Page 14 of Two Favors Repaid

A young waitress dropped off two orders of waffles, a dark coffee for Rob and a coffee with milk for her.

“Are you sure you should be drinking coffee now?” Rob asked, arching his eyebrow.

“I’ll feel better if I don’t sleep like a sack of potatoes the whole way back,” she said.

She stared at the two waffles on her plate. Despite her earlier words, she didn’t think she could eat a bite.

Delaying the inevitable, she picked up her knife and fork and cut off a small piece of waffle. It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, just the way she liked. At any other point, when her stomach wasn’t made of knots, she could probably eat the plate clean.

“Try to eat a bite or two,” Rob said. His harsh features softened in understanding. “See how you feel then.”

He was also moving the food around his plate but hadn’t yet taken a bite of his own waffle.

“How do you do it?” she asked. “How do you cope with this?”

“I’m not sure you’re asking the right person. This kind of thing doesn’t happen in Sharp’s Cove. Stephen Ford is the first and hopefully last serial killer Sharp’s Cove has ever had. But I cope with it by remembering why I’m doing this. In this case, to give those two grieving parents closure. And to make sure Stephen Ford never sets foot outside the prison again.”

“I overheard the mayor and Principal Reynold speaking last week. It seems visitor numbers are up this year, and they expect the trend to continue. Everybody wants to see where it all happened. Probably take a selfie too.” She shook her head. “What are people thinking?”

“They don’t mean anything by it. Someone like Ford … it’s simply outside the range of experience of normal human beings. They’re out here this summer looking for the extraordinary. They don’t understand how horrific ….” His voice trailed off, and he blushed, realizing he’d probably said too much. “I’m sorry, Emma.”

“Please don’t apologize. I’m tired of people treating me like I’m made of glass.”

He nodded, putting a forkful of waffle into his mouth and chewing carefully. “You know, I think you’re onto something. I’m going to start having waffles for dinner more often.”

She looked down at her mutilated waffle and chose the smallest piece from the carnage on her plate. It was delicious. She swallowed and tried for another piece.

“I told you. Waffles work any time of day or night.”

His gaze heated and his strong jaw ticked at her mention of the word night. It hung in the air between them for a long moment, this idea that they might in some universe be eating waffles together in the middle of the night. A moment later they both looked down at their plates, and the moment was lost. They ate in silence for a bit. Every so often, she caught him staring behind her at the empty doorway.

“I don’t think I can eat any more,” she said, pushing her plate away half-eaten.

“I’ll get the check and ask for the coffee to go,” he said quickly. He’d eaten a bit more than her but nowhere near the whole dish.

“It’s so cold,” she said, rubbing her arms.

“It’s almost eleven p.m. I’ll turn the heat on in the car.”

Five minutes later, she realized she shouldn’t have let him turn on the heat. Despite the coffee, her eyes felt gritty with exhaustion. She wanted nothing better than to close them, just for a few minutes. She struggled against the desire.

I have to stay awake.

“You don’t have to stay awake, Emma. You know that, right?” he asked as if reading her mind.

“I don’t want you to feel like you’re alone in the car.”

“I could never feel that way when I’m with you. Besides, I find your snoring cute.”

Her head snapped in his direction. “My what? I most certainly don’t snore.”

“My mistake,” he chuckled. “Take a nap. I’ll wake you when we’re home.”

Today was a day of firsts. She hadn’t slept in the presence of anybody else since the incident with Ford, much less in a moving vehicle, but with him she felt safe enough to do it again.

He woke her up gently, his hand a welcome weight on her arm.

“Emma? We’re here,” Rob said in a soft, low voice.