“The breakfast torta? That one’s eggs, beans, bacon, and avocado. It’s a Mexican recipe Camille wanted to try. So, basically, you’re putting yourself at their whims and ordering the two experimental items.”
“The customer service here sucks,” I muttered, earning a laugh from her and from Ashley, who’d come back out to run orders.
“I’ll give you all the money in the tip jar if you say that to Raina’s face,” Rachel said. I noticed she didn’t type anything in, just totaled up what she’d already ordered for us before my little tantrum.
“I’d like to live to see tomorrow, thanks.” I reached for my wallet, but Donovan beat me to it, handing over his card.
“One of these days, you have to let me pay.”
“Maybe one day,” he said and his smile was so warm, so familiar, that it wiped away any further token protests. It’d only been a few days, but I’d missed him so damn much.
“The last few days were so boring without a real life romance movie playing out at my cash register,” Rachel said, handing Donovan’s card back.
“And we’re done here. Come on, let’s go grab a table.” I tugged Donovan out of line before Rachel could keep teasing us, but also, the place was filling up fast, so getting a table fast would be smart.
“I’ll let them know you’re here!” she called as we fled.
“That felt like a threat,” Donovan said. He brought us back to a table near the windows, one of the last open spots available.
“It was,” I assured him. We had a few minutes before Raina and Camille came out, though, and I planned to use a bit of that time just looking at him. Sunlight had always favored Donovan, picking out the glints of gold in his hair and eyes. Even in winter, his skin kept a warm glow courtesy of his Italian heritage, and seriously, how had this gorgeous man chosen me?
“You’re staring,” he murmured, a little smile tugging at his lips.
“If you had this view, you’d be staring, too.”
Donovan very deliberately looked me up and down. “Trust me, I’m quite happy with my view.”
“Awww, you two are so cute,” Camille said, skirting the table closest to us and putting two plates in front of us.
“Or something like that.” Raina appeared on her heels with two mugs, setting them down before leaning on my shoulder. “Everything good?”
“Seriously, we should have just eaten at home,” I whined to Donovan. He had the grace to take it all in stride, though, and just smiled up at the girls.
“We’re good. Thank you for caring enough to check in, though.”
“You sure know how to suck the fun out of teasing, don’t you?” Raina pouted a bit, but behaved herself surprisingly well.
“We just wanted to come and see you two and say hi,” Camille said. “Oh, and Alex, I wanted to check in with you. If you’d like me to go visit Ori with you again, I’d be happy to.”
“Thanks, but I think it’s going alright. They stopped by the store yesterday and worked on some focusing exercises with me. I was planning to practice some more today, actually, and see how it goes. I appreciate you, though.”
“I’m happy to help. And now we’re going to let you two eat and have some alone time,” she went on when Raina started to say something. She grabbed her girlfriend’s hand and smiled. “Let me know what you think of the torta. Rai, let’s get back to work before the line is out the door. Donovan, could you stop at the counter before you go? I want to make sure Will eats this morning.”
“Absolutely.”
“I love them so much,” I murmured when they walked away, leaving Donovan and me in peace.
“We’re pretty lucky when it comes to friends,” he agreed. “It sounds like you made another one? I’m glad Ori has been helping you.”
Right, I’d been so busy making up with Donovan that I hadn’t mentioned Ori stopping by. While we ate, I gave him a quick recap of the weekend. I didn’t mention Charlie’s journal, though. I trusted Donovan completely, but he hadn’t known Charlie and in my gut, I knew Charlie wouldn’t want other people to see that vulnerable side of him. He probably didn’t wantmeto see it, either, which I assumed was why he’d never mentioned that notebook in all the time we’d lived at the house together.
“That sounds like pretty good progress,” Donovan agreed once I’d caught him up.
“I guess. I’m hoping it’ll get easier the more I practice, so I wanted to spend a good chunk of time today working on it.”
“Today shouldn’t be too crazy, so let me know if you need anything. And don’t push yourself too hard, okay?”
“I’ll try my best not to sit and breathe too much,” I assured him, biting back a teasing grin.
