"Off the record, neither do I." His eyes met mine. "You put my son's memory to rest and brought his killer to justice. There's no way I can possibly thank you."
"You don't have to," I said. "On a lighter note, now that you're no longer financially destitute, you can live wherever you want."
"That's true. I could even buy a house."
Buy a house? What was wrong with my house? "You don't have furniture to put in a house, much less an apartment."
"That's true. I guess I could get a roommate who already has furniture." He glanced at me, then quickly looked away. "I don't mind roommates. Or pets..."
"Well, you could always..." Now it was my turn to get uncomfortable and look away. "Nah, never mind."
"What?"
I shrugged. "You could just stay in my house. I'm going to be on tour for the next few months anyway. You'd have the house to yourself. And, uh, it would help to have someone oversee the kitchen rebuild." I shuffled my feet. "You know, only if you want to. No big deal either way."
I heard a giggle from behind the large latte machine, but I couldn't see which barista was laughing.
The other called from the back room. "What's so funny?"
The brunette set a white paper bag on the counter and stuck my wrapped turkey-on-wheat-with-no-mayo inside. "They want to stay roommates, but neither of them wants to say so."
Luucas cleared his throat. I stuffed my box of half-eaten cake in the paper bag with the rest of my dinner.
"So," I said, as if I hadn't heard the comment, "if you get home before me, would you mind changing Nadia's water?"
"No problem. You're heading to Mikelis's apartment?"
I smiled. "We have a date."
He laughed. "I don't think he's been on a real date before."
"Really?"
Luucas turned away and walked toward the door. "He's never been able to let his guard down. Not until now. You two have fun tonight." He pushed open the door, jingling the little bell. "You deserve it. It's a brave new world without Ruair."
About the Author.
Jen Kirchner is a writer, gamer, and coffee junkie who lives in Seattle to feed all three habits. You can find her at her website, JenKirchner.com, on Twitter, and on Facebook.
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