"Two French onion soups, please," Chase simply tells her.
"Oh my goodness, you two are too much! Sure thing!" She writes down our order. "Is that all?" I cover my mouth to stifle my laughter.
"Yes, Ma'am." Chase scoops our menus up, handing them to her, his beautiful smile on full display. She takes them from him and starts fanning herself with them. "Oh sugar, I can see why she likes you. Whoo Honey, that smile would swoon any lady, especially this old lady."
Chase laughs. "You can't be a day over thirty."
"Oh, I need to walk away. You're trouble." She points at Chase and laughs. "Let me go put in your order."
She walks away, and I give Chase an incredulous look. "Oh my gosh!" I whisper-shout at him. She's halfway to the kitchen when we hear her shout, "Chrissy, we have a young ‘McSwoony’ out here!" I look at Chase, but I see some commotion towards the end of the bar. Chrissy comes from the swinging door connecting to the kitchen. She speaks to Beverly, looks our way, and her face breaks into a huge smile. Chrissy is all country Dutch--her family goes back generations in this town. Chrissy is also blonde, but bottled-blonde, as her roots are a bit darker than the rest. The front of her hair is teased, somewhat like Beverly's, but the rest is pulled back into a low pony. She has a square-shaped face, with big blue eyes, and a sprinkle of freckles on the bridge of her slender nose. My mother and Chrissy grew up together, graduated together, and have remained friends throughout the years. Therefore, she's been around my whole childhood and Chase's.
"Well what do we have here?" she asks as she approaches our booth. I slide out and go into her open arms.
"Hey, Chrissy."
"Hello, my beautiful girl." She squeezes me. "And who do we have here?" She releases me from her embrace and looks at Chase. "Well, I'll be! Chase Daniels!" Chase slips out of the booth while I slide back into my side of the booth and watch them.
"Hi Chrissy!" he says while returning her hug. He moves back, but she grabs his face. "It's sure good to see you back boy!"
"Thank you, ma’am."
"Oh please! Don't ma'am me!" she spits out releasing his face, and he sits back down chuckling. "I didn't know you were back!"
"Yeah, just got back last week.”
She smiles wide, pure pride. "This meal is on me. Don't you dare think of paying for it!"
Chase starts to say something, but she cuts him off, "No. It's the least I can do for a soldier fighting for our country." She looks at me, "How's your mama baby doll?" Clearly ending that.
"She's good."
Beverly is walking our way with two steaming bowls. Yummy, gooey cheese drips onto the plate they're sitting on. Chrissy moves out of her way, so she can set them down, "They're hot, be careful," Beverly warns us.
"Bev, this is Vivian's daughter, Veronica!" Chrissy says to her, "And this fine young man is Chase. Lacey and Richard Daniels’ son. He just returned from the service. Their check is on me!"
"Oh my goodness! Look at you!" She says to me, but I don't recall ever meeting her, other than just tonight. "You were a little thing the last time I saw you, I just moved back. Your mama, Chrissy, and I were the three amigos back in the day."
"Ohh boy!" I say. I'm sure they wreaked havoc.
She swats her hand. "We were perfectly behaved young ladies!"
"I'm sure."
They both laugh. "Alright, we’ll let you eat in some peace," Chrissy says, "Make sure you two come see me before you leave!"
"Will do," Chase tells her. I dig my spoon into the melted cheesy goodness, the steam rising, and I blow on the food. Chase is groaning across from me, "This"—he points at his bowl—"is so good!"
"I told you!" I say to him and take another bite. SO. GOOD! We're both silent as we enjoy our soup.
"Man, it feels so good to be here," Chase says.
"Home?" I ask and take another bite.
"Yeah, home. Here, at Chrissy's. Somewhere familiar."
"You're brave," I tell him. He is. He is the bravest person I know. He smirks. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." We both finish up our soups and push the bowls to the end of the table. "You have room for some pie?" he asks.
"Hell yeah...but not a whole slice, maybe we can share?" I suggest.
"Sure."
Beverly comes over and takes the empty bowls, "You two thinkin' about having some dessert?"
"Yeah, a slice of shoofly!" Chase tells her.
"Sure thing, honey!"
She walks away.
"You may have a cougar on your hands," I tell him. He bursts out laughing which in turn makes me laugh. "Oh man, V. You are too much!"
"What's so funny?"
"A cougar? Seriously?"
"Yeah. I hear some young guys are into that type of thing…and she's a pretty older lady."
"Yeah, maybe some, but definitely not this guy. "
"Poor Beverly. Don't break her heart ‘McSwoony’," I emphasize on her nickname for him. He sighs dramatically. "Don't even! ‘McSwoony’? What the hell?"
I laugh, "What? I think it's fitting. Swooning one woman at a time," I say it like a newspaper article headline.
"Oh jeez. I do not swoon anyone."
I arch my eyebrows as I take a sip of my soda. Chase's eyes quickly glance at my mouth, then, just as quickly, his eyes shift away. His posture becomes stiff as he adjusts himself. I use my straw to swish around my soda, "Soooo ‘McSwoony.’" I can't stop the smile from forming, and I hear him groan.
"You're not going to let that drop, are you?"
"Hell no!"
"Greeaattt!"
Beverly places the overly large slice of molasses goodness in between us including new forks. She winks at me and returns to the kitchen. We both grab a fork. "Go ahead," he says to me. "No, No. You haven't had her pie in a year, you can have the first bite." He smiles and forks a big piece, and I watch him as he puts it in his mouth. His eyes close, and he moans. Well, I felt all the way down to my core. Holy...mother Mary.
"It's better than I remember."
"You totally had a foodgasm," I tell him.
He chuckles. "Yeah, I guess I did." He gestures to me to take a piece, so I do. We continue to go back and forth until the slice is completely gone. I finish my soda and rub my belly as I lean back in the booth. "I'm about to fall into a food coma."
"Well we can't have that, let's get you home."
"Thank you for taking me for food. I had a good time just hanging with you." It was simple, fun, and seemed so natural. We've never hung out like this before, it’s always been with my brothers; never deliberately alone together. I really enjoyed myself, and I can't help but want to do this again. He throws a twenty down on the table. "Me too. We'll have to do it again." He says to me as we both slide out from the booth.
"Really?" I ask, surprised.