Page 70 of Solanum

"You hardly talk anymore, Car. You've grown so quiet over the last few months."

"I don't have anything to say." I shrugged and lifted the jam-covered toast to my mouth. "Except maybe you can fix me breakfast whenever you want because I can get behind it. What did you put in these eggs? Crack?"

"Salt." She scoffed at me. "Don't be ridiculous. I didn't cook for you. I cooked for my sub."

I laughed at her and shook my head. "You heading out of town again?"

"Yeah. One more rotation in Olympia then I'm full-time at U.W. Medical. We'll see how long it lasts." She cocked a brow at me. "Care to wager a bet?"

"Three months tops." I smirked, leaning back in my chair. "That's all I give it."

"What do I get when I win?"

"Unlimited playroom access." I wagged my brows at her. "For eternity."

"Done."

We parted ways to head to work a bit later, and I stopped off for coffee before heading in to work as usual. I parked at the office, then made my way down to The Crystal Mug Café. I pulled open the door, only to be accosted with the presence of Greg Perkins.

"What's up, Donovan?" he asked, a bright smile on his face when he extended his hand to me while gripping a large coffee in the other. "Good to see you."

"Yeah." I shook his hand before making to step around him. "Same to you." Asshole.

I rolled my eyes and nearly walked face first into Nora. She gasped, holding her coffee cup out in front of her, the small splash just missing her blouse.

"Shit, sorry," I said, holding my hands up while I assessed the damage.

"It's fine." She appeared to answer before realizing that it was me as evidenced by the blanched expression that made it to her face. "Hey…"

"Hey back at you," I said, then shifted away from her to head to the counter.

"You okay?" I heard Greg ask and turned back to look at the two of them.

"Yes. I'm fine." Nora's voice tensed when Greg brushed a napkin over her blazer.

"No damage done," he said, then kissed her quickly. "C'mon. We're late."

My stomach riled against the vision before me, twisting and churning with pitted nausea. Perkins took her hand, tugging her behind him as he made for the door. A crowd entering blocked their exit, and in the brief moment of pause, Nora looked back at me. Her bottom lip between her teeth for a fraction of a second.

I shrugged, and she turned away, her eyes flickering to the floor before she followed Perkins out.

"What can I get you?" asked the tawny-haired barista behind the counter.

"A fucking sawed off shotgun wouldn't hurt," I said, dropping a ten-dollar bill on the counter. "And a medium black."

The woman chuckled and nabbed the bill. "If you weren't wearing that badge, that comment would've tied my nipples in a bow."

A laugh escaped me, and I met her gaze as if finally noticing her. She smiled, flicking a single eyebrow upward when she handed me the change.

"Not the café robbing type. Sorry."

"Nah. All good. What's your name?" she asked, lifting a marker to the side of a paper hot cup.

"Caroline. You?" I asked, a smirk making it back to my face.

When the woman behind her handed her the covered coffee cup with my order, she plopped it into the cup she wrote on before handing it to me. "Check your order." She gestured to the cup. "We don't always get it right."

"Never had a problem here." I looked at the side of the mug to see the name Charlie scrawled in artsy loops beside the digits of a phone number. I thumbed my bottom lip and nodded in her direction. "See ya, Charlie."

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