The Midnight Visitors (The Grimwood Trilogy Book 3) by Mike Attebery

Author:Mike Attebery [Attebery, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cryptic Bindings
Published: 2022-03-07T16:00:00+00:00

10.

Though she’d never admit it, Betty had warmed to the group over the years. Perhaps not obviously, but as much as an older woman waiting tables at a college town greasy spoon like Brick’s ever could. She would always, always take their orders in her signature no-nonsense, “don’t waste my time” style, but she tended to do it with a subtle half-smile on her face after the first year. It was this way with thousands of students that had drifted through Grimwood over the past forty years. She seldom knew their names, but she knew their faces, was fleetingly aware of their relationships, and took note of how they changed over the course of their time at Grimwood.

It was the same with this bunch. She noticed who came in together. Who ate alone. And what went on when the entire contingent arrived for a meal and took their seats in their regular booth. One of the boys had passed away a couple years ago. He’d been a local. That was when she started bringing their drinks before they ordered. She didn’t know if they noticed, she didn’t give a damn, it was just something she started to do. When the boy’s girlfriend started coming in with someone new, and that girl became a part of the group, Betty didn’t say anything, but she occasionally forgot to charge them for dessert.

Around the start of the new year, the papers ran a story about a young man who’d been killed in a car accident on his way back from holiday break. The picture at the top of the page looked familiar. When Loren came in with her father, and Betty saw the condition she was in, she put the pieces together and realized what had happened. Twice in the course of three years, those kids had been sucker punched by tragedy. That was when she started forgetting to add drinks and extras to their tab. Again, whether they noticed or not, she didn’t care, it was her way of paying tribute, helping out in what little way she could.

When they walked in the door tonight, it was clearly for an unofficial, end-of-year celebration. Betty prepped a tray of their preferred drinks, put in an order for five brick plates (it was undoubtedly that kind of night), and walked to their booth, where she dispensed their glasses with a half-smile and pretended to take their orders.

“I feel like we always have plates for the last meal of the year,” Hank mused after Betty headed back to the kitchen.

“Probably because you always corner us into getting them,” Hannah noted.

Loren looked around the table. “So, you’re all leaving me tomorrow.”

“No one is leaving for long,” Hank said. “Well, other than me.”

“How long will the rest of you be gone?”

“Elissa and I will only be away for a week,” Brooke said.

“That’s probably how long I’ll stay in the city with Hank,” Hannah noted. “I’ll help him get settled in, maybe poke around for a couple days, then take the train back here and get to work.

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