Both Lena and the stranger turned at the sound of Nigel’s voice.
Lena discovered when she glanced at him that his gaze was on the woman. His expression was hard to decipher but somehow she had the feeling that he wasn’t feeling the same sense of abuse as she was. There was something in his eyes as he looked the woman over that made her feel like squirming uncomfortably in her seat.
The woman, after staring at him for a long, long moment, dragged her gaze from his, glared at Lena, and finally whirled on her heel and stalked away.
Instead of closing the distance between himself and the table where Lena sat, Nigel remained rooted to the spot, watching the woman until she’d threaded her way between the tables and finally disappeared down the side walk.
“What was that all about?” the two of them asked almost in unison when Nigel finally shook off his stupor and settled in the chair across from his sister.
“Do you know her?” Lena demanded, redirecting the question.
Nigel frowned, but his gaze was pensive as he studied his little sister. “I don’t think that comes under the heading of your business,” he finally growled.
“You do know her then? She’s a mongrel. Cauc for sure, maybe some indy or tino thrown in to muddy the gene pool.”
Nigel’s face darkened. “I didn’t realize you were such a snob.”
And a hypocrite. She’d been lusting over that cauc she’d seen in Morris’ apartment right up until Morris had turned her world upside down and put him from her mind. She sat back at the snub. She hadn’tcome to pick a fight with Nigel or nose into his business. She’d come … she wasn’t sure why she’d come. For reassurance maybe?
Nigel seemed to realize they’d gotten off to a bad start about the same time Lena did. “Sorry!” they both said, almost in unison again.
They’d done that most of their lives. She supposed it came from being so close. It was almost like telepathy the way their minds seemed almost to flow in sync.
“Something’s wrong,” Nigel said abruptly, sitting forward in his chair as if he’d just noticed the strain in Lena’s face.
The server bot appeared almost before he got the words out.
Lena shook her head and glanced at the menu scrolling across the screen set in the bot’s chest. “I’ll have a salad--no cheese on that. A chicken breast. A glass of….” She felt the abrupt urge to get something to numb the pain a little but quashed the impulse. “Purified water,” she finished. The bot scanned her retina, recited her credit balance, and swiveled toward Nigel.
When Nigel had ordered and the bot rotated on its base and headed toward the kitchen, he reached across the table and folded his large hand over hers. “What is it, baby girl?”
Lena’s chin wobbled in spite of all she could do at the pet name both Nigel and Morris had called her most of her life. Tears filled her eyes. Struggling to regain control, Lena looked away from the concern in her brother’s eyes. The world wavered and finally righted itself as she firmly tamped her wayward emotions.
The woman she’d vanquished, she saw, had returned and settled at a table on the opposite side of the café, but still within view of her and Nigel. She glanced casually in their direction as Lena watched.
Except it didn’t seem casual at all to Lena.
That certainty brought Lena’s feet firmly into reality. They were in public. And if she was even close to right about Morris, it was dangerous to behave as if anything at all was wrong.
She returned her attention to Nigel. “You’ll think I’m nuts.”
He uttered a humorless laugh at her attempt to lighten the mood. “There’s nothing new about that. What crazy theory have you come up with now on the origins of the races?”
Lena shook her head. “This isn’t about work. It’s about Morris.”
Several emotions flickered across Nigel’s face, alarm prominent among them. “He’s still refusing to come live you?”
Lena shook her head. “That’s just it. He isn’t. He moved in with me without a whimper of protest when I went to see him a few days ago.”
Nigel removed his hand and sat back as the bot returned and set their food out on the table before them. When the server had departed again, Nigel placed his napkin in his lap and picked up his fork. He was frowning thoughtfully, though, and Lena could see he thought that Morris’ behavior was as strange as she did.
“Maybe he finally realized he was getting to the point where he really needed someone to look after him,” he said slowly.
Lena swallowed against a knot in her throat and went through the motions as Nigel had, pretending an interest in her meal she didn’t feel. “I was in a state of shock, though.” Resisting the urge to glance toward the vid she knew was trained to observe all of the diners, she tried to formulate something to say that would sound innocuous to those who listened but would get her anxieties across to Nigel. “He seems … happy. He spends all day wandering around East end sightseeing.”
Nigel’s brows rose, but she saw alarm flicker in his eyes again. He managed a shrug. “He hasn’t visited this side of Grand City in years. It’s changed a lot.”
Lena forced a smile. “Yes. When I get home in the evenings, he always gives me an account of the improvements he’s seen. It’s good to see him out and about instead of huddled in front of the vid, watching the news all day. And he’s so cheerful and upbeat about absolutely everything that it keeps my spirits high.” It was hard to keep the note of hysteria out of her voice when she made that announcement.
