The face staring back at her in the mirror looked strange and unfamiliar to her. Her eyelids were puffy and her cheeks were red. She splashed cold water on her face before dabbing on some tinted moisturizer, blush, and waterproof mascara. It was going to have to be good enough that day.
“Ready?” she said as she emerged from down the hall.
Ryder was seated at the couch again, flipping through Jett’s book. He had neatly folded his linens from the night before and sat them on top of his pillow on the couch arm. He stood up and jingled his keys in his hand before heading towards the front door.
“I can take us,” he offered. “I’ve got a spare helmet.”
“You’re going to have to. You parked behind me,” Stormy said as she pointed out the obvious.
Although she had just met Ryder, there was something oddly familiar and comforting about him. She hardly knew him, yet she felt like she could be herself around him. She felt like he was some sort of extension of Jett. She couldn’t have Jett anymore, but having Ryder around was almost like the next best thing. He was like the designer imposter version of Jett; a close knock off.
He hopped on his BMW, flipped up the kickstand, and she climbed on behind him. The seats were tan and buttery smooth, and the bike hard hardly a scratch or spec of dirt anywhere on it.
“Is that diner on 10th street still around?” he asked. “They have the best breakfast.”
“They are,” she responded.
They rode in silence to the diner as Stormy wrapped her arms around his waist. She couldn’t stop herself from staring at his reflection in the side mirrors.
“Why are you staring at me?” he yelled back. “It’s freaking me out.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to,” she lied. Her cheeks turned a shade of crimson as she turned to stare out the opposite window.
They pulled up to a stop sign.
“Growing up, people always thought Jett and I were twins,” he yelled. “Except Jett was always a little bit smaller. That was the only difference,” he said. “That and I have dimples.”
He flashed a megawatt smile and revealed the most gorgeous and perfectly placed dimples Stormy had ever seen. Jett was a handsome guy, but Ryder was the Abercrombie model version of him.
“That’s the only difference?” Stormy teased him as she tried to distract herself from feeling any ounce of attraction towards him.
“Pretty much,” Ryder grinned as he took off and drove another couple blocks. “We’re here.”
He pulled into the weeded parking lot of the diner and shut off the bike. Ryder let Stormy climb off first before following right behind her. Stormy loved that he had good, old-fashioned manners. It was something she’d always loved about Jett.
They took a spot in a booth in the corner and waited for their server to approach. A young girl, probably still in high school, came and took their drink orders.
Stormy’s swollen eyes ached as the bright sunshine poured in through the diner windows. She stood up and pulled the shade down.
“Hope you don’t mind,” she said to Ryder.
“Not a fan of sunshine?” he asked.
“Not today,” she huffed.
“I can’t live without it,” he said. “That’s partly why I moved to California. Or maybe why I never left. It’s beautiful. Sunny, palm trees, hardly any rain. Growing up in that dark, dirty house with Misty was so oppressive and miserable. Never again.”
The server came back with an orange juice for Stormy and a big glass of chocolate milk for Ryder.
“Jett liked chocolate milk,” Stormy said with a smile.
“I know,” he said. “I got him hooked as a kid.”
They ordered their breakfasts, Stormy settling on an English muffin and fruit plate, and Ryder ordering the biggest breakfast platter he could find on the menu.
“So, Ryder, what’s your plan while you’re in town?” she asked, cutting to the chase.
“I guess I just really wanted to get to know you,” he said. He wasted no time being blatantly honest with her. “Make sure you’re okay. Solicit your help in finding out who murdered my brother. You know. That sort of thing.”
“Hm,” Stormy said. She was still trying to gauge whether or not she could trust him. So far he seemed genuine, but she’d only met him the night before. What did she know?
“I have to admit, I was a little shocked when I heard Jett was married,” he said. “I hadn’t heard from him in years, and then all of a sudden I find out he’s in love with some girl and married? And then my source told me he had passed. I had to come back here.”
“Who’s your source?” she asked.