“I’m going to need an IV of that coffee.”
She glanced up at him.Whiskers scraped across his chin, his hair was tousled, a sort of sleepy warmth radiating off him.
“All I have are mugs,” she said and found one in the cupboard.Poured him coffee.“And a peanut butter protein bar.”
He took the bar.Read the ingredients.“I could have a Snickers bar for all the protein in this.”But he opened the wrapper.“I’d prefer ramen.”
She blinked at him.“You remember.”
He smiled.“Your obsession with Snickers bars?Yes.And by the way, best ramen I’ve ever eaten was in Poland.”
His smile hit her entire body like sunshine and warmed her all the way to her core.
Oh my.
She managed to nod, to swallow, and made a beeline back to the sofa.
He followed, sat opposite her.Blew on his coffee, softly, gently, the cup cradled between his hands.“I liked that trick—milk and a piece of cheese in the ramen.”
“My mom used to make it that way.”Now she was telling him stories?Stop—“She had a dozen different ways to make ramen.Learned it from one of her boyfriends.”
She couldn’t seem to contain herself.
“My favorite was Ernesto.He made the best pizza.He worked at a restaurant where my mom waitressed, and sometimes on the weekends, he’d make me and Nim?—”
Her breath caught.
Stein sat listening, no reaction to the name-drop of her sister.
“—my sister, personal pizzas.Sometimes he made faces with the pepperoni.”
“My mom did that for us on family movie nights,” he said quietly.
She’d bet their family movie night looked a lot different from hers.
“Yeah, well, she caught him cheating on her with a different waitress, kicked him out, and we didn’t eat pizza for years after that.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“My mom was...she struggled.”
“Struggled?”
“Alcohol, drugs, boyfriends...Nimue and I learned early to...”
“Survive.”He met her eyes.
She lifted a shoulder.
“Nimue.I’ve never heard of that name.”
“It’s after the Lady of the Lake, who gave Arthur Excalibur.”
“Really?”
“Nimue’s dad was a professor of English at Black Hills State University.I don’t remember him, but Mom had pictures.He died in a motorcycle accident.”
“And your dad?”
