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said.
    â€œThey’re waiting for you in the back office,” Bridget whispered as she walked by. She nodded to the hallway leading to the office and handed Eddie the cup of coffee. “I’ll be there in a sec.”
    â€œThat was weird,” Trey said as he watched his grandfather retreat to the back office with his mug while Bridget cleared off the table by the door and brought the dirty dishes back to the kitchen.
    â€œYeah,” Luke agreed. “I wonder what’s going on back there.”
    After a few more minutes, my stomach grumbled and I looked at my watch, wondering why our food was taking so long.
    â€œI’m going to go check on our orders before I gnaw off my arm,” I said as I slid out of the booth.
    â€œGood plan,” Cori agreed, joining me.
    The orders were all lined up at the order window when we got there, but there was no sign of Bridget. We’d worked at the diner’s ice cream parlor long enough to know that Bridget prided herself on getting the food to the table piping hot.
    â€œDo you think she would mind?” Cori asked, reading my mind.
    I picked up a few of the plates and headed back to our booth.
    â€œWouldn’t hurt to move things along,” I replied, imagining biting into a thick, juicy burger. “It’s like we’re doing her a favor.”
    Cori followed me back to the booth with the other plates, but by the time we’d placed them on the table, it was obvious we were missing my Bridget Burger and extra waffle fries.
    Luke shook salt all over his french fries, then took the top off his bun and shook even more salt onto it.
    â€œNot salty enough for you?” I asked.
    â€œI don’t know what it is, but food just doesn’t have any taste these days.” He placed the shaker back on the table and looked over to my spot. “Where’s your order?”
    â€œThey were one short. It’ll probably be up in a minute.” I glanced toward the order window, but there was still no one in sight.
    â€œHere, take mine,” Luke offered and pushed his plate toward me. Give up his food for me? He really was the perfect guy. But secretly, I really wanted those extra waffle fries, and a quarter of Luke’s plate was taken up by a perfectly useless dish of coleslaw.
    Plus, all that salt! What was up with that?
    â€œNaw, thanks anyway.” I stole a fry from the outer edge of his plate, hoping it had escaped most of the salt shaker’s wrath. “I’ll just go check and see what’s happening with mine.”
    I popped my head through the order window into the kitchen, but Daniel and Bridget were nowhere to be found, so I headed to the back office.
    â€œHey, Bridget?” I asked, knocking lightly and pushing the office door open a smidge so she’d hear me.
    â€œIs that Jade?” I heard my mother say.
    I opened the door a little more. There in Bridget’s office were Bridget, Mom, Dad, Eddie, Daniel (who really should have been making my waffle fries just then), and his fiancée, Coach Laurena.
    â€œUm, hi!” I worked to try to make sense of the group. What were they all doing, meeting together like this? “What’s up?”
    â€œJade, come in,” Mom said.
    â€œI’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Dad whispered but loud enough for me to hear. Honestly, it was a miracle he didn’t spell out the words like when I was four; it was that obvious they were hiding something.
    I glanced from face to face as they sat on folding chairs scattered around Bridget’s office.
    â€œDon’t be silly, Dal. She’s one of us.” Mom stood and took me by the shoulders and addressed the rest of the group. “For those who don’t know, this is Jade.”
    Coach Laurena smiled and waved in acknowledgment since we’d met at the pool office just a few hours before. Daniel waved as well.
    â€œOkay…” I considered their faces for a second.