It had been a weird Christmas.
But even though the dragon pig looked like a piggy, it was a dragon and it couldeat.
“Mocha?” Jean asked.
“Of course.” Frigg had on a soft, wheat-colored sweater that made her long blonde hair shimmer like sunshine. The sweater was nice. I was used to seeing her in her tow company gear: button-down shop shirt with her name embroidered over the pocket.
“Day off?” I guessed.
“Just the morning. There’s a storm coming. That means tow jobs.” She leaned back against the booth, her arm resting across the top of it.
The dragon pig did a quick little circle before spotting the cutlery on the table. Itoinked.
“Spoons later, if you behave,” I told it. “Home spoons.”
It grunted, a very piggy sound, but a thin tendril of smoke rose from its nostrils.
“Oh, which reminds me.” Frigg dug in the backpack next to her and pulled out a handkerchief tied around something that clattered. “Lug nuts,” she said. “Broken and rusted.”
The dragon pig squeaked. Happy. Very happy.
I untied the kerchief. “Thank you.” I plunked the lug nuts down next to the dragon pig, and it went to town, sucking up those hunks of metal.
“So what did you need to see me about?”
“Since you’re not on vacation, I thought we might as well do this now. Why aren’t you on vacation, by the way?”
Jean snorted, then rubbed whipped cream off her nose. “So many things on her plate. Such a busy woman. Ordinary won’t survive if she doesn’t babysit.”
“I don’t babysit,” I groused. “I’m the Chief of Police. I protect.”
Jean rolled her eyes. “We’re fine, Delaney. I don’t know how many times I have to say that. We. Are. Fine.”
“Here we go!” Piper arrived at our table with a serving tray.
“Did you order for us?” I asked Frigg.
Frigg shook her head. “Why bother when Piper knows what we want anyway?”
Piper blushed, pleased with the compliment. She was a demigod, the only one in town, and her relationship with the gods was sometimes strained.
Her ability to know what someone was going to order was pretty cool, though. On the table, she placed clam chowder for Jean, a chicken salad for me, and a veggie burger for Frigg.
“How’d I do?” she asked. “Everyone happy?”
“This looks great.” Jean and Frigg looked just as satisfied.
Dragon pig stood on its back legs, that little pink curl of a tail wagging like mad. It grunted, a tiny piggy sound, and Piper chuckled. “Of course I didn’t forget you.”
She placed a folded towel on the table. I lifted the corner and found six broken forks.
“New hire has been a little hard on the cutlery,” she said.
A clash and shatter sounded from the kitchen. Everyone in the diner went silent. Heads turned as if they could see the disaster through the walls.
Piper just shook her head. “That’s my cue. Excuse me.” She spun and was across the room, pulling a bottle of ketchup out of her apron and plunking it down in front of a family of four before she powered into the kitchen.
“Good manners,” I told the dragon pig. “No feet on the table.”
