possible options.

“There’s so much. I don’t know what I want.”

“Right?” Jamille says, looking over the top of her menu at me. “You know anytime I come here, I have the hardest time picking out what I want even though I tell myself that I’m going to order something different the next time I come.”

I shake my head looking at the baby back ribs before my eyes move over to the assortment of burgers. “A girl could die here and go perfectly happy.”

When the waitress returns with our drinks, I’m still unsure of what I want so I ask for chips and queso as my appetizer. When she leaves, I finally settle on a double bacon cheeseburger with onion rings stacked on it, sautéed mushrooms, and some type of special sauce.

“Burger for me, Aunt Ivy,” Tanner says, flipping his kids menu over and grabbing the crayons in it to start scribbling.

The waitress comes back and we order our food.

“I still need to get down to your coffee place,” I tell Jamille.

“Are you big on coffee? If not, there’s a bunch of assorted treats for you to enjoy.”

“I basically live off of coffee at this point, and sweets.” I don’t mention that it’s because I need it to curb my cravings for a cigarette, which have gotten worse since my slip up with the weed.

“Oh, I’ll have you covered when you come in. If you want, you can come by after you drop Tanner off at school next week and we can enjoy breakfast and be kid free together.” She whispers the last part.

“I heard that,” Aiden says.

Jamille laughs and reaches over to ruffle his hair. “Of course you did, Sweetie.”

We continue to chat until our food comes out and the first bite of my burger is like heaven. It’s greasy and juicy, and the sauce is sweet and flavorful. “Oh my god, that’s good.”

“I told you,” Jamille says as she tears into the buffalo wings she ordered.

We eat in near silence the food is so good. Even Lilly eats all of her mac and cheese, some of it ending up on the high chair and her clothes, but she makes it work.

When the waitress comes out with our receipts, Jamille hands out her card but pauses when the woman goes to take it. “Can you tell your manager I’d like to see him, tell him Ivy is here.”

The waitress’ eyes widen slightly in worry and I look at Jamille questioningly, wondering what’s wrong. She just sips at her coke.

The waitress disappears and I turn to start cleaning Lilly up. Her face is full of gooey cheese and there’s a bunch of mushed noodles on her clothes. Somehow she’s even managed to get some of it in her hair, but at this point it doesn’t even surprise me anymore.

“Hey Jamille.” The deep voice comes from behind me but I instantly recognize it and my eyes shoot over to Jamille, who’s grinning.

“Hey Nathan,” she says with a smirk on her face.

“Ivy,” my name rolls off of his tongue in a way that’s starting to become way too familiar for my liking.

I place the napkin on the table and slowly turn as my heart rate picks up. Nathan stands just in front of me, a smile on his face. He’s wearing a pair of jeans and shirt that matches the ones the other staff are wearing, but it’s slightly different.

“Hey Nathan, I didn’t know you were the manager here,” I turn my head slightly to look at Jamille, but she’s still grinning at me.

“Ah, yes, technically I’m the owner, but Jamille always asks for the manager when she comes in. I think she does it just to scare my employees.” His tone is good natured and he offers the woman in question a smile and she only shrugs in response. “I tend to return the sentiment when I go down to her new place since it’s close to here.”

A silence falls over the group and I don’t miss when Nathan’s eyes pause briefly on my neck. Finally, his gaze turns as he reaches out a hand to ruffle Lilly’s head. She laughs before Tanner and Aiden are both calling him coach and asking questions about baseball.

I look across the table and there isn’t an ounce of guilt in Jamille’s face as she shrugs and starts to sip her coke again.

“I took these from the waitress when she came back,” Nathan says going in his pocket and pulling out two cards. “It’s on the house.”