Page 73 of Lost
“I saw them on their website, and it made me want them last night too,” I confess.
A waitress comes over, and I notice that for mid morning, it’s only mildly busy.
“Anyone have any questions?” she asks.
“No, but I think we’re ready to order,” I say, looking over at Nova to go first.
Nova smiles at the waitress and gives her order of gluten free pancakes and a cup of coffee.
“I’ll let the kitchen know to take special care with your food. The plates are huge,” the waitress says. “If you have any left over, I’ll be happy to get you some boxes.”
At first, I almost cringed at her words, but relax at her ending. I’m very sensitive to fat shaming after the shit Hollis’ parents and nannies put her through.
Caleb and I nod and give our orders, and Nova glances curiously at me.
“You got really tense when she was talking, why?”
She notices everything, doesn’t she?
“Your sister had some issues growing up with your parents,” I murmur. “They heavily restricted her food intake because it was clear that she was going to be tall and busty. They wanted a pretty, skinny, willowy daughter.”
“What?” she hisses.
“It’s why Hollis used to run away from home to stay with us,” Caleb adds. “Cian doesn’t want your parents to know you’re in Minneapolis yet because they’re… a lot.”
“Hollis doesn’t speak to them much, though your grandfather is amazing,” I say. “He goes to bat for her, puts Paul and Annabelle in their places when necessary, but Hollis goes out of her way to make sure she doesn’t run into them.”
“The families are old school,” Caleb says, censoring the mafia addendum. “Cian pushes for more forward thinking practices, and a patrol was one of those things. A newcomer to the city actually runs them. Part of that means that a lot of the families believe in arranged marriages and complete control over their children.”
“Been there, done that. Bought the broken bones,” Nova snorts. “I’ll pass on all of that.”
“I’m not saying that you shouldn’t meet them, but you have choices here. You can be as involved or not as you want,” he says.
“Involved in what exactly? You two have made it very clear that I’m falling short of the whole mafia daughter situation,” she says softly.
“Yeah, we were assholes,” Caleb admits. “Your sister used to fall out of the second story window and had no balance before we took her under our wing. It was a real travesty.”
“The window?” she giggles.
“Oh yeah,” I say, relaxing slightly. “Her squeal was hysterical. She was fine, but definitely limped all the way to our house. Idon’t necessarily think you need to go full fledged badass, Nova. Teaching you basic self defense techniques will suffice.”
“And why is that?”
“We turned Hollis into a killer,” I rumble, leaning forward so my voice doesn’t travel. “Our sister had recently disappeared, we knew Hollis wanted to move out on her own, and I was still an enforcer. I didn’t hold back.”
“It saved her,” Nova hisses at me, frowning. “Do you regret it?”
“Not a fucking chance,” I say. “I’m saying that you don’t need to be her. Be yourself.”
“But make smart choices,” Caleb sighs.
“Yes, Daddy,” she snarks before slapping her hand over her mouth.
Caleb laughs too loudly, a wide grin on his face that I don’t often get to see. Neither one of us smiles easily.
Nova is super flushed as the waitress brings us our drinks, and our conversation is easier by the time our food arrives. I’m glad I chose this restaurant because everything is delicious. If I had the time, I’d open a restaurant, but I know I don’t.
The coffee shop has to be enough. I have regulars, people talk up the shop, and I still get to bake. I needed to stop by yesterday to restock the shelves with pastries, even though it pissed off Hollis.
