“Oh, right, we’re supposed to be cooling down.” I slowed, and he caught up.
“You were in your own world there for a sec, weren’t you?”
I nodded.
A car horn sliced through the air, and a green Tahoe zoomed by. “Yo, Preach!” someone yelled through the opened window.
“Hey!” He waved, but we kept on jogging.
“Everyone really does know everyone here, huh?”
He nodded. “It’s cool…most of the time.”
“I’ve lived in a few small towns while my dad was moving around with the Air Force… They weren’t my favorite.”
He chuckled but didn’t say much.
“You born here?”
“No. Came when I was about nine from Iowa. Mom got a sweet job here. Became the chief of surgery, but then the hospital closed, so she had to shift to a neighboring town.”
“Wow. Surgeon Mom…” I nodded. “And your dad? What’s he do for work?”
Preach pointed at the stop sign. “We cross here, just another block.”
“Good, because I’m starving.”
“Dad’s in accounting.”
Up ahead the golden arches came into view. On cue, my stomach roared.
“I see two double burgers in your future,” he said.
“You’re not wrong.”
He laughed and led me through the parking lot. He held open the door, and I walked into the french fry–smelling restaurant. We breezed through the line, got enough food to feed six people, and landed in a corner U-booth overlooking the play area.
There were a handful of kids in there, running around and squealing. Preach smiled as he set our tray of food on our table. “Caleb loves this place.”
“Brodie’s little brother, right? I’m still trying to keep everyone straight.”
He nodded and handed me my burgers, fries, and Coke. “He’s wild. Super fun, though.”
A wave of sadness curved the corners of Preach’s mouth downward.
“What’s wrong?”
“Another one of themanypeople I have to apologize to.”
“Yo, Preach!” someone yelled.
Me and the people at the two other tables that were occupied looked up. A group of three people stormed in the front door. I recognized Oliver, the one with the mohawk, and Aanya, who I’d remembered from the other day, but I couldn’t remember the name of the third person. They were on the track team, though. I knew that much.
Preach waved them over, then scooted into the booth a little farther. “They’re totally going to crash our celebratory burgers. You better guard your food.”
I chuckled and slid over until we met at the curve of the booth. Our knees knocked, and Preach jumped in his seat. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry, nothing’s broken.”