Page 27 of Phoenix

Chapter 7

Case

Should being around this girl be so easy? I feel like it shouldn’t. Women this beautiful and perfect tend to be stuck-up bitches, from my experience. And Nora just...isn’t.

She’s funny, comfortable to talk to, sharp as a tack, and more than easy on the eyes. She’s the total package and she is terrified of me.

Maybe not terrified, but she’s got ten-foot high walls up when it comes to me, but I’m going to break them down, one brick at a time.

“Oh my God. I love the smell of bacon and pancake batter,” she says when I open the door to Marvin’s, a local breakfast place on the outskirts of Savannah.

“Wait until you taste their bacon-infused waffles.”

“Bacon-infused waffles?” She looks at me with wide eyes. “I think I just came.”

Had I been drinking something, it would have went spewing everywhere. I tip my head back and laugh. “That can be arranged. Never fear.”

“What? Do they offer that here too? In the back somewhere?” She grins. I think I’ve met my match.

We are seated at a small booth in the back near the window. She pulls off my hoodie and tucks it onto the seat beside her, then picks up the menu. She’s so effortless.

“So besides the waffles, what else is good here?”

“The French toast is great, so is the breakfast casserole. Really, you can’t go wrong.”

“Good because I’m starving.”

I watch her as she looks over the menu, her eyes scanning back and forth, and the tip of her tongue pokes out from between her lips just a little as she thinks.

“You’re staring again,” she says, without looking up.

“Can you blame me?”

Our server comes to the table, taking our order of two regular coffees and two orders of the bacon-infused waffles.

“With extra syrup and a side of bacon,” she adds. “I am on vacation after all.”

Our server nods and scurries back to the kitchen to turn in the order.

“So,” she asks, “do you always work out that early in the morning?”

“No. I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d hit the gym instead of running outside.” I stretch the truth a little, leaving out the nightmare.

“We must have been on the same wavelength. I couldn’t sleep either.”

“Any particular reason?” I lean back and cross my arms over my chest in a relaxed position.

She shakes her head. “I’m not a great sleeper. Never really have been. Not for years at least.”

“Insomnia?”

“No, I don’t think it’s any kind of clinical issue, I’m just not a big sleeper.” She thanks our server when the coffees are dropped off, and she adds two creamers and two spoonfuls of sugar, while I take mine black.

“How do you do that?” she asks, nodding to my mug.

“Do what?” I take an easy sip as it is scalding hot.

“Drink it black like that. There is no way you enjoy the taste. If you say you do, you’re lying.” She grins over the top of hers.

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