“There is no alley on Cipher Street,” I said, frowning. There was a small space between the brick buildings, but it wasn't a road. It was basically just a place to store the business trashcans until trash day.
“There is if you're on a motorcycle.” He grinned. “Car won't fit, but the bike goes everywhere.”
My jaw hung open. I could imagine him weaving through the plastic trash bins on his bike. It was dangerous, but it had meant he won.
“I think that's cheating,” I told him, crossing my arms. “That's not a road.”
“Neither is the alley on Ash,” he replied, his grin telling me that he knew he had me.
I scrunched my nose, trying to think of a way to disqualify him, but he had beaten me. “Fine.” I let my hands fall to my sides. “I'll buy your drink.”
“Excellent.” He straightened up from his bike and grinned at me as we entered Betty's Diner.
Betty's was the local watering hole. To be honest, it was the only watering hole with food. Riversville was small, which meant that we had the bakery, the grocery store deli, a McDonald's, a Taco Bell, a pizza place that changed names every year but the pizza never changed, Rob's Bar, and Betty's Diner. If you didn't want to cook, the options were rather limited.
However, Betty's Diner had the best food. Even after living in Chicago, I could say that Betty's burgers were better than more famous restaurants. Her cheese curds were worthy of the st
ate fair, and as long as it wasn't healthy, Betty's did it best.
We stepped inside and headed out to the open patio. Most of the patrons were inside enjoying the air conditioning and watching a NASCAR race on TV, leaving the patio to just the two of us. With the sun setting, there was a nice breeze and we got enough of the air conditioning coming out from the open doors to make the patio warm but comfortable.
“Dr. Matthews, Hannah.” Stephanie greeted us and handed us menus. “It's good to see you.”
“How's Ashton?” I asked, taking the menu.
“You'd never even know that he'd hurt himself,” Stephanie replied with a laugh. “He's been running around catching bugs all day since I won't let him go swimming. He wants to go in the river so bad, but I keep telling him Dr. Matthews will be mad. It's the only thing keeping him dry.”
“I'm glad to hear he's doing well,” Dr. Matthews replied warmly. “He's a good kid.”
“The best,” Stephanie agreed. She grinned. “Although, I might be a little bit biased.”
“I'll take a Betty burger with fries,” Dr. Matthews said. “And Hannah is buying me a double whiskey on the rocks.”
Stephanie raised her eyebrows at me and I sighed. “He beat me here, so I'm buying drinks. I'll take a whiskey sour and a Betty's burger, too.”
“Did you not take that new alley on Ash?” Stephanie asked, collecting our menus.
“I did. But he's on a motorcycle,” I told her.
“Oh. He took that trashcan alley on Cipher.” She winked at the doctor. “I knew you were a smart cookie.”
I just shook my head at the both of them.
She smiled and promised to bring our drinks out as soon as possible.
Dr. Matthews leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath in. “You know, I never thought I'd see you back here.”
“Me?” I shook my head. “You're the one I didn't expect. You disappeared so fast after graduation that I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye.”
Or ask you about that kiss.
“Yeah.” His eyes went distant and I wondered if he was thinking about that kiss as well. “Sorry about that.”
“It's okay,” I told him. “But, why did you come back? I thought we were both free.”
He sighed. “You want my whole life story?”
“Sure. Especially since I know the first eighteen years of it.”