Page 20 of In the Nick of Time
With the damn sunglasses covering his eyes, Doug couldn’t see Nick’s expression but if he had to guess, he’d say Nick was uncomfortable.
He wanted Nick to truly acknowledge his subpower and not just hint around about it. That was the only way he would learn how to use it effectively. Although not dying minutes ago was also fine with him.
“I could’ve sworn I almost got run over by that Humvee.”
“I need coffee, and I’m out of Hot Tamales.” Nick changed the subject, looking around them as if a coffee kiosk was going to pop up somewhere close.
It was Vegas, after all.
“It’s two thirty in the afternoon.” Doug responded. He wasn’t letting Nick avoid the subpower topic.
“Okay, then I need an iced coffee and Hot Tamales.”
“There is a Starbucks around here somewhere.” Doug looked up and down the Strip, trying to recall where it had been last time he was in town. “It’s this way, I think. And then you can explain how you did what you did.” Doug started walking again. “And don’t tell me you didn’t do anything. You did something similar the other day when we were responding to the incident at the mall.”
The Starbucks had a damn line. Motherfucker. Doug hated waiting in line almost more than anything, but Nick had tipped up his sunglasses and given him crestfallen puppy-dog eyes. Doug grimly stepped in behind a rowdy family of four. He refused to examine why he was caving to his trainee. By the time they reached the front of the line, Doug was going to need a fistful of aspirin and a gallon of alcohol instead of caffeine.
“Quad, iced Americano with room and one of those sticky buns,” Nick said to the woman behind the counter. He looked at Doug expectantly. “What are you ordering?”
“Small coffee, black, decaf.”
“Decaf? Really? After being awake until five this morning and whatever time you rolled, um, up off the floor, you’re drinking decaf? Don’t we have to go back to that club later?”
“Shush.” Doug caught the eye of the barista, who did not appear to find any of this amusing. “Make it a large black coffee.”
He handed her his card and she pointed to the swipe machine. Why was she even there? It wasn’t as if they neededhumans to make the coffee. Not that Doug wanted robots to take over, but seriously?
Maybe she was a robot?
Maybe Nick’s one working brain cell was affecting Doug’s perfectly good ones.
“We’ll call your name out when the order is ready,” she said, dismissing them.
There were no open places to sit. Doug spotted a gap close to the caffeine collection counter and crossed over to wait there. Five minutes later—which had Doug rethinking his position on robots—their order was ready.
Nick got to the counter before him, thanked the barista with a heartfelt kindness Doug couldn’t have managed, and handed Doug his molten-hot beverage. Then he grabbed his cold drink and the nasty pastry. Eyeing Doug’s go-cup, Nick snickered.
“What?” Doug asked suspiciously because a snickering Nick was sexier than it should have been. Correction: it should not have been sexy at all.
And yet, it was.
“They spelled your name D-U-G.”
Doug briefly stared up at the ceiling, calling on patience he wasn’t sure he had. Who exactly was SPAM testing here?
“Yes. It’s happened before and it will happen again.”
“It’s just funny. You know, you really don’t seem to have much of a sense of humor. It’s good to let yourself laugh. When you’re living out on the high plains all alone, what are you going to laugh at?”
“High plains what?” Doug’s head spun with the change in topics.
“In Montana, when you retire, how are you going to keep yourself alive and happy if you don’t laugh? Hey, did you know that there’s still a law on the books in Montana saying it’s illegal for married women to go fishing alone on Sundays? Unmarriedwomen can’t fish alone ever. I don’t enjoy fishing, but I sure as hell don’t want to be told I have to be married to do it.”
Doug squinted at Nick, wondering if he was giving him crap. But no, even with those ridiculous sunglasses back over his eyes, he seemed to be asking a serious question.
Instead of answering him, because Doug already knew they would end up down some unnavigable conversational alley he would regret, he said, “Let’s walk.”
Nick followed him back out to the sidewalk and the relentless Nevada sunshine.
