“Sit wherever you’d like,” the waitress said to them. “I’ll be right with you.”
They chose a window booth. It was one of those sixties-styled diners, with the neon signs, decorated in red and chrome everywhere. Sixties music was playing quietly in the background too.
“I can’t remember the last time I’ve been out to eat at a diner,” Andrew told her.
“Really?”
“Yes. I haven’t been out much.” He looked around. “This reminds me of a place near the med school campus. It must be a restaurant chain. It’s almost exactly the same décor and layout.”
“Probably.”
The waitress came up to greet them, and passed them the menus.
“Can I get you folks something to drink?”
Andrew gestured for her to answer first. “I’ll have water. Bottled, please.”
“I’ll have the same.”
“We’ve got great milkshakes. Best in the neighborhood,” she added.
“No thanks,” Abby answered. “Dairy will be a little hard on my system this late at night. Another time, thanks.”
“I’ll pass as well.”
“Not a problem. I’ll be back with your drinks, and can take your order if you’re ready then.”
They nodded and looked down at their menus.
Andrew looked up from his. “This has got to be the same chain.”
“You think so?”
“Positive. The food’s identical. I guess it’s some consolation. Some things never change—even three thousand miles away and six years later.”
She nodded and looked at the all-night specials. “Do you see anything interesting?”
“The burger looks good, with garlic mash potatoes.”
“Yes. I have to warn you, though. Their hamburgers are massive. Tasty, but I’ve never been able to finish one. I think I’ll have one without a side.”
“Sounds great.”
“That way I can save some room for dessert. I’ve got a wicked sweet tooth, I’m afraid.”
“You do?”
“Yes,” she said, nodding, with lowered eyebrows. “I had to pry my eyes away from some of those tempting boxes of chocolates in your pantry this morning.”
“A few treats aren’t that bad.”
“True, but I would take it to the extreme if I had it around all the time.”
“Well, we all have our weaknesses… What’s your favorite dessert?
“Cheesecake…and anything covered in caramel.”
“Okay. I’m making a mental note. By the way, I could take that in so many ways, Abby.”
She let out a shy laugh, and felt the heat rise up her neck. Luckily, the waitress arrived with their water, so she didn’t have to answer.
“Here you go, folks. Are you ready to order?”
Andrew spoke for them both. “Yes. My…the lady here will have a double cheeseburger, hold the sides. I’ll also have a double cheeseburger, and would like a garlic mash on the side.”
“How would you like the burgers?”
“I’ll take mine well done,” Abby replied.
“Same for me.”
“Okay. Coming right up, sir.”
She waited until the waitress left to continue. “So, what’s your favorite dessert?”
“New York style cheesecake. It’s hard finding it as good anywhere else. Thankfully, I’m not that much of a dessert person.”
“Okay, and as you mentioned it, what’s your weakness?”
“You mean in general?”
“Yes.”
He briefly looked down at the tabletop, and then back at her. “Mostly, allowing myself to be riddled with guilt.”
“Guilt about what?”
She saw him recoil slightly again, and he averted his eyes. His hand went to the mark on his arm again.
“Oh, the past. It’s probably not the best topic for a late night dinner, but the one food I can never say no to is Mexican fried beans and rice. I don’t know what they put in that thing, but I can never resist. My housekeeper makes it for me once or twice a month.”
She smiled. “Interesting.”
He was quick to change the subject, but it was not quick enough. Abby saw that pain in his eyes again. She wasn’t as concerned about what it was from his past that troubled him so—it was how it seemed to swoop in and steal the happiness from his soul. It shut him down. She wasn’t in a hurry to ask yet—certainly not at dinner. She would wait until he felt more at ease. Now, she was the one beginning to have stray thoughts. She leaned forward and focused on how good he looked, sitting opposite her. Four days ago she didn’t know this man existed. Now she was wrapped up in his eyes.
“Do you like Mexican food?” he asked.
“Oh yes. Chili is my favorite. I use an amazing recipe my mom use to make. I can whip some up for you sometime.”
“Sure. I love chili.”
“Oh, before I forget,” Abby said. “What’s the dress code for dinner tomorrow?”
“The restaurant is pretty upscale, but you can wear anything you’d like.”
“I’d like to blend in,” she added, giggling softly. “Otherwise I may show up in my standard go-to outfit.”
“What’s that?”
“Scrubs.”
“I’d be fine with that. I’m sure you’d rock the hospital uniform like a badass.”
“Seriously, Andrew. Tell me. Business casual? A cocktail dress? I don’t go out much either, outside of school, the hospital, and clinicals. This will give me an excuse to go shopping.”
“Honestly. You can wear whatever you want. We own the place. They can’t force you to leave. Just be comfortable. If you insist, you can go with semi-formal.”
“Good. Semi-formal. Check.”
Their meal came soon afterward.
“This looks great,” Andrew told her.
“It tastes even better.” She looked at him and realized something. “Can I ask you something? About being a shifter?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t you have that urge to let your bear out?”
“Yes.”
“How often?”
“Every five to ten days. Why?”
