He Took Jude's Money, Ken Won His Heart novel · Chapter 26 of 40
Chapter 26: The Real Date
The diner by the bus station had red booths and a pie case that hummed.
Ken had picked it because it was where he ate on his first night in the city, four years ago, with eleven dollars in his shoe.
Jude slid into the booth across from him in a clean sweater and looked around the room with delight.
"This is the best date I've ever been on."
"We haven't ordered."
"I can tell from the smell."
The waitress brought two coffees and left a menu on the table that had been laminated in a different decade.
Ken ordered meatloaf and a slice of cherry pie.
Jude ordered the same, then added a second slice of pie.
"Don't look at me. It's my engagement."
"Our engagement."
"Ours. I keep forgetting it's allowed to be a plural."
Ken reached over and took Jude's hand, the gold ring on his own finger catching the light.
"I'm paying," he said.
"Ken."
"I tutor two freshmen on Saturdays. Twenty an hour, in cash. It isn't Parker money, and it isn't from the tin."
Jude looked at him a long moment.
"Okay," he said softly. "You pay."
The meatloaf came.
It was mostly gravy, and Jude ate every bite with his eyes closed.
They were halfway through the pie when the bell on the door rang, and it did not stop ringing.
George came in first.
He wore the same slick blond hair and the same practiced smile, but the jacket was a size too small now, and his phone was held up in front of him, camera out.
Behind him came three men from his old floor in fleece jackets, none of them from the trek.
Every head in the diner turned.
"Hey, everybody," George said to the phone. "We're live."
"Look who's out on a date. Parker's Pet and the Farm Boy."
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