Page 11 of Ash

And unsure of how much she should confirm.

He held up his hand. "Don't share too much with me."

Her eyes widened at his words.

"Just the safe thing to do when you're on your own." He gestured to the diner. "You got some cash on you?"

Her shoulders tensed and he smiled.

"Good. Don't answer me." He started toward the diner himself. "If I was you. I'd get a breakfast sandwich. You can eat pieces of it on the ride. And a glass of water would be good, too."

He pushed in the front door of the diner and the waitress looked up at him. "Joe! Good to see you!"

"How do, Alice!" He jerked his thumb toward the door at the back of the room. "Coffee and a breakfast sandwich, Alice? I'm gonna use the head."

Suzannah saw her roll her eyes and smile. "Fine, Joe. Just fine."

Suzannah stepped up and gave the waitress a little wave of her hand. "Could I have a seat?"

Alice gestured at the diner. "Pick your seat. You have all of the choices."

Suzannah paused and Alice put a menu on the counter. "Grab the menu and have a seat. I'm headed into the kitchen to give Joe's order."

Suzannah nodded even though the other woman wasn't looking at her.

She stepped up to the counter and picked up the laminated menu.

It was clean and she smiled.

Back home in Sylvan City, the area of town that she'd lived in was falling apart.

The diners there were lacking and the people in the area didn't take much care of what they were doing. It was because of the shapeshifters, her boss complained all the time. He said people didn't care because all of the shapeshifters were ruining everything.

She'd never really bought into what he'd said.

The area she lived in wasn't popular with shapeshifters. The businesses in the area didn't welcome them.

Oh, they had to take down the signs saying: SHIFTERS NOT WELCOMED.

That was illegal in town.

But they hadn't made it welcome for people who came in.

If the owners or the worker thought that someone was a shapeshifter, they'd be rude and pushy.

After a while, it seemed to Suzannah that anyone who came in who looked like they had money or any kind of personal power or confidence was identified as a shifter. She turned and looked at herself in the mirror that filled the wall behind the counter. It looked like an old fifties diner and the name DON'S DINER was painted with the long, stylized script of the era.

She saw herself plainly in the mirror.

Her shoulder length blonde hair, almost completely straight.

Her rounded oval face. Pretty much plain.

And her figure, drowning in a red and white floral dress. No one could tell what she looked like under it.

She was pretty much bland.

Probably why no one in her area seemed to think she was anything more than plain old human.

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