Page 17 of In the Grey of Dawn

“What if you got me some corn chips, I'll tell you then. Specifically, the ones in the red packet with the black writing. I need that extra cheese flavour on my tongue so bad. Seriously Charlie, can you get me some of those corn chips,please. And sour cream. Corn chips and sour cream, and I'll sing like a birdy.”

“Okay, okay, I get the hint. I'll go get you some corn chips. You can tell me all about him when I'm back and you can take a nap while you wait,” I say, closing the open curtains and creeping out of the room to let her rest.

I've messaged Dante to let him know I’m popping out to the store to get snacks and I'll be back shortly.

Heading into the supermarket I get every packet of red corn chips I can find in case I get the wrong brand. You'd be surprised how many different red packets there are with black writing and the last thing I want to do is get the wrong food for a pregnant woman.

I've been sleeping like crap since everything went down with Porter and the pull towards Beans is stronger than the need to rush back to Mila while she naps.

Is there ever a wrong time to have coffee?

Absolutely not.

I might even pick up a new book that I can read while she rests.

The frozen wind whips around me as I scurry from my car to the warm serenity of the coffee shop. Pushing the door open I immediately walk into a person attempting to leave.

“Whoops, sorry about that. You must be freezing. I don't know how you all live in the cold like this all the time. I’m definitely a beach kind of guy,” an upbeat, slightly erratic voice says.

Unwrapping my scarf from around my head, I'm greeted with the grinning face of Tristan. “It's not too bad out there. I left my beanie at the house so I had to make do,” I say, lifting up the scarf in my hand. “Any earthquakes recently?” I ask. I never did remember to google about them.

“Huh?

“Earthquakes?” I question again. It's like he's forgotten the whole reason he's up here to begin with.

“Oooh, sorry. I got distracted by the snow for a second. Nothing major, just a few little rumbles here and there,” he says, his smile just a little too big for his face.

“Okay, well … that's a relief. We should have coffee sometime soon and you can tell me all about settling into small town life, we can compare notes,” I say, trying to plaster a happy look on my face when all I can think about is what Porter's big secret is. “I've gotta run now, still have to get lunch and head back but next time I bump into you we’ll sort something out.”

“Sounds great, I look forward to picking your brain,” he says, that too big smile still spread across his face like a cheshire cat. Seeing he's got both his hands full I open the door for him and he wanders out into the snow, hunching over as the wind howls down the street.

My stomach rumbles at the exact moment I approach the display cabinet and see all the mouth watering slices and pastries, but the warm pumpkin soup in the slow cooker behindit calls to me. Who am I kidding? I'm going to get a little of everything and if there are any leftovers, I'll have them tomorrow.

“Feed me, Nova, feed me.” I moan to her as I feign starvation. “Ace, at this point I feel like it would be weird if I saw you anywhere but Beans these days. Do you ever actually go home?”

Mila told me they spent a lot of time together but he's here every morning when I come in for my coffee, and is usually still out with Nova when I leave his house in the evening.

“I've just got a feeling is all, so I’ll be sticking to this one like glue until I don't,” he says, gesturing to Nova and shrugging his shoulders.

“What do you mean? Has something happened?” I don't know if I should admit it or not but it makes me a little nervous knowing that something is throwing Ace off. My Dad always said to trust your gut instincts and they haven't let me down yet, so I'll be keeping an eye out for anything out of place.

“Don't try to scare her, Ace. Nothing has happened. He's just a little worked up over this job they have coming up. He doesn't like leaving for long periods,” Nova says. “I’ve tried everything under the sun to get him to go to his place but he won't budge. He refused to go home the other night and said he felt someone was watching us so he stayed over.”

“He stayed over,” I say, wiggling my eyebrows at her.

“I'm right here,” he says, rolling his eyes.

“Hush now. Nova, tell me everything. Does he snore? Is he abigsnorer?” I say winking at her, bringing my hands up in front of me to gauge size.

“Oh my gods Charlie, he slept on the couch.” Her voice an octave higher as she starts to turn a nice shade of red while Ace smirks sitting at his usual stool to the side of the display cabinet.

The bell of the door opening causes us all to turn around and we’re greeted by the friendly face of Ashley, Nova's part time worker. She gives a small wave before heading out the back to put her things away.

“Hey, do you guys know anything about Porter that I might not know?” Instantly both Nova and Ace are looking at each other and it's not a cute, fun stare. It's the stare of secrets and I hate being the only person in the room who doesn't know something. Squinting my eyes, I point at both of them and using my best stern voice say, “Tell me.”

“Wait a minute now, what exactly is going on? Why would you ask that to begin with?” says Ace, as he stands up from his stool and moves closer to me.

Huffing and crossing my arms in front of my chest, I'm not exactly over the moon to confess my feelings to Nova and Ace. I know we're all friends but talking about feelings,realfeelings, is a little bit foreign to me. I'm an expert at brushing things over when out in public, preferring to be vulnerable when alone or with someone like Mila who's like my sister. I didn't expect to be putting them out there for these two, in the middle of the day, in a coffee shop, where there are people just out of earshot eating their lunch.

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