Page 134 of Puck Me Back to Life

“I just…” I search for the words. “I forgot.”

His jaw tightens almost imperceptibly. “I know.”

He doesn't make me feel guilty. He doesn't lecture me. He simply reaches across the table and nudges the little basket of jam packets toward me for no reason whatsoever. The gesture is so unnecessary that I almost laugh.

Twenty minutes later, the waitress returns balancing an enormous platter.

She wasn't kidding. The waffles are gigantic. Golden brown. Covered in butter. Dusted with powdered sugar. A little pitcher of warm maple syrup sits on the side.

My stomach immediately growls again.

I pour syrup over the first waffle. Then the second. Steam rises into the air. The first bite nearly makes me close my eyes. “Oh.”

Ash chuckles. “Good?”

I point my fork at him. “You knew.”

“I did.”

“You absolutely knew.”

“I've been saying that.”

I take another bite. Then another. Somewhere around the halfway point of the first waffle, I realize I'm eating faster than I have in months. Not because I'm trying to. Because my body suddenly remembers what hunger feels like. I finish the first waffle. Then immediately start on the second.

Ash hasn't said much.

I eventually glance up.

He's watching me. Not in a strange way. Just…watching. And there is something unexpectedly soft in his expression. Something so openly fond that it makes my ears grow warm. “What?”

He blinks. “What?”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I'm not.”

“You are.”

He smiles into his coffee. “I just like seeing you eat.”

The simple honesty catches me completely off guard. I look back down at my plate before he notices how hard I'm blushing.

For reasons I can't explain, the second waffle suddenly tastes even better.

I don't realize where we're going until Ash turns into the parking lot of an old movie theater.

The marquee stretches across the front of the building in faded red letters, advertising three different films. The horror movie title takes up the center in giant white lettering beside a poster of a pale woman with black eyes standing in the middle of a church.

I stop walking. “No.”

Ash looks over his shoulder. “That's funny. I could've sworn you were arguing with me.”

I point toward the poster. “Nothing good has ever happened to a woman with eyes like that.”

Ash's grin spreads immediately. “I've been waiting six months for this.”

He opens the front door and gestures dramatically. “After you.”