“I was curious. For my father, it’s about once a week. It’s not too hard to manage, because the back of our farm is beside a wooded area that leads to one of our nearby state parks. He usually goes off for a few hours. That online site I was telling you about, they recommend letting the animal out one or two full days a week. It’s a lot.”
“It sounds about right. Hey. After dinner tomorrow, will you show me the site?”
“Definitely. We can also email the administrator to get you your own access. It’s a bit of a process, because they’re very careful about who they let in.”
“Makes sense.”
“There’s one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“The page owner is a bit crazy. Well, not crazy. More like paranoid, about two things. The first is he believes we should all find and stop Theriona from turning more people into shifters. Either by helping her find the person she’s looking for, or…to find a way to end her life.”
“He wants to kill her? That does sound crazy.”
“Yes, it does. The second is he wants to bring all of the shifters together. In person.”
Andrew raised his eyebrows. “Do you mean for something like a conference?”
“Kind of. He thinks it’s just a matter of time before people like you and my father are found out, and when that happens, it won’t be a good thing.”
“That’s very possible.”
“There’s lots more to it. We can go over the details sometime.”
“Good idea. Let’s eat. ”
They settled into a cozy silence while they ate. She had been famished. She finished the entire burger, for the first time ever. As it was late, Andrew called his driver to pick them up. They passed on desserts and hurriedly left. She was exhausted, and frankly, ready to hit the sack when he droppe
d her off in front of her place. He walked her to the door, and kissed her cheek.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow night?” she asked.
“Yes. I’ll be here by seven.”
“I’ll be ready. Good night, Andrew.”
“Have a nice sleep. See you soon.”
Andrew waited for her to lock up before he returned to the limo and left. Abby went directly to the bathroom, removed her makeup, and pulled out another pajama top for bed. She crawled in under the covers and smiled as she drifted off to a restful sleep.
Chapter Three
ABBY grumbled and rolled over when a text message woke her up from such desperately needed sleep. She picked up the phone and looked at the screen. Andrew. Oh shit! It was after ten in the morning. Thank goodness he texted her.
She opened the text dialogue and read his message.
Hi. Had a good sleep?
Abby replied with,
Hi. Pretty good. I overslept. You?”
The rest of their exchange continued with,
Heading to my meeting now.
Good. I’m going to get ready for my run.
Nice. I just hit the gym downstairs.
Looking forward to tonight.
Me too. When will you be home this afternoon?
About 2pm.
Ok. Will let you go. Have a good one.
Enjoy your day Andrew.
Abby set the phone down and got dressed. When she was ready, she got the phone again and pulled up the music sequence she programmed in for running. She grabbed her earbuds and locked up. Abby’s apartment was fifteen blocks from the water. Whenever she went out on a run, she would head straight for the ocean view, run up the boardwalk, and make a loop to get back.
Her run would normally last about forty-five minutes. On beautiful mornings like this, she would make it an hour. She wanted to do the same today. She needed it, although she was well aware she had to give her ankle time. She started with a brisk walk to warm up. There was still some mild soreness, but she could work through it. A few blocks from the waterfront, she transitioned into a slow jog. It felt good to be moving again.
As she turned south onto boardwalk, she felt the warmth of the sun hit the left side of her face. It was glorious—and hard to believe not even twenty four hours ago she had been snowed in at a Lake Tahoe cabin, with five feet of snow trapping them in. She soaked up the heat and took her jog up a notch. She was running now, letting her legs stretch so her stride could activate her quads and inner thighs. Her breathing had found its balance. Even her stomach was getting a workout. She allowed her arms to get in a neutral position. It began to feel automatic. Soon she was in her element, feeling the runner’s high kick in. She could keep going for a long time.
Abby ran the entire two miles of boardwalk and turned back to run it again. Going home was always easier. She kept up the pace, taking a few sips of the water she had ready in her runner’s pack. Turning up the music, she kept her eyes on the horizon and enjoyed the breeze on her face. Her apartment was ahead of her way too soon. She missed this alone time. She stretched her calves and quads at her front steps when she got back. The sweat dripped off her chin during this cool down. After a good run like this, she loved the feel of her drenched skin, sweat between her shoulder blades, her hair sticking to the sides of her face.
Getting inside, she hit the shower. It was time to catch up on the two days she missed, check emails, and get back into the routine of her studies.
***
ABBY made her way to campus first thing after her shower. She had hoped there wouldn’t be too much to catch up on. There was one missed seminar and a meeting with her independent project supervisor. During her campus visit, she was able to get a copy of the seminar notes from one of her classmates, and her academic supervisor had no problem rescheduling the meeting to discuss her independent project.
Completely by chance, she bumped into Professor Sansbury, who nodded at her politely as he slipped by. She considered making conversation and mentioning she got to know Andrew, but decided against it. After reviewing some graduate student announcements on her laptop, she packed up and left. She had what she needed, and could catch up with the readings at home. On her way home, she stopped at her usual grocery store. She needed food in the house. With her shopping cart strolling ahead, she perused the aisles to stock up on meat, fruits and vegetables. She couldn’t wait to settle back into her place after having been away for over two weeks. Now that she was likely to have company more often than not, she looked forward to preparing some of her favorite dishes again.
