Page 35 of Finding Noah
“Definitely some Chin,” Malcolm added.
“Right? Somebody surrendered two adorable puppies. I just knew Stormy needed a younger sibling. Who knew we’d pick two?”
“Who knew?” I echoed the words, trying to inject some enthusiasm.
Christian nudged me. “Show Soren that cute picture you took of them. Oh, no, wait.”
I hadn’t actually made a grab for my phone—which was in my back pocket—before Christian had his out.
“I took this of Noah when he was asleep.”
“You what?” I slept mostly naked, so I might’ve been panicking a bit.
“An hour ago. You remember? Well, you were asleep, so obviously you don’t remember.” He tapped, swiped, tapped again, then handed the phone to Soren.
Who grinned. “Okay, that’s a great photo.”
“May I see?” Malcolm gestured to the phone, but held Christian’s gaze.
“Of course.” My best friend bobbed his head like a freaking bobble doll.
Malcolm took the phone from Soren and his face took on a dreamy quality. “That is one to cherish.” He handed the phone back to Christian.
“May I see?” I arched an eyebrow.
“Uh…sure.”
I hadn’t been naked an hour ago, so that wasn’t a worry. More like wondering if I’d been drooling while… I sighed. I sat on the couch, with a puppy under each arm, and my eyes closed. I hadn’t realized I’d drifted off to sleep. And I certainly hadn’t been aware of him taking my photo. Of feeling compelled to do it. Which raised the question of whether he had other photos of me. I eyed him.
He snatched his phone back.
Ha!
Okay, so I’d have to steal it from him at some point and delete all the bad photos of me.To what end? What’s the true harm?I didn’t have an easy answer to those questions.
“Soren, I’ll bet you don’t know that Noah has an uncanny ability to predict storms.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s called a weather app.”
Christian kicked me under the table.
I tried not to wince. Then I plastered on a smile. “Malcolm, you won’t know this, but Christian can greet you in nineteen different languages.”
Malcolm’s eyes widened. “That’s really impressive. Which languages?”
“Mandarin, Swahili, Ukrainian, Portuguese—”
“One cola and a lemonade.” Gabriella placed the drinks before us. “And you gentlemen?”
“I’ll have a coffee, if that’s okay.” Malcolm smiled. “Long day. Need a pick-me-up.”
“I’ll have one as well.” Soren smiled. “Only make mine decaf.”
The other three of us at the table groaned.
What was the point of coffee without caffeine? Seriously.
“Does everyone know what they’d like to eat, or do you need—”
