The Ghost Of You

Chapter Eleven

Atwood, Colorado Saturday, July 6th

Lily and I left the funeral shortly after my encounter with Mark. I couldn't see him, when we had left the bathroom I briefly saw him across the backyard. I had stopped in my tracks and grabbed Lily's hand. The anger rising in me, I felt it from my toes to the top of my head. I couldn't risk going off in front of everyone. So Lily suggested we go to Mom's Kitchen Diner. It was a diner that Hannah and I used to go to all the time. Sarah, the owner of Mom's Kitchen, Used to give us a large strawberry milkshake to split on the house. 

"ZACK?! Is that you?" I heard a woman's voice yell when we entered the diner.

"Hey Sarah" I said opening my arms for a hug as she ran towards me with her arms outstretched.

"Ooooh Zack!" She said as she squeezed me in a tight embrace. "It's been so long"

"Too long" I added backing up after our hug. Then she gave me a look of pity.

"How are you holding up? With everything?" She asked.

"Holding it together. We just got back-" I said unable to finish.

"The funeral" Sarah said finishing it for me. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it. Gotta keep this place up and running. I'm glad you came here though."

"I know it would have made Hannah very upset if I didn't come in here at least once while I was in town" I said.

"I would have been pissed if you left town before coming to see me" Sarah said, punching my arm. "Now who's this?" She asked gesturing to Lily.

"Oh I'm so sorry, I just assumed you guys knew each other. Small town and all of that. This is Lily. Lily this is Sarah" I said. Lily reached her hand out for a hand shake but Sarah grabbed her hand and pulled her in for a hug instead.

"Any friend of Zacks is a friend of mine" Sarah said. "want the usual booth?" Sarah asked and I nodded. We followed her over to the booth Hannah and I used to sit at. 

"Dinks?" Sarah asked.

"Just a water with lemon for me" I said, then looked over at Lily.

"I'll have a diet soda please" Lily answered.

"Okay I'll be back" Sarah said, then walked away.

"I can't believe Sarah doesn't know you?" I questioned.

"Well Hannah and I came here together a couple of times but I mostly come here by myself and I kind of just kept to myself. I don't know of you've noticed but I have a stutter when I'm nervous or don't know someone. So I don't usually talk" Lily explained. I thought back to the first night I met Lily and how she did stutter quite a bit. But then I realized how quickly she had stopped around me and I smiled.

"What?" She asked.

"So you got comfortable around me pretty quick then" I said.

"Did I?" She asked but looked down at the table smiling. 

"You stopped stuttering around me only like an hour into our conversation" I pointed out, looking at her with a raised brow.

"Okay well that was a situation where I was forced to get comfortable, I was so passionate about Hannah and that whole situation I guess the stutter just eased" she tried to explain.

"But it never came back" I pointed out again.

"Okay fine, I don't know what it is, but there is something about you that made me feel comfortable pretty quickly. It's like we knew each other forever" Lily said with a sigh.