For some unknown reason, she noticed a man shopping down one of the aisles. Strange. It was Rob.
“Rob?”
“Hey Abbs,” he said when he looked around. “How’s it going?”
“I’m good. You shop all the way over here?”
“Yeah. This is the only place I do my groceries since I’ve been in Frisco. Is this where you shop too?”
“Yes. I can’t believe I’ve never bumped into you here before.”
“True. That’s kinda weird. It’s the only place that sells produce and dairy from Sparks. Gotta love it home-grown, right?” He smiled and held up a wrapped chunk of Tahoe cheese.
“For sure. So you’re all okay now?”
“Yes. Everything’s awesome.”
“Did you fill Becky in about our blizzard adventure?”
“I did. Mom told her while we were still at the cottage. She was pretty worried for a while. When I talked to her this morning, she blamed me for the whole thing.”
“Really? Why?”
“She said I should have known better, that I was always on top of the weather and should have seen the storm coming. Ahhh, what does she know anyway. Sisters. She’d blame me for the weather too, if she could,” he said with a smile. “Oh, by the way, she said to tell you hi.”
“That’s nice of her.”
“She’ll try to phone you over the weekend. Mom told her about your ankle.”
“Cool. I’ll look out for her call.” Abby smiled, but doubted Becky would make good on that phone call. Becky had a tendency to get wrapped up in her studies and her new east coast friends since she moved out to D.C. She wondered whether Becky still considered her as her best friend anymore. Maybe it was the physical distance, and their mutually busy schedules during the last year of their studies that chipped away at their closeness over time.
After Becky left San Francisco, the place didn’t feel the same anymore. Abby was outgoing enough, and had made quite a few friends in her nursing program. These were people she knew would take very similar life-long career paths as Abby would over the years. None of those friendships grew past the odd study session, hellos in the hospital hallways, watercooler talk when they had the same placements, or drinks after exams. Last semester was pretty lonely. Abby had begun to get used to it. She delved into her studies and placements, and went home to Sparks for all the school breaks. Now that Andrew was in the picture, she couldn’t help thinking whether she had new options outside of San Francisco.
As her thoughts drifted to Andrew, she considered mentioning Andrew’s surprise visit, but Rob beat her to it.
“So, I hope you don’t mind. I gave Andrew your address.”
“No, it’s all right.”
“Did he call you?”
“Yes. He’s in town.”
“Really?
That’s cool. I thought he wanted to send you flowers or something.”
“Yes, that too,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t notice her blush.
“So, you think you two might like to do something with Ruth and me while he’s here? I feel like we owe the guy, you know? Maybe I can swing for dinner near my place or we can take him out for drinks or something.”
Abby thought about it. It didn’t sound like a bad idea. “I think he’d like that. Sure, I’m in. You’ve got his contact info, right? I can mention it, but it might be nice if you invite him.”
“Yeah. I’ll g
ive him a call.”
“Great, and good for you and Ruth!”
“Oh, well, yeah. She’s nice.”
“I couldn’t say much when you gave us the big announcement in the car yesterday.”
“Yeah. That was messed up. We’ll see how it goes.”
“That doesn’t sound like the Rob I know. Change of heart already?”
“No. Not at all. I like her. She’s nice. It’s just—things are different in the real world. That time in Lake Tahoe…well, we were wrapped up in a little bubble. Who knows how she’ll feel as we get to know each other.”
“What about how you feel?”
He ran a hand through his hair with his free hand. “I can’t say, really. I’m a dude. All I know is when this year’s out, I’m staying here in the city. Everything else is up in the air.”
“That’s months away. How about you try to take it day by day with Ruth? It can’t hurt to just enjoy the now, right?”
True, true. Good advice, Abbs.”
“Good. Okay I’ve got to get away from all of this dairy,” she joked, pointing up and down the aisle where they stood. “I’ll talk to you soon. Let me know what he says.”
“All right. See you, Abbs.”
She finished shopping and left the grocery soon afterward. It was early afternoon, and she was already drained for the drive home.
All that time napping and lazing around at the cottage has made you soft, Abbs.
Abby parked her car and carried her groceries up the walkway to her main floor apartment. She was confused. At first, she looked to make sure she didn’t take the wrong way from the parking lot. She had not. But there they were—a man in a black suit, and a woman in a pretty navy skirt suit waiting at her front door.
The both wore store name tags. The woman’s tag said Marie, and Dirk was on his. When she got closer, it hit her where they were from.
“May I help you?”
“Hello Miss. Are you Miss Abby Wittfield?
“Yes.”
“We have a delivery for you.”
Abby looked at their arms. All the lady had in her hand was a tablet.
“A delivery? What is it?”
Cabin Bear Heat Box Set: A Paranormal Fantasy Bear Shifter Romance (A Bear Shifter Romance Retelling of the Billionaire Redemption Series Book 2) Page 24