Having zero men in her life had to be less complicated than what she was dealing with now. With that thought firmly in mind, she started walking again and didn’t stop until she came to the Royal Diner. She stepped inside and a wave of air-conditioned air slid across her skin. Grateful, she sighed a little, looked around the room and spotted her friend and assistant, Gracie Diaz. Thankful to get her life back to normal, Beth smiled and headed toward the booth in the back.
The Royal Diner hadn’t changed in decades. Well, that wasn’t quite true. There had been updates of course, but when the work was done, the color scheme and feel of the place remained the same. Black-and-white checkerboard-tiled floor, red faux-leather booths and even a working juke box on one wall.
Sooner or later, everyone in Royal stopped in at the diner, and so naturally it was the gossip hub. Anything you wanted to know, you could discover here. She couldn’t help wondering how long it would be before she and Cam were the latest hot topic of conversation.
She waved to Amanda Battles, who owned the diner along with her sister, Pam.
When Beth was halfway to her booth, Pam called out, “Hi, Beth! The usual?”
“Yes, thanks. You’re a lifesaver.” She slid into the seat opposite Gracie and set her cream-colored bag beside her on the bench seat.
“Rough morning?” Gracie quipped and smiled.
“You have no idea.” A wry smile curved her mouth briefly. She really needed this time with a friend. To cool down. To regain some sort of stability after that quick, devastating encounter with Cam.
Looking across the table at Gracie, Beth saw warm brown eyes, long, straight dark hair that fell, as Beth’s did, straight down her back. She wore a pale yellow sleeveless summer blouse and khaki slacks with a pair of sandals that Beth had coveted since the first time she had seen them.
Gracie had grown up on the Wingate ranch, since her parents had worked for Beth’s parents. As kids, they’d played and run wild on the ranch. In school, they hadn’t really hung out because Beth was three years older than Gracie. But at the ranch, they’d been close and supported each other through the inevitable crushes on boys. And when Gracie had graduated from college, Beth had hired her as an administrative assistant. Best move she’d ever made, since Gracie was as organized as Beth, and together they kept the many different charities Beth managed straight and growing.
Gracie studied her for a long minute, then said, “Okay, something is really going on. Tell me.”
Beth waited as Pam served her the usual. A club sandwich and a tall glass of unsweetened black ice tea. “Thanks, Pam.”
“You bet.” She turned to Gracie. “Can I get you another soda?”
“No, thanks. I’m good.” To prove it, she took a sip, then idly picked up one of the french fries that accompanied her burger.
“Okay then,” Pam said. She looked at both women and added, “Need anything, just ask.”
There was comfort, Beth thought, in the ordinary. In the routine of life in Royal. Of knowing the people in town and realizing that they knew and cared for her, too. So she’d just cling to that mental comfort while she thought about the discomfort of seeing Cam.
She took a sip of tea and blurted, “I just ran into Camden at the bank.”
Gracie, being the excellent friend she was, didn’t need more. “Oh, my God! That had to be awful. Everyone watching...”
“Exactly.” That had actually been the hardest part of the whole thing. Beth had felt the curious gazes locked on the pair of them, as if everyone at the bank had been waiting for a big scene. Heck, she’d half expected one herself. The last time she and Cam had talked, it hadn’t gone well.
“How’s he look?” Gracie asked.
“Delicious,” Beth muttered.
“Uh-oh.”
Beth’s gaze shot to her friend’s. “Oh, no. No worries there. He’s gorgeous and tall and sexy and—” She stopped and took a breath. If she really wanted her hormones to die down, she had to stop thinking about just how good Cam had looked. “It doesn’t matter. I made my choice fifteen years ago.”
“Uh-huh.”
It was Gracie’s sarcastic tone more than her words that caught Beth’s attention. “I’m sorry? W
hose side are you on again?”
“Yours, but,” her friend added, “I know bull when I hear it, too.”
Like a balloon meeting a sharp pin, Beth simply deflated. Shoulders slumped, she took another sip of her tea and admitted, “Fine. I’m still susceptible to the Guthrie magic.”
“There you go. The first step is admitting you have a problem.”
Beth laughed shortly. “Is there a Getting Over Cam Guthrie meeting I could attend?”