DAMAGED Sunny Side Up Diner

I wanted Ella to be mine but I screwed it up. Not only did I lose my chance with her, but I also lost my best friend.

Ella

I wanted Asher and I to move past his confession. We’ve been friends for so long, we can get over anything, right?

Wrong.

Not only has our relationship fundamentally changed, but he disappears for a month and comes back to Harmony, engaged. Apparently, he rekindled his relationship with his high school girlfriend.

Gloria insists that I write the expose on their wedding. Asher’s fiancee is the daughter of the Mayor of New York City. It’s the kind of story that will restore the town’s trust in the paper after the Proctor disaster.

I try to be happy for Asher, I do. But he’s changing for his fiancee. Suddenly he doesn’t like things that he used to love. And the more time I spend with the happy couple, the more I begin to realize that maybe they don’t know each other as much as they are letting on.

Then everything changes when Asher and I kiss during a bachelor party game. That’s when I realize why I’ve been so unhappy. Problem is, I had my chance and I didn’t take it. And the thing with choices is, there’s no going back.

Willow

I didn’t think Cole Watkins would come back to the diner. I’d almost forgotten about him and his contract until he shows up a month later, ready to take his place as co-owner.

I hate that I have to answer to this man. This diner was my chance to make a new life for my son and Cole is getting in the way of that.

Until Jasper is sick and Cole hands me a container of homemade chicken noodle soup that he made. Or when I’m tired, and Cole takes over in a way my ex never did. And when he’s playing cars with my son? I feel my resolve to hate him forever start to soften.

But as soon as I try to get closer to him, to learn about the man under the suit, he shuts me down. In that moment, I realize Cole is not here to be my friend. I need to protect myself and my son. I’ve been hurt once and I’m determined to never get hurt again.

Sunny Side Up Diner is the sixth book in the Sweet Tea and a Southern Gentleman series and ends in a cliff hanger.

Asher

3 months earlier

I slipped my key into the door handle of my apartment, pushed against the door with my shoulder, and walked into the dark kitchen. After shutting the door and locking it behind me, I yawned as I threw my keys onto the kitchen counter and flipped on the light. Today had been a grind.

I knew that moving to a small town to become a real estate agent wasn’t the smartest idea. Jim Knox was already established here in Harmony. He was the darling of the town. Every resident that I reached out to only let me talk to them for a few minutes before they shook their heads and murmured Jim’s name before walking away. 

Call me stubborn, call me crazy, but every rejection just spurred me on to work harder. I was determined to make the residents of Harmony see that I was here for the long haul. 

When I wasn’t canvassing, I spent my time volunteering around town. Real estate was all about creating connections and building trust. And in a small town, people needed to be exposed to you multiple times before they were comfortable enough to engage. 

I had faith that there would be a tipping point and I would find success. It was just around the corner from me. I could feel it. 

After heating up a frozen pizza, I cut it into slices before sliding it onto a plate and grabbing a cold Coke from the fridge. With my food and drink in hand, I turned off the kitchen light and made my way into the living room. I grabbed the remote and flipped through the channels until I found a rerun of The Big Bang Theory and let it play while I ate. 

I was halfway through my pizza when my phone rang. I smiled as Ella’s ringtone, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, cut through the laugh track from the show. I muted the TV and dusted off my fingers before picking up my phone. 

“Hey, friend,” I said as I pressed the speaker phone button and set my phone next to me. I grabbed my Coke and took a swig so I could wash the pizza bits down. 

“Hey.” Ella’s voice was soft, and her words were followed up by a sniffle. 

My entire chest squeezed as I sat up straighter. “Ella? What’s wrong?” It was times like these that I hated how far she was from me. I couldn’t just jump in my car and drive to her apartment like I used to now that I was in North Carolina and she was still in Chicago.  

“Scott broke up with me.” A sob escaped her lips, muffling her last word. 

A mixture of emotions rushed through me. On one hand, I hated seeing my best friend sad. A protective urge rose up inside of me, and I was fighting the desire to drive straight to Chicago and give Scott a piece of my mind. Ella was amazing, and he was a fool to let her go. 

But on the other hand, I’d been stupid enough to fall for my best friend. Her breaking up with Scott meant there was a chance for me. A small, almost minuscule chance. I was fairly certain that she only saw me as a friend. But it was no longer outside the realm of possibility like it had been when she was dating that tool.

