Page 35 of Beneath the Desert Bloom
Lauren waved. “Hi! I’m the familiar. I bite.”
Miso sneezed like he agreed.
Gloria poured them each a mug and set down two menus without asking. “You both look like you saw a ghost.”
“Well, we did watch The Hills Have Eyes on VHS…” Lauren said.
“Oh honey,” Gloria said, pulling up a stool. “That’s not horror. That’s a cautionary tale.”
They ordered huevos rancheros and sat in the corner booth, sunlight cutting slanted lines across the cracked vinyl. Miso curled up under the table, tail twitching.
Lauren leaned over her coffee, voice low but pointed. “So, Gloria. You’ve known Nora since the late Jurassic. Has she always been like this?”
Nora narrowed her eyes. “Careful.”
Gloria smiled. “She came out frowning, if that’s what you’re asking. Stubborn as bedrock. Always acted like she didn’t need looking after.”
“Yeah, well,” Lauren said, “she definitely says she doesn’t. But she also lives alone in a possibly haunted desert house and responds to texts like a Victorian widow.”
Nora sipped her coffee. “One day without cell service and everyone assumes I’ve joined a death cult.”
“Maybe not a cult,” Gloria said. “But the desert’s paying attention to you.”
Lauren raised an eyebrow. “Which is why I’d feel better if someone was... keeping an eye.”
Gloria nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ve got her.”
Nora leaned back in her chair. “You’re both talking about me like I’m not here.”
“Oh, we know you’re here,” Lauren said. “We’re just not convinced you’ll stay that way.”
Nora rolled her eyes.
Gloria’s voice softened. “Just tell me one thing, baby. Are you in over your head?”
Nora didn’t answer right away. She looked out the window at the wavering horizon. The heat radiated. The sky was too wide.
“I don’t know,” she said finally. “But I think… I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
Gloria stepped away to drop their order, and for a few blessed seconds, Lauren was too busy buttering a tortilla to interrogate her further.
Nora sipped her coffee and stared out the window. The desert didn’t feel empty today. It felt poised.
Last night hadn’t been a fluke. He had been there. Not just in the dream, but real. Towering. Watching. Waiting.
And she had wanted him to.
The thought made her throat tighten, but not with fear. With desire.
Lauren’s voice broke the silence. “You’re thinking really loud.”
Nora blinked. “Sorry.”
“You get like this when you’ve already made a decision and you’re pretending you haven’t.”
Nora raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. You go quiet and weirdly poetic. Like you’re narrating your own breakup album.”
