Page 29 of Everything We Found

He placed their order and a few minutes later, they dug into scoops of vanilla melting under hot fudge. Sharing a sundae with Thomas had become one of Nadia’s favorite highlights of the week. Joe’s had become a safe zone, and Thomas her safe place.

“Parents suck,” Thomas said. “But yours suck more than mine.”

Her head recoiled. It wasn’t the first time one of them mentioned that about their parents. But today, it set her off. Her mouth tightened so her bottom lip wouldn’t tremble. “You’re a dick.”

“What?” He acted surprised that he’d insulted her.

She grabbed her backpack and shoved back her chair.

“What did I say? Where are you going?”

She stormed from the diner.

“Nadia.” He followed her outside.

She quickly unlocked her bike.

“Nadia.”

She wrapped the lock around her handlebars and straddled the bike.

He grabbed her handlebars. “Why are you upset? I thought we agreed we had the worst parents.”

They did but he didn’t need to rub her face in it. Not today when she’d been feeling her lowest.

“Yours at least pay their bills so they won’t lose their house.”

The gold flecks in his eyes flared. “Are you going to lose your house?”

“Let go.” She yanked the bike from him. His hands snapped open and she stumbled back, catching her balance on the bike.

“Where are you going?”

“Home, jerk-off.”

“Don’t be mean.”

She didn’t know how to be anything else at the moment so she pedaled away as fast as she could. She didn’t look back. If she had, he would have seen that she’d started to cry.

The coffee started percolating and Nadia blinked, realizing she’d fallen down the rabbit hole of despair. She collected her wayward thoughts and the coffee mugs, setting the ceramic cups on the countertop, the kitchen quiet under the coffeemaker’s spit and sputter. Staring blankly at the brew dripping into the pot, she forced herself to focus on their present situation, wondering if there was any way out of this mess while Fernando Ruiz was out there. She couldn’t see how, and that made her fret all the more.

She tapped the counter impatiently, willing the coffee to finish so she had something mundane to do. The pot beeped, signaling the brew session was complete, and Nadia snatched the pot. “Finally.”

She was pouring coffee into their mugs when Thomas joined her in the kitchen. “Still take it the same way you did those nights at Joe’s?”

“Guilty,” he said, coming to stand beside her. She was acutely aware of his nearness, his arm nearly brushing hers. She slid themug of black coffee toward him, their fingers overlapping briefly on the ceramic, sending tiny electric pulses across her hand. He thanked her for the coffee, adding some sugar and creamer, and turned to lean against the counter. His brows shot up after his initial sip. “That’s strong.”

“It’ll keep us awake since it looks like we’re staying up for the night.”

“It’s good, thanks.”

Nadia snorted. “It’s crap, about as good as it was at Joe’s.” The comment earned her a small laugh from Thomas and some of the tension left him. She hadn’t seen him let his guard down since the first gunshot. She’d also forgotten what his laugh did to his face. The hard lines around his mouth softened until he looked like the person she used to know. “Aimee’s though. Now that’s good coffee.”

A sad smile touched his mouth. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“Ah.” She pressed her mouth flat, sorry she’d brought up Aimee’s Café. Thomas had kept his distance after she’d filed the restraining order against him. She didn’t think he’d been to her coffee shop since Aimee had found James, and it wasn’t because he’d moved out of the area. The restraining order expired years ago. Thomas had just been giving her space, avoiding her after what he’d done.

She shifted uneasily beside him, the stretch of silence between them growing uncomfortable. Her shoulder grazed his and she didn’t move away. Neither did he.