“Oh, El,” I said as I dropped back against the couch and let all of my back muscles relax. “I’m so sorry.” Stay the supportive friend. That was always my goal, first and foremost. My feelings were just that, mine. I knew that if I even joked about them, it would set off alarm bells in Ella’s mind. If I couldn’t have her like I wanted, I was fine with just being her friend. 

I was never going to jeopardize our friendship.  

She sniffled. “Thanks.” She sobbed again. “I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong.” She paused. “Why am I so unlovable?”

I instantly fisted my hand. Ella was the exact opposite of unlovable. That girl was perfection. She was sweet, kind, ambitious, and sexy as hell.  When she’d send me an outfit of the day text, I constantly had to remind myself that she was my friend and nothing was ever—ever—going to happen between us. Even if I wanted that to be different. 

“You’re definitely lovable,” I said. I reveled in the fact that, for a moment, I could say the word love to her without worrying about the implications. “He’s just an idiot for not seeing what he had all along.”

She sniffled and let out a soft chuckle. I didn’t have to see her to know exactly what she looked like. She was most definitely wiping her nose with a tissue and had her soft pink lips tipped up into a cautious smile. Her cheeks would flush pink like they always did when I complimented her. Her gaze would turn shy as if she’d realized that I was a man instead of just her friend, Asher. 

“Why don’t you come out to visit me? We haven’t seen each other in a long time.” I shifted my weight so I was now sitting up on the couch instead of leaning back. 

“I don’t know. I have to find a new job. There’s no way I can go back to the paper now. Not with Scott prancing around with Kimmy—that’s right, he left me for an intern named Kimmy.”

I snorted. “He is definitely the kind of guy that would cheat with a girl named Kimmy.”

She laughed. It was deep and genuine, and I missed it. I missed her so much. “I can always depend on you to back me up.”

I nodded. “Always.”

“I can’t believe I have to quit my job.” She blew out her breath. “I should have never pooped where I ate. You warned me about that, and I didn’t listen. I should have listened.”

“Move here.”

The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. I knew that she hated it every time I suggested that she pack up her life in Chicago and follow me here. I’d tried to avoid it after she said telling me no made her feel guilty, but this time it was different. She had nothing in Chicago. No boyfriend and no job. This was the perfect time for her to walk away. To move down here and start fresh. 

When she didn’t answer right away, I feared that I’d misjudged the situation. That I’d upset her once again. One of the pillars of our relationship was that we allowed the other to be who they wanted to be. We supported each other and encouraged each other, and we never pushed. 

Leave it to me to make a bonehead move. “I mean—”

“Is there a journalist job available?”

My entire body froze when her initial response wasn’t, “Hell, no.” Suddenly, I was scrambling to say something to keep her interested. “I—um—I can look into it,” I hurried to say. Then I paused. “If you’re serious about moving here.” I needed her to say the words. I needed to hear that she would come. If she confirmed it, then I would do everything in my power to get her here. 

I’d go to the ends of the earth to make it possible. 

“Yeah, I think so,” she said. 

That was good enough. Despite my best efforts to remain calm, her words made my heart sing loud and off-key. 

“I think it’s time I move on from here. Start my life somewhere new. A place where my past doesn’t haunt me.” She chuckled. “Do you think you could handle me there? You’d have to promise to not abandon me once you become some hotshot realtor.” 

She was so oblivious to how I felt about her. Abandoning her was the last thing on my mind. “Of course. I’ll take you under my wing, baby bird.” 

She was silent for a moment. “Baby bird?” 

I shook my head. Happiness had infiltrated my brain and was making me say strange things. I needed to get it together and focus. “If you move here, I promise that I will not abandon you, and I won’t use dumb nicknames.”

Even though I couldn’t see her, I knew exactly what she was doing. She was chewing on her thumbnail like she did every time she was thinking. Her eyebrows would be drawn together and her gaze focused on a spot in front of her as she processed her thoughts. 

She let out a sigh, and I celebrated inside. I knew that sigh. It was her concession sigh. “Fine. If you find me a job at a paper, I’ll move to Harmony Island.”

My smile was huge as I perched on the edge of the couch. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Promise?”

She was quiet for a moment before she said, “Promise.”