Clyde Logan, owner of the local bar called Duck Tape walks into the local Save Mart and meets Laurel Williams, a Park Ranger who's just moved into town. This is the story about them falling in love and where that love takes them.
This is a romanc...
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Tuesday morning Clyde and Laurel met early for breakfast at a little diner on the outskirts of town. Clyde was leaning up against his truck waiting for Laurel to pull in the parking lot. As soon as she pulled in, he headed over to her car.
"Hello you," he said quietly and bent to give her a quick kiss on the cheek as she got out of the car. As he hoped, the kiss brought a faint blush to Laurel's face. "You ever been here before?" he asked as he gestured toward the diner. Laurel shook her head no.
"It doesn't look like much but the food is good."
Walking into the diner, Clyde was greeted by several people. Several men lifted their caps to Laurel. The waitress waved them towards the row of booths. "Sit anywhere you like, Clyde."
They settled into a booth. "Everyone knows you," she said with a smile.
"The curse of living in a small town."
"I think it's nice. This is a good place to have roots."
"Well, you grew up in a small town. Isn't it the same?"
"The town was a lot bigger than here and I was on wrong side of the tracks in my town. I grew up in a trailer park outside the city limits. My parents were druggies. I got called trailer trash."
Clyde looked at her in surprise. "But you went to college, Laurel. That's hard to do coming from that kind of upbringing. That I do know. I've been called trailer trash myself. Still makes me mad to think about it. I cannot imagine anyone calling a woman like you that."
Laurel shrugged. They were interrupted by the waitress coming to take their order. Once she took their order, Laurel reached over and touched Clyde's hand, just a gentle quick touch as though to reassure herself.
"I got a full scholarship to college. I left town and never went back."
"What about your parents?" They paused while the waitress put 2 cups of coffee down in front of them.
"Died of drug overdoses when I was a senior in high school. Fentanyl." She looked somewhere over Clyde's left shoulder, anywhere but at him.
"Jesus, Laurel, both of them?"
"They died together. I came home from school to find them dead on the floor of the living room."
"Oh, Laurel, I'm so sorry." Clyde reached over and took her hand.
"Thank you, Clyde. This is not the best conversation to start the morning with, is it?" Laurel gave a short nervous laugh.
Clyde leaned towards her. "It's an important conversation. I thank you for sharing that with me. I can tell it wasn't easy. Drugs like OxyContin and Fentanyl just destroy families. I'm sorry that happened to your parents." He squeezed her hand.
"Me, too. Oh, look, breakfast," Laurel said as the waitress put the plates down in front of them. Clyde could see she didn't want to talk about her parents anymore. They spent the rest of their time eating breakfast and talking about trivial things. When they walked out to Laurel's car, Clyde hugged her close. "Have a good day, Laurel. I'll be thinking about you," he whispered in her ear and then he kissed her.
