Samara laughed and caught up with her.
“You thinkthat’sless complicated?”
“Yeah. I kissed you. You didn’t want it. Now, we’re just going to maybe try to be friends and work together until you leave.”
“You’ve got it all figured out, huh?”
“Hey, do you want a beignet?”
“What?” Samara asked, trying to keep up with the subject change.
“A beignet. Want to get one?”
“You’re asking me if I want bread with sugar all over it when we’re supposed to be talking about that kiss?”
“We can talk about it while we eat. Come on.”
“Dana,” Samara said and waited for Dana to stop walking.
“Yeah?”
“I don’t eat beignets.”
“It’s just bread and sugar. Yes, sugar, but you look amazing and don’t need to worry about a little sugar. Trust me.”
“Eggs,” she noted. “I’m sure there are eggs.”
“Oh,” Dana replied. “Right. Well, want to watchmeeat a beignet? Three to an order. I’ll eat my order and probably yours, too. You can have coffee.”
“You’re talking about Café Du Monde, aren’t you?”
Dana nodded.
“That place is always packed, if I remember right.”
“You have your wig and glasses.”
“No security tonight, though. And if I need to get out of there fast, there’s no waiting car.”
Dana turned around, walked back to her, and said, “I’ll keep you safe, Samara. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
Samara wondered how true that statement was, really, because, from her perspective, the one person who had the potential to hurt her right now was Dana, and there she was, offering to protect her from others. Yes, Samara understood her meaning, but she was more scared of Dana than she was of anything at the moment, including eating fried doughcovered in powdered sugar, which was a legitimate fear of hers because it didn’t fit into her regularly scheduled food program.
“Fine,” she said. “But I’m not eating one.”
“I know,” Dana replied. “I wouldn’t have asked you to. I just forgot about the eggs.”
Samara nodded and said, “Iwillhave a coffee, though. Can I ask them to make sure it’s extra hot?”
Dana laughed and said, “You can try, but you won’t win that battle. It comes out of a giant machine, and their line is so long, you’d just piss them off enough to spit in it, probably.”
“What? Gross.”
“I’m kidding,” Dana said. “Well, maybe. I don’t know. Maybe they would.”
“Never mind, then. I’ll just sit there while you eat.”
“We can get you coffee from a nearby place. There’s a candy shop with an espresso machine in the Square. They’re open late, and they’ll burn your coffee for you.”
