Chapter 31

It was after eight when we got back to Harden, and the dinner crowd had died down, not that there was much of one in this town. Most of the places to eat were fast food, and the few real restaurants only opened on weekends. I pulled into the parking lot of Starla's Diner, better known as the Diner to the locals. I didn't have a clue where the name came from since there was no Starla that I was aware of, and since there wasn't another diner in town, no one used the actual name to reference it.

"This place is so quaint." Peyton grinned from ear to ear when she saw the fifties décor. It wasn't intended to be retro; the place was just old.

I led them to a booth in the back and slid in. Peyton took the other side, and Beau sat next to her with a dopey grin. I kicked him under the table to quietly tell him to knock that shit off. He took it upon himself to wail like a dog at a full moon.

"What the hell, Lee? That hurt."

"Sorry, my foot slipped." He knew me well enough to decipher th