Page 23 of Midnight Serenade
His warm hand dwarfed mine as he took it. “Deal,” he murmured. He released my hand, but I could swear I still felt his touch. I was a little regretful that we were surrounded by people right then. I wanted to talk about last night, and about how he felt about everything. But most of all, I wanted to talk about that handshake at my door. Who does that!?
Rafe, who’d flagged down the waitress and ordered something for himself, took a sip of his hot tea. It smelled like a cinnamon roll. He noticed my puzzled gaze on his cup and handed it to me to try. “What is this magic?” I asked as I took another sip. It was amazing! Creamy, spicy, with just the right amount of sweetness. Rafe laughed and finally had to wrestle his mug away from me because I wouldn’t give it back to him.
“Cinnamon roll tea. It’s made with cinnamon tea bags, maple creamer, sugar, and whipped cream. Delicious, right? It tastes like fall in a cup.”
“Yeah. I normally don’t like sugar in the mornings, but that was amazing. Thanks for letting me have a tiny bit.”
He snorted, looking into his nearly empty cup. “I’m ordering one for you. Otherwise, you’ll keep stealing mine.”
Our order was eventually delivered, and we dug in, all of us acting like we’d been on a deserted island for weeks without food. Even Sebastian ordered a meal in addition to his typical cup of liquid. I guess he was hungry for more than just blood today. I ordered biscuits and sausage gravy with a side of fruit and hashbrowns and moaned when I dug a spoon in and got the perfect bite of fluffy bread with the perfect amount of creamy, savory sauce.
“Oh my gosh, this is divine.”
Everyone else agreed, and we finished a good half of our plates in silence.
“Do you think the turtles will stay close to me, like the mantas did?” I asked, finally coming up for air.
Sebastian was drinking from a discreet silver cup with a lid and a straw. You could see the red in the straw, but the rest of the drink was covered. Humans probably just thought he was a Big Red addict.
He opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, a man suddenly appeared at our table. I was, perhaps foolishly, sitting at the end of the booth. The man knelt next to me and was just about to take my hand when another man, built like an NFL linebacker, came up behind him. Without a word, he used pressure points to make the kneeling man stand up, and started frog marching him away from our table. “Please don’t hurt him!” I called out anxiously. “He’s actually a good person!”
The linebacker nodded and gentled his hold. Maybe he would just take him out of the restaurant? He hadn’t actually done anything wrong.
I turned back to my table to see Mama reaching for a bat that wasn’t there, Micaela half out of her seat, Sebastian staring at the retreating pair thoughtfully, and Rafe gaping at me.
“Did you just ask Gray not to hurt the man that was going to touch you without your permission?” Rafe demanded.
I sat back and sighed, no longer interested in my food. I pushed my plate away. At this rate, I’dloseweight on this cruise rather than gain it, like my research had suggested most people did. “He was one of the good ones. Even though he was... temporarily mesmerized, if I would have said no, he would have pulled back and respected it. There’s a big difference between a person who, while momentarily mesmerized, gently reaches for my hand without permission, and the dirt clods that touch me, rub against me, and try to kiss me, never once respecting that I should evenhavepersonal space.”
Micaela had dug into her food again, seemingly unbothered by what had just happened. “What I’d like to know,” she said,taking a sip of her hot cocoa, “is how you know what kind of person he is.”
I shrugged my shoulders uncomfortably, unsure how to answer that, but Mama answered for me, so I needn’t have bothered.
“She’s always been like that. She could tell me, in a huge crowd of people, who were the good people, who were the iffy ones, and who were the ones you wanted to avoid at all costs.” Mama petted Kazi, who’d poked his head out from under the table and was purr-growling in agitation. Possibly because I was upset? I didn’t know. I touched his furry ears and tried to convey calm toward him, and he eventually settled.
Mama speared a piece of fruit. “She was forever bringing people home with her. Most of them were down on their luck. Some of them were homeless, some of them were trying to escape a dangerous situation. They would stay awhile until they could get back on their feet and then leave.” Mama smiled fondly at me. “I cannot tell you how many elderly people she brought home with her. She’d invite them to dinner, and we’d just sit out on the back porch and talk and talk.”
“Why the elderly?” Sebastian asked.
I shrugged sheepishly. “Most of them are really lonely, and a lot of them are nice people. Even the outwardly grouchy ones.” I smiled and took another sip of Rafe’s tea. He’d handed it to me when he noticed I’d stopped eating.
I remembered quite a few grouchy elderly people. But Mama and I had worn them down until they were putty in our hands. It helped that Mama could cook like a Michelin chef. “Also, Mama and I were lonely. She didn’t date for many years because she was afraid of what would happen if she brought a guy into our household, and I was homeschooled and couldn’t be around other kids too much.” I shrugged again, as if that explained everything.
“We’re still in contact with a lot of the people who have stayed in our house over the years,” Mama added.
“Yes, but how do youknowif people are good or not?”Micaela asked again.
I gave it some thought. “I...get a strong sense of a person, almost right away. I can just look around me and know.”
Micaela looked fascinated. She held up a finger at me. “Hold that thought.” Then she ducked underneath the table. I could hear Kazi huff at her as she climbed over him, and I knew everyone at the table was pulling their legs away from the crazy woman. She popped up next to me, and Mama shuffled a little toward Rafe to give her some room. “Sorry, Mama Liora. But Gracie and I need to test this out.”
Mama waved us off.
Micaela wasrightnext to me now, so she could whisper, and the people sitting at the tables closest to us wouldn’t hear her.
She chin nodded at the table next to us. “Okay, go.”
I glanced at the table briefly. “Starting clockwise: good, good, amazingly good, a little grey, decent, and good.”
