Page 59 of The Omega Princess

“Oh, listen, love,” said Sinclair, “we’re just going to make ourselves at home right there.” He pointed through the window. “We’ve got our menus already, so, just tell whoever’s serving to wander over when they’ve got a minute.”

The hostess looked surprised. She eyed the podium. “Let me check if…” She lifted her head. “That should be fine.”

“Thanks,” he said, giving her a little wink and a smile. He started to pull me along. Then he paused. “Oh, it isn’t… does Annie still work here?”

“Actually, yes,” said the hostess.

“I don’t want to bother her, but she did say to mention I was here if I come by. Tell her Davey’s here.”

“Okay,” said the hostess with another little smile.

Sinclair looked embarrassed. He pulled on my hand insistently.

I came along with him.

We went out to the table on the porch, where he promptly lit a cigarette as he surveyed the menu. “You have anything you don’t like to eat?”

“Davey?”

“Middle name’s David,” he said. “Any food allergies? You eat meat?”

“No allergies,” I said. “I eat almost anything. I don’t like pickles or anything too cabbage-y.”

He laughed. “What qualifies as cabbage-y?”

“Cole slaw, sauerkraut, kimchee, that sort of thing,” I said. “But sometimes, if the cabbage is fresh and isn’t made slimy and wilted by dressing or something, I can be into it. I had these fish tacos with tri-colored cabbage and cilantro and they were divine.”

“Noted,” he said.

“You come here and give a false name? And no one recognizes you?”

“Well,” he said with a shrug. “I don’t know about that. We all pretend that they don’t recognize me, and I like that. It’s nice sometimes.”

“And you come here often?”

“No,” he said. “Not in years now. It’s sporadic, but when I do come… well, it’s good here.” He stabbed a finger into the menu. “I think we need this sampler. But also, we need an entire order of breaded mushrooms and we need these potstickers. This spinach-artichoke dip is to die for, really, so I think we should get some of that. And if possible, the shrimp.”

“That’s a lot,” I said.

“I’d like to watch you taste things,” he said, his voice going gravelly.

A sharp tingle went through me. “All right,” I said immediately.

He laughed. “Drinks, too. They have these cocktail flights. It’s like a wine flight but for tiny cocktails. We should get them all so that we can taste everything.”

I liked the idea of that. I nodded at him.

“Yes?” he said.

I nodded again, more definitely.

“Say it,” he said. “I think I want to hear you say ‘yes’ a lot.”

“Yes,” I said with a little laugh.

He sucked in an affected breath. “Oh, that’s good. You’re going to do bad things to me, omega.”

I laughed more, liking that. “Am I?” I was flirting now.

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