“I love you, too. Sleep good, sweet dreams. See you in the morning.”
“Sleep good, sweet dreams. See you in the morning.”
Morning came much soonerthan I cared for. I don’t know if it was because a guest in my house or because of everything else going on, but I woke up shortly after the sun rose.
After taking care of my morning business, I quietly unbarricaded the door and walked out to the living room. Ink appeared to still be asleep, so I went to the kitchen to see about coffee and breakfast. Thankfully, the burglar didn’t take my coffee or anything from the refrigerator. However, they did take most of our dry goods and nonperishables, including the sugar.
“What are you doing?” Ink asked, startling me.
I jumped away from the drawer I was rummaging through and pressed my hand against my chest. “Holy crap. You scared me,” I breathed.
“Sorry,” he apologized. “I heard you moving around in here and came to see what you were doing.”
“I’m looking for sugar packets,” I said and resumed my search.
“Sugar packets?”
“Yeah. For my coffee. And yours, if you want coffee with sugar. I didn’t think to check last night, but I guess the thief stole my sugar as well.”
“I can drink mine with or without sugar.”
“Score!” I shouted and triumphantly tossed numerous packets onto the counter. “I knew we had some. Would you like some coffee?”
“I’d love some.”
As I was making our coffee, I remembered what Ariel said before we went to sleep.I think helikesyou. Suddenly, I felt overly self-aware. Was he looking at my butt? If he was, was my butt eating my yoga pants? At least I was wearing a bra.
“Here you go,” I said, handing a mug to him. “Are you hungry? I have eggs and a few pieces of bacon.”
“Actually,” he started, but was interrupted by his phone ringing. “Excuse me,” he said and walked out the back door to answer his call. He returned a few minutes later carrying two large bags. “I have breakfast.”
“What? How?”
He grinned. “I know people.”
“Thank you. How much do I owe you?”
“You don’t. My treat. And let’s skip the part where you insist and I refuse a handful of times before we eat. Irene will have my hide if I let her food get cold.”
“Fine,” I agreed. “But the next meal is on me.”
“Deal.”
It didn’t occur to me that I’d asked him to have another meal with me, and he’d happily agreed, until much later.
10
INK
Ariel woke up shortly after breakfast was delivered and joined us in the kitchen. “I thought I smelled food. Where did this come from?”
“Ink had it delivered,” Presley said.
“It’s from Irene’s Diner. Irene is a Blackwings family member,” I explained.
“Thank you,” Ariel said. “I wondered what we were going to eat since most of our food is gone.”
Presley laughed. “I’ve yet to let you starve. I’m not going to start now.”
