Page 14 of Savage Blooms
“With something to eat?” he suggested. He needed breakfast, that was true, but asking for something fromthe kitchen was also an easy way to send her out of the room for a few minutes. “Sorry, I’ve never been able to work on an empty stomach.”
“Oh yes,” she said absentmindedly, as though she had forgotten eating was something human beings needed to do. “The porridge should still be warm. We’ve got toast and bacon too, if you want it.”
“Sounds great.”
Eileen nodded and disappeared into the hall, and Adam pressed his hand to his chest, trying to identify the root cause of the sudden urge he had to run. He rubbed a circle over his breastbone, trying to massage away that tight feeling. Was Eileen actually acting strangely or was this just him freaking out the moment someone invited him into intimacy, even if it was only friendship and cooperation? He had been more reactive since his grandfather died, more erratic and irritable. Maybe he was just looking for a way to ruin a good thing.
Adam looked up at the trio of hares captured in the stained-glass panel above the window, arranged in a circle with their ears touching. It took him a moment to realize that there were only three ears shared between the hares, joining them together in an optical illusion.
It was beautiful to look at, but upon closer inspection it gave Adam an unsettled feeling, a feeling that only grew within him the longer he looked at it. He had the sinking sensation that he had seen it somewhere before, or even more unnerving, that he was in the presence of somethingvery ancient that his animal hindbrain recognized even when his conscious mind could not.
“Here we are,” Eileen said, appearing from around the corner with a serving tray in her hands. The spread had been arranged nicely, even with a sprig of baby’s breath in a slim purple vase, and Adam’s stomach grumbled at the sight. “Take a load off, have your fill.”
“Happily,” Adam said. Eileen had brought him a huge serving of breakfast, far more than even Adam could eat, so he asked: “Want some of this toast?”
“Oh no,” she said, waving the offer away. “I already ate.”
Adam sat down on the couch and began to slather some jam onto a piece of toast, keeping one eye on Eileen. Something about her, and about this whole situation, was starting to make him feel like a hare himself, crouched in the jaws of a trap and waiting to see if the trigger would go off.
“Can I ask you something?” Adam said, just talking to fill the dead air. When Eileen was chatty, she was charismatic beyond belief. When she was quiet, Adam was learning, she gave off an intensely pensive energy. He had never been good with uncomfortable silences.
“Of course.”
“Why do you go by lord, even though you’re, well, a lady?”
Eileen gave him a sharp grin.
“Lord suits me better, I think.”
“Fair enough,” Adam replied. His relationship with gender was neither intricate or fraught, but he knew that wasn’t the case for everyone.
“How’s that taste?” she asked. “Need more maple syrup for the porridge?”
“It’s perfect,” he said.
“Better than the cafeteria food at Michigan State, I’d wager,” she teased.
Adam was once again thrown off balance. That bell in the back of his head rang a little clearer, a little louder.
“I don’t think I told you I went to Michigan State, did I?”
“I took the liberty of doing a quick Instagram search last night,” she said, casting her eyes back towards the boxes as she took a seat on the other end of the couch. She seemed once again impatient, like he was the one being cagey. “I had trouble sleeping.”
“I think we all did,” Adam said, a voyeur’s guilt welling up inside him.
“Can I askyoua question now, since we’re getting to know each other?”
“Of course,” Adam said, taking a decisive bite of toast. He didn’t believe in doing things in half measures. Whatever Eileen asked, he would answer.
“What you saw last night…” Eileen said, gaze never wavering. “Have you ever seen something like that before?”
“The rain?” Adam asked, hoping to God she was just talking about the weather.
“No, that indiscreet moment between Finley and I you stumbled in on.”
Adam set down his spoon and pushed his porridge a few inches away, giving her a stricken look. Eileen merely smiled back, utterly serene.
“Not up close,” he said. He wasn’t sure if it was the answer she had been after, but at least it was honest. “And I didn’t mean to see anything. I was looking for Nicola. I’m sorry for the… invasion of privacy.”
